Good morning Hank, it's Tuesday. So, the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom just released it's list of the ten most challenged books of the year in the United States. 'Challenged' meaning someone requested to have the book removed from the school or library And it turns out that the most challenged book of 2015 was "Looking For Alaska" which was written by me The book has been challenged and banned around the country for 'offensive language' and 'sexually explicit' descriptions I suppose this is a kind of honor, I mean Looking For Alaska contained the very same offensive language and sexually explicit descriptions as it did ten years ago, but was much less likely to be banned because, you know, not many people had read it. Also, Looking For Alaska beat some of my favorite books, like 'Two Boys Kissing' by David Levithan and 'Fun House' by Alison Bechdel and also the Holy Bible, which came in 6th. To be fair, the Bible does contain it's fair share of explicit passages Anyway, I'm often asked to respond to the banning of Looking For Alaska from schools and libraries, so okay. Here is my response: Text is meaningless without context, and what usually happens with Looking For Alaska is that a parent chose one particular page of the novel to an administrator and then the book gets banned without anyone, who objects to it, having read more then that one particular page. The scene in question involves a very awkward and ultimately failed attempt at oral sex which is described in very cold and clinical language, in fact the entire passage contains only one adjective: nervous And then in the book's next scene, two characters have a much more sensually described and passionate but much less sexually explicit interaction. That passage ends: "We didn't have sex, we never got naked, I never touched her bare breasts, and her hands never got lower than my hips. It didn't matter. As she slept, I whispered: "I love you, Alaska Young" So in context, the novel is arguing, really in a rather pointed way, that emotionally intimate kissing can be a whole lot more fulfilling than emotionally empty oral sex. Teenagers are critically engaged and thoughtful readers They do not read Looking For Alaska and think: "I should go have some agressively unerotic oral sex." And they also don't read 'The Outsiders' and think: "I should join a gang." Or read 'Divergent' and think: "I should jump onto moving trains." So as far as I can tell, that kind of narrow perscriptive reading seems only to happen inside the offices of school superintendents. So yeah, I don't think Looking For Alaska is pornographic, and I don't think it's readers find it titillating. But that noted, I don't think it should be up to me whether Looking For Alaska, or actually any book is in a school or a library. Because I am not a teacher or a librarian. The highly trained, criminally underpaid professionals we'd employed to make those decisions. As I've discussed in the past, I don't think publicly funded learning exists primarily for the benefit of parents or even primarily for the benefit of students. It exists for the benefit of the social order. We are all better of with a well-informed, well-educated population because that population is more likely to start successful businesses and develop treatments for cancer. And write musicals about treasury secretaries. And that's why everyone pays taxes, to fund public schools and libraries, regardless of whether you personally use the library or have kids in school I think teachers and librarians know more about teaching and librarianship than I do. And I believe they must be allowed to do their jobs, serving the whole public. But even beyond that, I don't believe that books, even bad books, corrupt us. Instead I believe books challenge and interrogate, they give us windows into the lives of others and give us mirrors so that we can better see ourselves. And ultimately, if you have a worldview that can be undone by a novel Let me submit that the problem is not with the novel... Hank, I'll see you on Friday
I like what he said at the end. "If you have a worldview that can be undone by a novel, let me submit the problem is not with the novel" ~ John Green
Man, I should go have some aggressively unerotic oral sex
I just went through the lists from 2001-16, and like 90-95% of the books listed are amazing novels. In fact many of the novels on the list played very important roles in my development as a engaged youth. I recommend everyone read these challenged novels.
More challenged than 50 shades? Wow. It's pretty much a badge of honor, though, so I guess it's cool that my favorite book by him is also the most challenged.
In sophomore English, we would read every Friday, but never an assigned book. And if we didn't know what to read, he would give us a book from his shelf, and said, "Here, read this." One of those was Looking for Alaska. He didn't give it to me, but to my best friend who sat across the table from me while reading (years later when I discovered vlogbrothers, it took me forever to realize why the cover of LFA looked so familiar when I was sure I had never read it).
I think each of us that year read three or four different books, but none of us exactly the same ones. We all experienced different viewpoints and stories and lessons that year. I appreciate that he wasn't afraid to give out controversial books, and as far as I know, it's never been challenged at my school. But in other places, I hope LFA and other books get to stay. It's important for teenagers to be able to get as many viewpoints and stories and lessons as they can to help them become well-rounded adults. It doesn't to any good to keep them confined to a bubble of the same things they've always known.
Looking for Alaska... more than 50 Shades?
So one scene of sexual content is worse than an entire book?
John that's an achievement.
I think that i remember addressing this in much the same way in one of his past videos. But it was a requested topic so its ok for repeating himself.
One would think from a marketing standpoint, nothing could be better for a book's sales than to have a few school districts or libraries ban it.
Any form of censorship, even as small as this one in a free country, is bad and creates dangerous precedents.