Book club 101: a three month theme of banned books for teenager summer reading

June 11, 4:01 PMSacramento Book Club ExaminerShelley Blanton-Stroud

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Sacramento Book Club Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

When the California budget crisis has predictably lead to school districts throughout the state cancelling summer school options, and global economic woes have made it next to impossible for teenagers to find summer jobs, what can parents do to prevent their adolescents from either running amok, sleeping all day or living only on-line?  Try a banned books club.

Well, sure, you may have a little trouble at first making reading sound like an attractive summer plan.  But, trust me, the “banned” element works. Nothing is more attractive to an adolescent than doing something authority figures prohibit. Nothing makes a book more attractive than the message that it would be inappropriate for a teen to read it.

The key for a successful three-month, summer-break banned book club is to hook teenagers with a trio of books that are  accessible, controversial and excellent, in order to avoid the bored reaction parodied in The Onion’s “Nation’s teens disappointed by banned books”: "I was really psyched to read Huck Finn when my English teacher told me it was banned, because I figured, you know, it would be dirty… But it was totally lame: There was no sex or violence or anything. They say ****** in it, but I can hear that on half my CDs."

Here are three books previously banned by schools or libraries, books featuring three big teen theme attractants (and parent repellents):  rebellion, drugs and violence. Help your high school student organize monthly meetings this summer.  Five to ten kids is a perfect size.  My group liked to meet at Giovanni's Pizza, where the vibe was friendly and we were never rushed out.  (One time a couple of employees sat down to quiz us for book recommendations.)  Have them bring their books, eat dinner and debate their answers to the discussion questions.  (Sneaky side benefit:  most of them will wind up wanting to write about this book club in their college admissions essays.)

The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger 

• The attractant: rebellious attitude toward authority.  According to FBI profilers, this book is often found in the possession of serial killers.  It has most often been banned or challenged by people who object to its offensive language, disrespect for adult authority, sexual content and emotionally disturbing scenes.
• Sneaky side benefit: it is a classic of American literature.
• Here’s a sample:  I'm sick of just liking people. I wish to God I could meet somebody I could respect.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson

• The attractant:  explicit description of over-the-top, self-destructive drug use.  Thompson is a big-time literary bad boy.  His book has been challenged or banned for its offensive language, disrespect for religious, political and legal authority, sexually explicit and emotionally disturbing scenes, and total focus on drugs and alcohol. Johnny Depp plays the drug-addled author in the 2005 film.  Reading the book is the best possible inducement for avoiding drugs.  
• Sneaky side benefit:  the book helped introduce new journalism, something they will recognize all over cyberspace.
• Here’s a sample:  Reading the front page made me feel a lot better. Against that heinous background, my crimes were pale and meaningless. I was a relatively respectable citizen — a multiple felon, perhaps, but certainly not dangerous. And when the Great Scorer came to write against my name, that would surely make a difference. Or would it? I turned to the sports page and saw a small item about Muhammad Ali; his case was before the Supreme Court, the final appeal. He'd been sentenced to five years in prison for refusing to kill "slopes." "I ain't got nothin' against them Viet Congs," he said. Five years. Suddenly I felt guilty again.
  

The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien

• The attractant:  violence.  This book has been challenged or banned by people who object to its offensive language, disrespect for adult and political authority, sexually explicit or emotionally disturbing scenes, particularly war-time violence, death and cruelty.  This book will provoke a lot of discussion about the rightness of fighting or deserting in war-time.  Teenagers will connect it to the experience of friends serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.  
• Sneaky side benefit:  it is a brilliant, beautiful book that raises many moral questions.
• Here’s a sample:  "Forty-three years old, and the war occurred half a lifetime ago, and yet the remembering makes it now. And sometimes remembering will lead to a story, which makes it forever. That's what stories are for. Stories are for joining the past to the future. Stories are for those late hours in the night when you can't remember how you got from where you were to where you are. Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story."