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Censorship in Children's Literature

© Sue Reichard

on their journey to adulthood. With the steady erosion of family, church and neighborhood which traditionally passed down information and moral guidelines about sex, drugs and crime, we see a reactionary influence from parents, teachers, and even students who urge schools to fill in the gaps. Now that many ado- lescents have the same access as adults to drugs, sex and freedom of movement it seems appropriate to provide them with pertinent information about the danger and consequences of these powerful elements.
In general, there are four basic motivational factors which may lie behind the censor's actions. The four motivations are by no means mutually exclusive, they often merge both in outward and appearance and in the censor's mind.

1.Family values- In some cases, the censor may feel threatened by changes in the accepted, traditional way of life.
2. Religion- The censor may also view explicitly sexual works and politically unorthodox ideas as attacks on religious faith.
3. Religious views- Changes in the political structure can be equally threatening.
4. Pornography- Of course, this is offensive to almost everyone. Abuse of women and children especially insults the intelligent human being.

How can we begin to fight censors effectively now? A major step is to join with professional groups, both nationallly and locally, to do such things as to create self-help censorship packets for prevention and cure. Children's author, Judy Blume, suggests, "Let children read whatever They want and then talk about it with them. If parents and kids can talk to- gether, we won't have as much censorship because we won't have as much fear. Parents who believe that their children have the right to read, the right to information, the right to know, must become as vocal the vocal minority." (Teaching the Young Adult Novel, p.176)
Katherine Paterson, young adult novelist, tells us that she has had readers object to the behavior of the title character in her Newbery Award winning book, The Great Gillly Hopkins. She says that the main point of the book is Gilly's innap- propriate behavior. It includes her angry language- a defense against a world that has treated her as a disposable person. The French philosopher, Jacques Maritain reminds us, that," a novel is different from all other forms of art in that it concerns itself directly with the conduct of life itself. A novel cannot, therefore, set ex- amples, it must reflect life as it is. And if the writer tells her story truly, then readers may find in the novel something of value for their lives."