Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian Challenge In Crook County
In certain counties, books like The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian are being challenged and banished because of their explicit content and adult themes.A group of parents from Oregon’s Crook County demanded that the book be banned due to its explicit content. Even though those who demanded the book be banished had only read passages of the book, they were still passionate in their attempts to have it banned. Parents from Oregon’s Crook County read short parts of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian and demanded that it be banned because of how it inappropriately uses numerous adult themes in a book aimed primarily toward teenage readers. An adult that reads a book geared toward a teenage audience will more than likely not be able to grasp the content of the book to its fullest potential, or as much as a teenager would be able to. Young adult books are almost always beneficial to some teen because they are able to portray ideas that the teenager might be struggling with and they often display helpful solutions to many of life's issues that a reader might be able to use in their own life.
Sherman Alexie struggled immensely through most of his youth, and the pain only increased when he became a teenager. The stories that he tells within the book are mainly about how he grew through his childhood and was able to overcome the struggles of his peers and his physical disabilities throughout his youth.
“And now I write books for teenagers because I vividly remember what it felt like to be a teen facing everyday and epic dangers. I don’t write to protect them. It’s far too late for that. I write to give them weapons–in the form of words and ideas-that will help them fight their monsters. I write in blood because I remember what it felt like to bleed.” (Why the Best Kid’s Books Are Written in Blood, Sherman Alexie). In the article, Why the Best Kid’s Books Are Written in Blood, Sherman responds to the complaints aimed toward his book and very carefully explains why he wrote what he did. He writes books for teens because he knows what it is like to be a poor teenager that grew up in a disconnected family and he aims to help other people to cope with their struggles and wants the readers of the book to have the ability to overcome their everyday struggles and to be equipped the right mindset to live their lives successfully. Kids that have read the book have often times admitted to it being something that was helpful to them in their lives. Some kids that have read the book may have not always been so interested as to read a book in its entirety, so the importance of this message is amplified.
“And, often, kids have told me that my young adult novel is the only book they’ve ever read in its entirety.” (Why the Best Kid’s Books Are Written in Blood, Sherman Alexie). Sherman Alexie’s book essentially proved itself to be a positive factor in a lot of teenagers lives because of the positive feedback that he received from a lot of readers after the release of the book. A lot of teenagers that struggle aren’t always interested in the ideas that most books have to portray, but Sherman Alexie’s book was something that drew teenagers in and embraced them for a positive reading experience. The book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, had a lot of adult themes, but most of which ended up adding to the story itself. Judging the entire book off of a few passages that contain these themes is an unfair way to judge a book with positive ideas.
Taking a small portion of a book out of context and judging the entire book upon this portion is an inappropriate way of judging the book. In Crook County, Oregon, a father, Hank Moss, read a few passages from his sons copy of ATDPTI and deemed it unfit to be read by a teenager. Hank Moss was sitting at the breakfast table and just so happened to stumble across his freshman sons school required copy of ATDPTI when he started to read. He read only a few passages, but what little he saw made him feel as if the entire book was too inappropriate because of a few adult themes that were within the book. Books are usually lengthy stories that teach the reader about one point that should be important for them, like resilience towards your life, but banning the entire book because it mentions masturbation twice is an unfair way to judge the entire book. When Hank noticed the usage of masturbation in ATDPTI he began to feel that the level of adult themes were too intense. After complaining, he was able to get the entire book banned from the school’s curriculum. After a thorough look through the book, officials stated that it should stay because of its educational and emotional value. With this being said, judging the entire book off of one usage of the word ‘masturbation’ is an inaccurate way of judging the book. Adults were the primary group that was offended by the adult language and themes in this book, but teenagers, the target audience, were not nearly as offended as some adults were.
As a teenager myself, the content of the book didn’t come off as offensive to me at all. While reading the book, I was more focused on the main point of the book than the offensive content and wasn’t even bothered by the usage of adult themes. I asked a couple of other teenagers that had read the book how they felt after reading it, and like mine, their opinions showed that the content of the book didn’t bother them because they were more set on the big picture that the book was trying to illustrate. I asked Austin Simpson, a sixteen year old that read the book how it made him feel, and he responded with,
“The content of the book did not bother me at all, it actually sort of helped me to cope with life and in a way it helped me through everyday struggles.” By having Austin say this, the idea that the book is bad for teenagers becomes slightly less relevant and the idea that the book is important for teenagers becomes increasingly more prevalent. I then asked another student, Isa Venezia, how the book made her feel. She responded with,
“I was going through similar struggles while reading this book. I feel like I was struggling with fitting in I was trying to do my best in everyday things, but reading the book during this time made these struggles feel a lot easier and I was able to easily overcome them while reading them.” When asked whether the adult themes offended them or not, they both promptly said no and said that they hardly even noticed because they were too focused on the actual message of the book. When asked, teenagers said that the adult content of the book was irrelevant to their opinions on the book.
Banning a book is an inappropriate way of getting a group of people to not read it. Though a lot of young adults would possibly benefit from the context of a young adult book that may contain adult themes, it would still be banned because people would possibly feel uncomfortable with the adult themes that the books portray. Not allowing teenagers to read the the content of a book is disabling them from exposing themselves to the positive qualities that the book may have to offer. Often times, the teenagers that read books like The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian aren’t offended by the adult themes that the book portrays, and more often than not, the person reading it is more focused upon the positive qualities that the book has to offer. Teenagers are an audience that often times need a little extra help with their lives, and books that can portray similar themes prove to be beneficial to their lives. If a book could be so important to the livelihood of a reader, why would you want ban it from them and not enable them to read it?
Alexie, Sherman. "Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood." Speakeasy RSS. Speakeasy, 9 June 2011. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.
Jung, Helen. "Crook County Removes Book from Schools after Parent Complains." The Oregonian. The Oregonian, 11 Dec. 2008. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.
Jasper, David. "Alexie Unplugged." The Bulletin. The Bulletin, 3 Nov. 2009. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.
Sherman Alexie struggled immensely through most of his youth, and the pain only increased when he became a teenager. The stories that he tells within the book are mainly about how he grew through his childhood and was able to overcome the struggles of his peers and his physical disabilities throughout his youth.
“And now I write books for teenagers because I vividly remember what it felt like to be a teen facing everyday and epic dangers. I don’t write to protect them. It’s far too late for that. I write to give them weapons–in the form of words and ideas-that will help them fight their monsters. I write in blood because I remember what it felt like to bleed.” (Why the Best Kid’s Books Are Written in Blood, Sherman Alexie). In the article, Why the Best Kid’s Books Are Written in Blood, Sherman responds to the complaints aimed toward his book and very carefully explains why he wrote what he did. He writes books for teens because he knows what it is like to be a poor teenager that grew up in a disconnected family and he aims to help other people to cope with their struggles and wants the readers of the book to have the ability to overcome their everyday struggles and to be equipped the right mindset to live their lives successfully. Kids that have read the book have often times admitted to it being something that was helpful to them in their lives. Some kids that have read the book may have not always been so interested as to read a book in its entirety, so the importance of this message is amplified.
“And, often, kids have told me that my young adult novel is the only book they’ve ever read in its entirety.” (Why the Best Kid’s Books Are Written in Blood, Sherman Alexie). Sherman Alexie’s book essentially proved itself to be a positive factor in a lot of teenagers lives because of the positive feedback that he received from a lot of readers after the release of the book. A lot of teenagers that struggle aren’t always interested in the ideas that most books have to portray, but Sherman Alexie’s book was something that drew teenagers in and embraced them for a positive reading experience. The book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, had a lot of adult themes, but most of which ended up adding to the story itself. Judging the entire book off of a few passages that contain these themes is an unfair way to judge a book with positive ideas.
Taking a small portion of a book out of context and judging the entire book upon this portion is an inappropriate way of judging the book. In Crook County, Oregon, a father, Hank Moss, read a few passages from his sons copy of ATDPTI and deemed it unfit to be read by a teenager. Hank Moss was sitting at the breakfast table and just so happened to stumble across his freshman sons school required copy of ATDPTI when he started to read. He read only a few passages, but what little he saw made him feel as if the entire book was too inappropriate because of a few adult themes that were within the book. Books are usually lengthy stories that teach the reader about one point that should be important for them, like resilience towards your life, but banning the entire book because it mentions masturbation twice is an unfair way to judge the entire book. When Hank noticed the usage of masturbation in ATDPTI he began to feel that the level of adult themes were too intense. After complaining, he was able to get the entire book banned from the school’s curriculum. After a thorough look through the book, officials stated that it should stay because of its educational and emotional value. With this being said, judging the entire book off of one usage of the word ‘masturbation’ is an inaccurate way of judging the book. Adults were the primary group that was offended by the adult language and themes in this book, but teenagers, the target audience, were not nearly as offended as some adults were.
As a teenager myself, the content of the book didn’t come off as offensive to me at all. While reading the book, I was more focused on the main point of the book than the offensive content and wasn’t even bothered by the usage of adult themes. I asked a couple of other teenagers that had read the book how they felt after reading it, and like mine, their opinions showed that the content of the book didn’t bother them because they were more set on the big picture that the book was trying to illustrate. I asked Austin Simpson, a sixteen year old that read the book how it made him feel, and he responded with,
“The content of the book did not bother me at all, it actually sort of helped me to cope with life and in a way it helped me through everyday struggles.” By having Austin say this, the idea that the book is bad for teenagers becomes slightly less relevant and the idea that the book is important for teenagers becomes increasingly more prevalent. I then asked another student, Isa Venezia, how the book made her feel. She responded with,
“I was going through similar struggles while reading this book. I feel like I was struggling with fitting in I was trying to do my best in everyday things, but reading the book during this time made these struggles feel a lot easier and I was able to easily overcome them while reading them.” When asked whether the adult themes offended them or not, they both promptly said no and said that they hardly even noticed because they were too focused on the actual message of the book. When asked, teenagers said that the adult content of the book was irrelevant to their opinions on the book.
Banning a book is an inappropriate way of getting a group of people to not read it. Though a lot of young adults would possibly benefit from the context of a young adult book that may contain adult themes, it would still be banned because people would possibly feel uncomfortable with the adult themes that the books portray. Not allowing teenagers to read the the content of a book is disabling them from exposing themselves to the positive qualities that the book may have to offer. Often times, the teenagers that read books like The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian aren’t offended by the adult themes that the book portrays, and more often than not, the person reading it is more focused upon the positive qualities that the book has to offer. Teenagers are an audience that often times need a little extra help with their lives, and books that can portray similar themes prove to be beneficial to their lives. If a book could be so important to the livelihood of a reader, why would you want ban it from them and not enable them to read it?
Alexie, Sherman. "Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood." Speakeasy RSS. Speakeasy, 9 June 2011. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.
Jung, Helen. "Crook County Removes Book from Schools after Parent Complains." The Oregonian. The Oregonian, 11 Dec. 2008. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.
Jasper, David. "Alexie Unplugged." The Bulletin. The Bulletin, 3 Nov. 2009. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.