Toward the beginning of the 2014-15 school year, I had a student begin reading a mystery/thriller titled Squeeze Play, by R.J. Kaiser. This is your prototypical detective novel, complete with missing persons, unlikely relationships, bad deals, a femme fatale, and an ex-cop at the center of it all. While it does not attempt to challenge the conventions of this kind of novel, it succeeds in grabbing the reader's attention, in keeping that attention while unraveling a handful of mysteries, and largely rewarding that attention with a conclusion that is surprising without being unfair to the reader.
This is almost a pulp novel, without the lascivious cover. Because this type of novel is somewhat less common in modern fiction, and is certainly less common in the experience of my students, it should be one that I champion. I should be encouraging students to read outside of familiar genres. And at the beginning of my first year at my current school, when my class library was in its infancy and took up only a single bookshelf, I did.
I had a student that began the book and was rapt. She was so entertained and engaged that she was talking to other students about it. She was pointing to sections of the book before classes and showing them off.
She was, I quickly realized, doing what we all did when we realized as a child how inclusive a dictionary could be: pointing to the naughty parts and sharing with her surprised friends.
I panicked. She didn't know that I panicked, but I did. I imagined students talking in whispered phrases about the contents of Squeeze Play, passing the book around, using words and phrases from it. I imagined them talking in other classes - or within earshot of their parents - about the sexual references or the swearing that might be found within. In my mind parents and teachers were talking to our principal about the trash Mr. Lydon was encouraging his students to read. These are thirteen and fourteen year old kids! They are just barely out of middle school!
A variety of commonly banned books
So I had a conversation with this student about what was in the book. She reported, - cautiously - that there was "stuff" in there. I suggested that maybe I take that book off my shelf, and she gave it up.
Now, I send a letter home at the beginning of the year that explains the purpose of my library, and this includes a brief treatise on how I will not limit the reading my students bring in. This is included in my Library page on this site as well. I feel passionate about students finding and loving books, without regard to how provocative they may be; but the reality is that this is my job, and standing on principle is only so valuable when you're left standing without a job. And I was legitimately nervous that one wrong book could affect my future employment at my school.
Since last year, I've read a book or two from my class library, and one of them was, without question, more objectionable than Squeeze Play. This book used language that was more coarse, and it was more straightforward in its discussion of sex, but I left it in my library because I had yet to see a single student pick it up. During summer of 2015, I asked an 11th grader to read a book I had not yet entered into my library, and at the start of the 2015-16 school year she told me that the book is probably inappropriate. I didn't add this one to the class library.
I realized that I was being inconsistent. I didn't commit to my philosophical beliefs out of fear of consequence and I wouldn't fully commit to censoring because I wanted to be true to those same philosophical beliefs. And I know that censoring is a rabbit hole. If I remove a book because it uses a bunch of terms related to sex, do I remove a book for using only one of those terms? Do I remove another for talking about the same subject but without vulgar language? Do I have to remove books that deal with serious real-world issues like sexual violence? Or what about sexual identity? Does it matter the age of the protagonists?
And this doesn't consider other topics - like violence, substance use, or profanity - or the variety of reasons why parents, families, or communities might find offense - issues of gender, politics, religion, or much more.
The more I thought about this the more I became convinced that I cannot be the one censoring. I need to trust that parents will talk with their kids about what they are reading, and students will, through parental involvement and their own cognizance, make decisions that are right for them. There will absolutely be books that are inappropriate for some and perfect for others, and I cannot be an impediment to that discovery. There is a chance I will find myself in uncomfortable conversations with parents or administrators as a result, and I'll deal with it when and if that time comes.
And if it does, instead of talking about how one my students was pointing out all the naughty bits to her friends, I will point out that my student was independently engaging others in a discussion of literature and that the book excited her so much that she needed to share. That her enthusiasm was leading others to take an interest in reading the same book after she finished.
So I'll be putting Squeeze Play back into my library, as well as the other book, 10th Grade by Joseph Weisberg. With any luck students will talk about them.
(Originally Published Feb 22, 2016)