Challenges were found for forty-eight entries to the exhibit (thirty-eight unique titles). Of those, six appeared on the list of “100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000” compiled by the American Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (no. 5), Kaffir Boy (no. 31), To Kill a Mockingbird (no. 41), The Outsiders (no. 43), Native Son (no. 71), and Bless Me, Ultima (no. 75).20 Compared to the unchallenged books, challenged books were much more likely to be fiction and to appear on the College Board’s “101 Great Books Recommended for College-Bound Readers” (see table 2).21
The hypothesis that similarities would be observed between the reasons the books were considered inspiring and the reasons they were challenged was partially supported because such a similarity was observed in many of the challenged titles. In cases that did not show a direct correspondence, the inspired and the offended tended to evince a difference in focus as readers: While the former concentrated on the overall themes or merit of the books, the latter concentrated on specific narrow aspects of them, such as offensive language or sexual explicitness.
Quotes from the BTI contributors’ statements used throughout this section were obtained from the annual booklets made available at the exhibit. (The statements also are available online at http://libraries.ou.edu/exhibits.) Parenthetical citations provide the number of the exhibit that included the quoted contribution; asterisks indicate challenged books. Endnote citations are provided for the quoted challenges, which are exemplary, rather than inclusive, of the book challenges found.
Concept 1: Connection between Book and Reader
The first major concept that emerged from the BTI statements addressed the relationship between book and reader. The themes within this concept spoke to the idea that what made a book meaningful was a sense of a direct connection between the text and the reader’s own life—a book that spoke to its reader personally. Books that reached their readers just when they were most needed, books that seemed to echo their contributors’ own experiences or interpret nascent impressions better than they had yet expressed them, and books that provided cherished emotional support were all popular interpretations of “books that inspire.”
Timeliness /Age Appropriateness
Statements with this theme emphasized that their books were meaningful specifically because they were read at a particular point in their contributors’ lives. Most referred to the contributors’ ages, whether they read literature that instilled a love of reading in childhood, nonfiction that influenced a career path in early adulthood, or in a few cases, books that provided guidance as their contributors navigated middle age. However, a few contributors celebrated books not because they reached them at the ideal age, but because the circumstances of their lives made them particularly timely. These books satisfied immediate emotional needs or somehow answered the concerns of the moment for their readers.
I experienced the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee during an impressionable period of my life, my early teens. (BTI II)* While full astride my mid-life crisis, I accidentally read The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker…. It became the perfect bibliotherapy for me as a forty-two year old American male. (BTI III)
I really enjoyed Tuesdays With Morrie specifically because of the timing in which I read it. My grandmother was in her last days of life. (BTI III) This theme is more easily examined by separating those statements that referred to childhood reading from those that mentioned life events or other ages. The majority of statements that made reference to timeliness in adulthood described unchallenged books, as did those statements that mentioned the theme in relation to the reader’s life events (see table 1 for details). For the few challenged books, no relationship was found between this inspirational theme and the reasons the books were challenged.
Statements that described their titles as particularly meaningful to the contributor for having been read in childhood or adolescence were quite different. The theme appeared in a larger percentage of BTI entries referring to challenged books (19 percent, 9 statements referring to 8 unique titles) than unchallenged (7 percent, 18 statements), and the converse of this theme emerged quite strongly in the challenges: Age-specific objections were raised directly in the challenges to five of the eight titles. For instance, To Kill a Mockingbird, whose BTI entry is quoted above, was challenged as “unfit for use in the junior high school.”22
Resonance
Statements with this theme spoke of a sense of likeness between the reader and the text, reflecting their contributors’ own beliefs, emotions, or experiences. Some contributors implied that seeing their experiences echoed in literature had helped to clarify or legitimize them, while others simply relished the commonality.
Notes from Underground gave shape to emotions I had often felt, but had never before seen acknowledged by anyone else. (BTI IV)*
[Invisible Man] prompted a feeling of commonality more so than one of inspiration for me…. [Ellison’s] creative prose is reminiscent of many conversations held in the neighborhood where I grew up. During these discussions the state of the world was often evaluated, and included much “street philosophy” about the plight of “invisibility.” (BTI II)*
[I Don’t Know How She Does It: The Life of Kate Reddy, Working Mother] validated personal feelings that I had regarding my own career versus the adventures of motherhood. It made me feel like I was not alone. (BTI III)