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On the Banning of Looking for Alaska

2016-04-12 · letter vlog · John · 3:18 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing · mode: Advocacy & fundraising · tags: timely hook

After the ALA names Looking for Alaska the most challenged book of 2015, John argues that challengers read one page out of context, that teenagers are thoughtful readers, that teachers and librarians (not authors or a few parents) should decide, and that books do not corrupt.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — The ALA's 2015 most-challenged list: Looking for Alaska tops it, ahead of Two Boys Kissing, Fun Home and the Bible

  • ★★★ John reports that the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom has released its list of the ten most challenged books, and Looking for Alaska was the most challenged book of 2015. — 00:00:01 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
  • ★★ John says the book has been challenged and banned around the country for offensive language and sexually explicit descriptions. — 00:00:18 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
  • ★★ John supposes this is a kind of honor: the book had the same language and descriptions ten years ago but was much less likely to be banned because few people had read it. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:24 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
  • ★ John says Looking for Alaska beat some of his favorite books on the list, like Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan and Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. — 00:00:34 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
  • ★ John notes the Holy Bible came sixth on the list, joking that it does contain its fair share of explicit passages. — 00:00:41

00:00:46 — John's response: the challenged scene read in context, and teenagers as critically engaged readers

  • ★★★ Responding to the bans, John says text is meaningless without context. — 00:00:52
  • ★★★ John says what usually happens is that a parent shows an administrator one page of the novel and the book is banned without any objector having read more than that page. — 00:00:57 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
  • ★★ John says the challenged scene, an awkward, failed attempt at oral sex, is told in cold, clinical language; the whole passage contains only one adjective, 'nervous'. — 00:01:07 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
  • ★★★ John says the next scene is more sensual and passionate but less explicit, so in context the novel pointedly argues that emotionally intimate kissing can be more fulfilling than emotionally empty oral sex. — 00:01:18 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
  • ★★★ John says teenagers are critically engaged, thoughtful readers: they don't read Looking for Alaska and decide to have oral sex, or The Outsiders and join a gang, or Divergent and jump onto trains. — 00:01:45 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
  • ★★ John says that kind of narrow, prescriptive reading seems to happen only inside the offices of school superintendents. (playful, hedged) — 00:01:59

00:02:04 — Teachers and librarians should decide; public education serves the social order; books challenge rather than corrupt

  • ★★ John says he doesn't think Looking for Alaska is pornographic or that its readers find it titillating. (hedged) — 00:02:04 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
  • ★★★ John says it should not be up to him whether any book is in a school or library: he is not a teacher or librarian, the highly trained, criminally underpaid professionals employed to decide. (hedged) — 00:02:09 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
  • ★★★ Recalling earlier videos, John says publicly funded learning exists primarily not for parents or even students but for the benefit of the social order. (hedged) — 00:02:23 · education, the social order
  • ★★ John says everyone is better off with a well-educated population, which is likelier to start businesses, develop cancer treatments and write musicals about treasury secretaries; that is why everyone pays taxes for schools and libraries. — 00:02:32 · education
  • ★★★ John thinks teachers and librarians know more about their work than he does and must be allowed to do their jobs serving the whole public. (hedged) — 00:02:49
  • ★★★ John says books, even bad books, do not corrupt us; they challenge and interrogate, giving windows into others' lives and mirrors to better see ourselves. — 00:02:57
  • ★★★ John submits that if your worldview can be undone by a novel, the problem is not with the novel. — 00:03:09

00:03:16 — Sign-off

In the description and comments

  • ★★ John thanks the American Library Association and its Office for Intellectual Freedom, and all the courageous librarians and teachers who stand up for intellectual freedom and banned books. — video description

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: book censorship · Looking for Alaska (novel)

Also: Works: Bible · Divergent · Fun Home · Hamilton (musical) · The Outsiders · Two Boys Kissing

Organizations: American Library Association

Concepts: adolescence · education · pornography · quoting out of context · tax

Only in the description or credits: Alison Bechdel · David Levithan

Also centred on book censorship: Brotherhood 2.0: May 2: Book Banning · I Am Not A Pornographer · My Religion and My Banned Books · About THAT Scene in Looking for Alaska · John Green's Brother

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