published October 18, 2005
I'm fortunate to be part of the community of children's and young adult
authors; not just because those writers are an incredibly fun bunch, but because
they care so passionately about young minds.
Recently, on a Young Adult Authors Listserv, author Lisa Yee posted a story from
the Austin American Statesman. The board of trustees at Austin's St. Andrew's
Episcopal School turned down a $3 million gift because the donor wanted Annie
Proulx's short story "Brokeback Mountain" removed from the optional reading list
for 12th-graders.
"Brokeback Mountain" tells of two ranch hands in Wyoming who fall in love and
have a homosexual relationship. They continue to meet over the years even though
their lives take different directions.
The donor, film producer Cary McNair (son of Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth
funder Robert McNair) said that reading and discussing stories involving
homosexual sex runs counter to the school's mission statement of providing "a
Christian environment" and seeking "to develop moral behavior."
The school thought otherwise. "St. Andrew's has a policy not to accept
conditional gifts, whether it's $5 or $500,000," explained Bill Miller, a member
of the board of trustees. "When the McNair family looked at their gift in a
conditional manner ... the school could not accept it."
My author colleagues, many of whom have had their books challenged, were
overwhelmed by the depth of St. Andrew's conviction. "They gave up $3 million
rather than compromise the principles of academic independence and intellectual
freedom," said author Brent Hartinger. "We authors wanted to show our thanks, so
we formed AS IF! (Authors Supporting Intellection Freedom) and are all sending
signed copies of our books."
The school will display these books (more than 60 have been sent so far,
including those by award-winning and best-selling authors) in a planned "Freedom
Library."
"AS IF! plans to continue doing whatever it can to support all those who fight
efforts of censorship and intellectual suppression, especially of books for and
about teenagers," said author Jordan Sonnenblick.
Other AS IF! members include Anjali Banerjee, Holly Black, Elise Broach, Cecil
Castellucci, Dorian Cirrone, Jeanne DuPrau, Dotti Enderle, Alex Flinn, Debra
Garfinkle, Barb Huff, Tanya Lee Stone, R.L. LaFevers, David Levithan, E.
Lockhart, Bennett Madison, Katie Maxwell, Dianne Ochiltree, Marlene Perez,
Douglas Rees, Eileen Rosenbloom, Laura Ruby, Linda Joy Singleton, Arthur Slade,
Laurie Stolarz, Chris Tebbetts, Anne Ursu, Jo Whittemore, Mark L. Williams,
Maryrose Wood, Sara Zarr, Lara M. Zeises - and yours truly.
When I told my parents about AS IF, Mom said, "That reminds me what happened in
Scarsdale back in high school." In 1948, a group of parents called the
"Committee of Ten" sought to remove books by Howard Fast, a member of the
Communist Party at the time, from the library at Scarsdale High.
Thus commenced a two year-long "Battle of the Books." My mother's reaction? She
went straight out to read Fast's "Haym Solomon, Son of Liberty." Guess the apple
doesn't fall far from the tree.
Scarsdale parents opposed to the "Committee of Ten" wrote the following, as
relevant today as it was back in 1949: "We are the inheritors of a tradition
that has encouraged a dynamic development in our intellectual as well as our
material life. That tradition has been based on a tolerance that has not feared
to permit independent thought.
"There are risks involved in allowing young persons relatively free access to a
wide range of reading materials. ... But we believe there are greater risks in
any alternative procedures. Surely we have not, as a people, lost the courage to
take the risks that are necessary for the preservation of freedom."
But preserving our children's right to read a wide range of material isn't just
about freedom. It's about developing tolerant, compassionate human beings.
Kimberley Horne, the St. Andrew's teacher who put "Brokeback Mountain" on her
reading list, wrote: "Literature gives us access to information we cannot get
anywhere else - what it may truly be like to be other people, to live in a
different time and place, to know different people than we know. I think this
knowledge can give us the chance to be better humans."
Through reading, kids learn tolerance. It's just as important now as it was 55
years ago to guard against those who, as Robert Shaplen wrote in a 1950
Commentary article, believe that "they and they alone have the blessing and
vision of God" and that "others [are] ostensibly incapable of recognizing and
appraising a 'clear and present danger'."
Sarah Littman, who lives in Greenwich, is author of
"Confessions of a Closet Catholic," published by Dutton Children's Books.
