If you grew up in the 80’s or 90’s you probably remember author Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark trilogy, a collection of creepy folklore tales for kids. If you don’t remember the stories themselves, there’s a good chance you still have an occasional nightmare inspired by the accompanying artwork by acclaimed children’s illustrator, Stephen Gammell. Even if you’ve never read the books, just accidentally seeing the cover of one of them while you were innocently perusing the book store or library was enough to induce long-term psychological effects.

And if you got over the initial trauma of viewing the cover and dared to open up one of those books and read it? Well, let’s just say that some things can’t be unseen.

Gammell has illustrated countless “normal” children’s books over the course of his vast career, even earning himself a Caldecott Award for his work on the lighthearted Song and Dance Man by Karen Ackerman. But it is his work on the Scary Stories books for which he is most fondly (or not so fondly depending on much sleep you lost because of him over the years) remembered.

“Macabre”, “surreal”, “haunting”, these are the words that come to mind when you look at Gammells work. But it is also grotesquely beautiful and extremely powerful. Even out of the context of the books the pictures create an inescapable  sense of dread. 

These are the kind of images that work their way insidiously into the darkest corners of your psyche where they wait patiently, sometimes years, for just the right time. When you’re home alone on a blustery Autumn night, the house creaking and moanijng, and you find yourself jumping at shadows, only then do the ghouls and ghosts that inhabit Gammell’s grim landscapes come creeping back into your mind’s eye.

Considering the terror-inducing content, it is no surprise that the Scary Stories to Tell in The Dark series are some of most challenged books in recent memory. According to the ALA, they were the #1 most frequently challenged books for 1990-1999 and stayed in the top ten for 2000-2009 at #7. The most frequently cited reasons being “insensitivity, occult/Satanism, violence, (and being) unsuited to age group".

Gammell’s illustrations no doubt contributed as much as, if not more than, the text to garnering the books this dubious honor.

Harper Collins re-issued the books for their 30th anniversary in 2011, sadly replacing Stephen Gammell’s eerie illustrations with “safer” work by Brett Helquist of A Series of Unfortunately Events fame. Thus saving the next generation of kids from a lifetime of nightmares and their parents a lifetime of therapy expenses. 

(Little do my sweet, unsuspecting children know that I still have copies featuring Gammell's original artwork to spring on them when the time is right. Moooohahahahahaha!)

So as we near the end of Banned Books Week and the beginning of the Halloween season let’s take a moment to remember (and then immediately try to forget) the immortal artwork of Stephen Gammell.

But only if you dare…

(Seriously, don't say I didn't warn you.)

Bonus Track: Listen to the complete audiobook of 1981's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Collected from folklore and retold by Alvin Schwartz, accompanied by chilling illustrations from Stephen Gammell and narrated by actor George S. Irving.

I discovered J.D. Salinger’s seminal novel of teenage angst when I was in eighth grade. At the time I didn’t know anything about it other than the fact that it was widely considered to be a “literary classic”.

The cover provided no clues as to the book’s contents. It was simply a blank, maroon cover with the title and author’s name in gold Times New Roman capitalized. And the same on the back. There was no synopsis, no blurbs hailing it as a masterpiece, nothing except the author’s credit and that title.

Catcher in the Rye. What did that lousy title even mean anyway?

Even without really knowing anything about the novel, I felt compelled to read it. Not because I had to for school, because I wanted to. So I did. I don’t know exactly what it was about the mysterious little book that drew me in. It was probably that title.

I just had to know what the hell it meant. 

By this point in my life I already had a lot of books under my belt, but almost all of them were fantastical in one way or another. It was a lot of sci-fi, sword & sorcery, and, like most horror-obsessed kids of my generation, the complete works of Stephen King.

Catcher in The Rye was to be my first foray into “serious” adult literature. 

As a middle-schooler looking to expand my literary horizons, the idea of reading many of the so-called “classics” was a daunting one. Most of them were great, thick, books with impossibly small print in order to cram as many words on each page as possible. And although written in English, they seemed foreign to me. The language they used was somehow even more dense than the physical book in which held it. Many of these works were still intimidating to me when I had to read them in college years later, let alone as a thirteen year-old looking to read for pleasure.

But this book was different. It was short, especially when compared to the massive books I had recently tackled including, It and The Stand by the aforementioned Mr. King. Not to mention the print was normal sized. This was book I could easily digest, and I knew I could get through it, even it was a complete bore.

(Did I mention I have this thing about finishing a book once I start?)

Like I said, I had no idea what to expect when I started reading it. I certainly didn’t anticipate that it would completely change my life.

But it did. Like in a big way…

From the first paragraph my mind was blown wide open. It not only changed my whole perspective on what literature could be, it changed the way I looked at myself in relation to the world.

This was heavy stuff.

Of the countless books I had read up to this point, even the ones written in first person, none of them felt like they were speaking directly to me. Not really anyway.

They spoke to me in general sense. I was merely a passive witness to the narrator telling their story. This was different. I felt like Holden Caulfield was speaking directly to me personally, in a language I could understand and relate to. In fact, it was pretty much the same language my friends and I used when we were alone together, cuss words and all.

​It is ironic that the main reason this book is one of the most frequently challenged and banned of all time is the language. Because without it, this book wouldn’t have had nearly the same impact on me. The fact that Holden spoke so bluntly and realistically is exactly why his words resonated so much.

​One of the most heartbreaking things about adolescence is realizing that your idealized childhood perception of the world doesn’t really exist. For the first time you realize that there are a lot of Phonies, and life doesn’t always have a happy ending. It’s like a breath of fresh air for a young person dealing with this new sense of uncertainty to hear a voice that echoes their own, processing similar things in the same way. That language is part of what makes this book uniquely qualified as gateway to literature for disaffected youth.

Holden didn’t just talk like me, he felt like me. He was lost and confused, disillusioned with the looming idea of adulthood as the candy-colored façade of his childhood slowly eroded.

Suddenly I didn’t feel so alone in the world.

But I think the thing about Holden that connected with me most was the fact that in spite of being so heavy-hearted, he was consistently hilarious. I mean really funny. I found myself laughing out loud throughout pretty much the entire book and I immediately locked in on the idea that despair could be tempered with humor. It most certainly informed my own artistic endeavors later in life when I pursued my own writing and embarked on the journey of becoming a stand-up comic.

In addition to providing me with a new perspective on myself and the world at large, reading Catcher in the Rye for the first time also made me realize that fiction doesn’t have to be fantasy in order to be engrossing. In fact, sometimes realism can be even more compelling. Nor does it have to fit neatly into one box. It can be humorous and sad, nihilistic and inspiring, heartwarming and gut-wrenching, or all of the above at the same time.

Plus, I finally learned what the hell that lousy title was all about…

Neil Young explored similar themes of teenage disillusionment in the song, "Sugar Mountain", written on his nineteenth birthday. Here's a performance of it from the 1979 concert movie, Rust Never Sleeps.

Banned Books Week 2016: Celebrating our Freedom to Read (September 29th – October 1st)

http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/

Wednesday night's Banned Books Week Bedtime Selection was And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson and illustrated by Henry Cole.

It tells the true story of 2 male penguins, Roy and Silo, who displayed homosexual behavior and were given an egg to care for by their zookeepers at the Central Park Zoo. It’s not hard to guess why this book topped this list of most challenged books every year from 2006 – 2010, except 2009 when it came in second.

The dreaded homosexual agenda…

As expected, a number of concerned parents rushed to have access to this book restricted for fear that it would instill a sense of tolerance and empathy in their still impressionable youths.

Most libraries did not concede and kept the book in regular circulation, but it of course became a lightning rod debate topic for both sides of gay rights debate.

Here’s the thing. In case you haven’t noticed, gay people are everywhere.

And they are to stay. How’s that old saying go?

Get used to it.

Accept the fact that your kids are going to see gay people everywhere.

They are at restaurants. They are at the movies. They are at school. They are walking their dog past your house. And some of them are going to even have families whether you like it or not.

There are opportunities everywhere for you kids to ask you what you may perceive as an awkward question. So why not tackle the issue head on?

While we were reading it, my daughter Olivia did ask "But, where's the mommy?"

Rather than sidestep the issue, my wife and and I explained to her that even though she has a mommy and daddy, some people have 2 daddies, or 2 mommies. And that others only have a mommy, or a daddy and every combination in between. She took a minute to think about it and then said "Just like Kelly's mommy and daddy don't live together?" referring to her older cousin who's parents are not together. We didn't stress the point that some people are gay, but rather that everyone's family is different.

Even if acceptance isn't your thing, you could always use this book to help your kids spot homosexuals so they can avoid them if you want. Because, that's your right whether I like it or not.

Everyone should look at this book as a teaching tool, even if what you’re teaching is in intolerance.

Banned Books Week
Celebrating the Freedom to Read: 09/27-10/03/15
http://www.bannedbooksweek.org

Last night’s Banned Books Week Bedtime selection has been a favorite in our house since my daughter Olivia was a baby. In fact, if you did the math I would bet that it would be high on the list, if not topping it, of the most repeatedly read books in our home.  It’s so special to us, that when my second daughter Claire came home from the hospital a few weeks ago, it was one of the first books that big sister Olivia instinctively chose to “read” to her  to introduce Claire to our sacred family tradition.

I put “read” in quotation marks, because Olivia is three years old.  And while she loves books, and can recognize letters, and maybe an occasional word, she cannot technically read.  She’ll get there eventually, but in the mean time she loves to be read to, or to sit by herself immersed in the illustrations of her favorite picture books.

But Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do you See? with its focus on colors, animals, and most importantly it’s simple and repetitive prose, was the first book that Oliva was able to memorize and recite front to back after repeated readings. And as a result, it was the first book she was able to “read” all by herself, and the first to give her that special feeling of satisfaction one gets after finishing a good book.

​Even though we don’t read it as much as we used to since Olivia has moved onto to more complex stories, it was nice to revisit our old friend Brown Bear again last night.  Especially for me, since it granted a rare reprieve from having to do all the heavy lifting of the actual reading myself. And Olivia even found something new to relate to this time around with the appearance of the teacher near the end of the book.  “I have a teacher now too!” she told me excitedly referring to the fact that she herself recently started  going to school for the first time.

As a cherished family favorite, you can imagine my surprise when I came across this title while reviewing a list of banned children’s books. It simply couldn’t be. I mean, it’s literally just about differently colored animals looking at each other. How could that possibly offend anyone? Did I miss the part of the book where Brown Bear goes into feeding frenzy and violently devours the other animals before setting his sights on the children and their teacher? Was their some hidden sexual innuendo between Purple Cat and Blue Horse that I had somehow missed over the course of countless readings?

I’m happy to report that it was neither of the above.

Although the real reason is somehow even more disturbing…

​It turns out that the reason the Texas Board Education Board saw fit to ban Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? was the fear that it would spread Marxist ideas.

Say what now?

That's right.

According to a 2010 Huffington Post article, Brown Bear was banned from public schools in Texas because the Education Board confused its author, Bill Martin Jr. with Bill Martin, a college professor and author of the book Ethical Marxism: Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation. But keep in mind, this was not just a blanket banning of all “Bill Martin” books. Brown Bear was evaluated individually, and it was determined that it should be banned because the author’s adult work contained "very strong critiques of capitalism and the American system."

This confusion was eventually sorted out and Brown Bear returned to school library shelves all across Texas where it remains to this day, but this story does raise an important question about book banning and intellectual freedom. 

Even if beloved children’s author Bill Martin Jr. was a card carrying member of the communist party, how does that make the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? inappropriate for children?

I can see the logic of not shelving Ethical Marxism: Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation in grade school libraries based on reading level alone. I’m 38 and I struggled to comprehend a general synopsis of the book without getting lost in philosophical jargon. But how anyone could read Brown Bear and infer any kind of hidden agenda other than teaching kids to recognize animals and colors is beyond me.  It is literally one of the most simplistic books ever written.

Despite this fact, a group of educated adults whose job it is to facilitate education, had a meeting, discussed the content of this book, and decided that it should be banned based purely on a reaction to communist paranoia.  And let me remind you that this happened in 2010, not during the Red Scare of the 1940's and '50's. Or even the Cold War of the 1980's...

This kind of dangerous thinking is exactly what makes Banned Books Week still so relevant today. There are a lot of scared people out there making irrational decisions that infringe not only on our intellectual freedom, but on our children’s as well.

​ If knowledge is power, then we must stay vigilant to ensure that we  have access to the knowledge and ideas contained within the pages of books.

Even if that knowledge is just learning to recognize colors and animals….

Banned Books Week
​Celebrating the freedom to read: September 27th to October 3rd, 2015
For more information: http://www.bannedbooksweek.org

In honor of Banned Books Week, every night this week, my daughter Olivia (age 3) and I are going to celebrate our intellectual freedom by reading a frequently banned or challenged book at bedtime to see if we can get to the bottom of what all the fuss is about. 

Our first selection was In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak.

It ranked 25th place on the "100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000" list compiled by the American Library Association primarily because of it's depiction of the protagonist, a toddler named Mickey, in the nude.

Over the years some librarians took it upon themselves to paint a diaper on Mickey, while others felt burning the book itself was a more effective form of censorship.

The book, a 1971 Caldecott recipient, is a beautifully illustrated fantasy that is perfect for ushering your little ones off into dreamland. Inspired by the Little Nemo comic strips of the early 20th Century and Sendak's fascination with Disney and Mickey Mouse in particular, the format is similar to that of a comic book, using sequential art and speech balloons to tell the story of Mickey's dreamy adventures in the Night Kitchen.

​So the question is, is this book appropriate for children? 

Absolutely.

Anyone too uptight to share this book with their child based on mild nudity is depriving them of the experience of  a truly wonderful work of art. My daughter thought it was "a really great book" and she was fascinated by the vibrant illustrations that jumped off the page and drew her into the magical world of Mickey's imagination.

You can watch animator Gene Deitch's faithful 1987 adaptation here:

Yes, Mickey is shown naked, including (GASP!) his penis, but his anatomy is depicted tastefully and discreetly. In fact, while reading the book last night, Olivia did not even seem to notice it. And even if she had, it would have been an opportunity for us to discuss the difference between girls and boys, not something to be embarrassed about or shy away from.  

Some extremists have even suggested that the milky white imagery and so-called "phallic" milk jug represent a manifestation of Sendak's homosexuality. But in my opinion, there is nothing inherently sexual here, and any adults who perceive such overtones are certainly projecting them on it themselves. 

And as far as a young child's interpretation of the book, who can relate to the fun of running around naked more than a toddler? My daughter is three and she thinks being naked is hysterical.

In fact she's probably at home doing "The Naked Dance" right now. 

Banned Books Week
​Celebrating the freedom to read: September 27th to October 3rd, 2015
For more information: http://www.bannedbooksweek.org

A few weeks ago a friend tagged me in a Facebook meme challenging me to name ten books that have “stayed with me” after reading them. One of the ten books I listed was Jeff Smith’s sprawling fantasy series, Bone.  

If you’re not “in the know”, Bone is an “all ages” graphic novel which tells the story of the three cousins, Fone Bone, Phoney Bone and Smiley Bone, who after being outcast from their home of Boneville  embark on an epic adventure where they encounter a myriad of people and creatures as they find themselves unlikely heroes who attempt to save the world from a race of evil rat creatures and their master, the Lord of Locusts. 

Although the three main characters look as if they stepped off the pages of the Sunday Funnies, do not be fooled.  Yes, there is a lot of humor to be found here, but the story is much deeper than you would expect with drama and character development on par with Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings trilogy.  I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys graphic novels, fantasy, or just great writing. 

The true brilliance of Bone is that it tells a story complex and engaging enough for adults while still remaining completely accessible to grade school age children. The internet is full of parents and kids alike praising the merits of Bone and crediting Jeff Smith with sparking their love of reading.  Personally, I can’t wait until my daughter is old enough to be introduced this classic.

So you can imagine my surprise when I found out that this series of books, which has introduced countless kids to the joy of reading, was named among the top ten most banned books of 2013.

Wait, what?

So, in honor of Banned Books Week, I thought I would take a few minutes to defend, and endorse, what is, in my opinion, a masterpiece of modern storytelling. This is especially fitting since BBW is focusing on the graphic novels this year.

The chief complaints from parents who have challenged the series is that it ”promotes drinking, smoking, and gambling” and because of  “political viewpoint, racism,  violence and horror”.

Yes, some of the characters in Bone do drink, smoke and gamble. But it should be noted that the characters who do indulge in these vices are typically depicted as being buffoonish and are in not intended to be “role models”.  

I have got some news for these parents, people in the real world smoke, drink and gamble too. And your kids are going to be exposed to it whether you like it or not. Why not take this opportunity to have an open discussion with your children about these things and explain to them how and why these habits can be harmful? 

The accusations of “political viewpoint” and “racism” are laughable. There are a variety of different creatures in the world of Bone that the cousins encounter along their journey. And Smith does indeed touch on the ways that these races coexists within that world, but he does so in a thoughtful and respectful way that mirrors the reality of our own society. 

Again, this would be a great opportunity for a discussion with you kids about how the real world works. Perhaps if we start having open and honest discussions with our children about how people of different races or beliefs interact we might actually be able to evolve our society out of this quagmire of prejudice and knee-jerk left/right politics we find ourselves in now.

As far as "violence and horror' goes, there is nothing in Bone beyond the level of what you would find in any Disney movie. The rat creatures are kinda creepy though...

This is why Banned Book Week is so important. It shines a light on the root cause of much of the world’s turmoil, ignorance.  Too many people out there would rather shelter their kids from the real world instead of preparing them for it. Give your kids some credit. You might find that they are smarter that you think. If you assume that you children are "not ready" to handle certain topics, you are ensuring that they never will be.  

Books can and should inspire discussions about controversial issues because in case you haven’t noticed, the world is full of them.   

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community –- librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types –- in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular. For more info check out http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/.

For  information on Jeff Smith and his work go to http://www.boneville.com/.