From books about talking animals to a questioning patient in a psychiatric hospital, many works that are banned in other districts across the U.S. are included in Gunn’s English curriculum. English teacher Terence Kitada has taught these books in his ninth-grade classes and the Art of Visual Storytelling because of their academic value. “A lot of what the content has to offer is insights into the human condition, which is really what English class is all about,” he said. “Although some of those books are kind of scary or controversial and contain some things that are not wonderful to read all the time, that’s part of life and is part of what people go through.”
Kitada ensures that he also addresses why works are banned while teaching them. For instance, with Khaled Hosseini’s “Kite Runner,” Kitada notes how it was banned due to sexually explicit scenes. “It would be irresponsible if I just handed the class the book to read,” he said. “You do need to give warnings and talk about what’s going to happen.” Kitada similarly prepares his class for books that contain racist language, such as Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.” “It’s certainly a historical text, and the language is accurate for the time, but I also think about what the impact is of sharing some of the language with audiences in 2023, where that type of language towards Black people is no longer acceptable,” he said.
During the 2022-23 school year, 30% of banned books were about race or featured people of color, and 26% had LGBTQ+ characters or themes, according to PEN America, a non-profit nationwide organization that advocates for human rights through literature. According to Kitada, book banning is less about protecting students from inappropriate content and more about excluding specific communities’ stories. “The harm, really, is limiting knowledge,” he said. “Maybe for younger audiences, the students might not have the skills to read a text and deduce the larger thematic ideas. But at the high-school level, you all are old enough to read texts and understand for yourself how you feel and how your own values shine onto that text.”
One of Kitada’s favorite books to teach is Art Spiegelman’s “Maus,” a graphic novel that follows the experiences of the author’s father during the Holocaust. The book was banned in Tennessee at the beginning of 2022 due to inappropriate language and a drawing of a naked mouse illustrating the author’s mother after she died by suicide. “It’s such an important graphic novel, and it had such an impact on comic books in general, so that’s one of my favorite ones to teach,” Kitada said. “It’s just like Spiegelman said, how he was just kind of shocked that people would ban his book so far into the 21st century. He’s kind of appalled that that would happen, and I have the same mindset. I want to know more about the people who felt like this is not appropriate for kids to read.”
Kitada believes that it’s worth examining whether those who have banned books understand what they’re banning. “It’s worth discussing why it is banned if it’s been for violence or language, and thinking about, worldwide, what the point of banning books is,” he said.
—Written by Safina Syed
Art Spiegelman’s “Maus” is banned due to inappropriate language and nudity.
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