Day They Came To Arrest The Bk (Hentoff)

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Description: Day They Came To Arrest The Bk (Hentoff)

Genre: School and Education; Juvenile Fiction / School and Education; Children's Books - Young Adult Fiction; Fiction; Censorship; School stories;

Average Review: 4 stars

Review: A great read that covers all sides of the censorship debate with respect: Censorship has long been a hot-button issue, especially in the last 25 years or so as special interest groups have sustained a fierce battle against some of the greatest pieces of literature ever written. Teachers, administrators, librarians, parents, school boards, and students all over the country have become embroiled over arguments that many of us find patently absurd. It wouldn't be so bad if it were just a matter of individuals declaring a book offensive and refusing to read it themselves; the problem comes with the fact that these people band together in an attempt to legislate morality for all the rest of us, especially the nation's students. When a classic such as Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn comes under attack, it's downright impossible not to take sides, and the debate all too often devolves into righteous indignation and, before you know it, personal attacks and the most uncivil of arguments. The great significance of The Day They Came to Arrest the Book is the fact that author Nat Hentoff manages to present all sides of the censorship argument in a passionate yet objective manner, addressing the main arguments and analogies in revealing, respectful ways. It can surely help those in its target audience, teenagers and young adults, examine the evidence and determine their own beliefs on this sensitive issue. All too often, the most vociferous young voices on the side of censorship are really just jumping on the bandwagon of their peers or using the issue as a means for getting out of English assignments or class altogether. This novel demonstrates the real significance of the whole issue, as it really gets down to the root of our constitutional rights and liberties as Americans. It's no accident that the high school in this novel is named George Mason High - George Mason was, of course, the great American patriot who wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights and went on to earn the appellation "Father of the Bill of Rights." (Sadly, most public school students have probably never even been introduced to him in their history classes.) As for the story at hand, the trouble stems from a high school teacher's use of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in her American History class. One of her black students feels offended by Twain's use of the "n word," and within hours his father is calling upon the principal, who has the misfortune of being named Michael Moore (this novel was published in 1982), and insisting that Twain's classic novel not only be removed from his son's history class required reading list but also removed from the shelves of the library. In the past, Moore had been able to coerce the librarian to do a little secretive de-selection of books challenged in such a way, but the new librarian stands firm in her resolve to abide by the formal rules, which call for a special review board to determine the book's "guilt." The history teacher, for her part, settles in to fight like a banshee for Huck Finn. Our eyes and ears for much of the ensuing action is Barney Roth, editor of the school newspaper, who has to decide how far he will go in support of his own strong views on the dangers of censorship. The most impressive thing about this novel is that fact that there really are no bad guys on either side; the only bad guy is the principal, who cares only about his own image and has done some extremely questionable things in the past to avoid controversy. As the debate over Huck Finn works its way from teachers and parents to the school board, the general public, and eventually a national audience, all voices and opinions are given equal treatment. I might also add that the battle lines are not drawn along strict racial lines, either - nor strictly ideological ones. We see how Barney's story for the student newspaper can affect the status of the newspaper's faculty advisor, how the former librarian sacrificed her principles in order to keep a job she loved, and how someone like this particular principal uses his position to intimidate those who threaten to rock the boat. Obviously, one side has to win out for the novel to have any sort of closure, but both sides emerge with a greater measure of respect for their opponents' thoughts and ideas - and strained friendships are firmly renewed. This really is an excellent novel designed to challenge teenaged (as well as adult) readers to come to their own conclusions about the issue of censorship.