Book Bans
The School Board Should Have Read It, Too.
A former middle school teacher reads the Holocaust novel Escambia County pulled from elementary shelves and finds that the “compromise” is still a ban.
When the Escambia County School Board pulled Jane Yolen’s The Devil’s Arithmetic from elementary school shelves, I realized that the school board members and many of those arguing for its removal had never read the book.
- So I asked a former Alabama middle school teacher with a master’s degree in education, who has since moved to Pensacola, to read it. What follows is her take on the book.
Former Middle School Teacher’s Review
When I downloaded The Devil’s Arithmetic to Kindle, I noticed that most of the reviews were from adults. Either they were parents who read along with their child’s curriculum, or they were reading it because Escambia County removed it.
- If we are going to remove books from our shelves, we at least owe the book’s authors and perhaps even their fans a thoughtful and carefully worded explanation of why we feel the book is dangerous, subversive, or otherwise objectionable.
We really got none of that from the Escambia County School Board.
- Still, I was glad I wasn’t the only one who thought it was worthwhile to actually read the book.
The Story
- Author: Jane Yolen
- Main character: Hannah, 13
- Setting: A modern Passover Seder, then 1942 Poland
- Reading level: 4.6
- Where it is now: Middle and high school libraries only
As the book opens, a 13-year-old girl named Hannah is acting like any other 13-year-old at her family’s Passover Seder. She is being a jerk. Bored with her aunt’s and grandfather’s stories, she is rude and scowling. When she opens the front door for the prophet Elijah as part of the Seder ritual, she is mysteriously, and not quite convincingly, transported back in time to 1942 Poland.
From there on in, I loved it.
What Stayed With Me
The Greeks. After the school board meeting where the book’s subject matter and the Holocaust came up, Rick interviewed Steve Nissim, who lost members of his Greek family to concentration camps. (It’s a spectacular conversation; I encourage anyone who hasn’t listened or watched to do so.)
- I had not realized how many Greek Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, so it was still on my mind as I was reading.
When Hannah first arrives at the camp, Rivka tells her not to stand beside the Greeks during “choosing.”
Why? The Greeks had a difficult time understanding German when they arrived, so rather than deal with a few seconds of misunderstanding, they just killed anyone they thought was Greek immediately so as not to waste time with them.
- Wow. Steve… wow.
Rivka. Rivka is the wry observer and a great character. At ten, she has watched her parents die and lost her brother and knows the tricks necessary to stay alive day to day. Every day you survive is a good day.
The language of the camp. One of her directives really made an impression upon me. Around the Germans, you don’t use plain language. People are not killed, merely “chosen.” There are no corpses at their feet, only “drek.”
“Why?” Hannah asks Rivka.
“Because what is not recorded cannot be blamed,” Rivka tells her.
- The theme. Someone has to survive so someone can remember. It is the lesson Hannah learns: the importance of standing witness when others cannot.
- Books can do that too.
Not going to tell you the twist, because I want you to read it, too, but…I cried at the end.
- Yes, it is the Holocaust, and people die in it. But my grandmother told me how Hitler killed children when I was five years old. It was upsetting, yes, but it was the message she wanted me to get, and I got it. There are some things kids need to be wary of.
Moved Is Still Removed
Of course, by the time I read the book, it had been snuck back onto the bookshelves of Escambia County middle and high schools, and everyone has congratulated each other for not actually banning it but placing it more appropriately in middle and high schools.
- I am not convinced that is any explanation, nor is it any “win.”
As I said, it starts pretty hokey for a high school kid. By the time I was in high school, I’d want some scientific creativity to explain how you walk out a 1988 door into 1942. At least a flux capacitor or something.
The book, I see from my trusty Gen X Google Machine, is aimed at a 4.6 reading level. That is elementary school, people. The exact age group it is meant for, therefore, has no access to it.
- And I suppose, since it is not in elementary school libraries, a teacher who tried to teach it to his or her class, even if the students were gifted, would probably get in a heck of a lot of trouble with the book police.
There have been a lot of these sorts of excuses with various books: they aren’t removing them; they are just removing them from inappropriate readers like elementary students or middle school students.
As if that isn’t banning the books.
- It is. They are.
Kids Read Beyond Their Grade Level
I can tell you, as a former near-sighted bookish girl: kids read beyond their grade level. Grade levels mark the most mundane average, and who wants that?
- A gifted child who likes to read should be handed one book after another for as long as they keep wanting to digest them. They should have the right to move ahead.
- To not get bored out of their minds reading books, they probably already read it two years ago when their sister had it lying around because that is what smart kids do.
- Smart kids devour ideas. They devour thoughts and colors and expressions, and they move ahead and beyond what is expected of them. THAT IS A GOOD THING.
Fire needs oxygen; smart kids need a constant river of ideas, and it is wrong to prevent them access.
Taking books away from a young reader is nearly abusive.
- And it is even more wrong to persecute teachers for trying to give good students works that could inspire them.