Stuck choosing between a banned book for my kid's school project and an approved one that felt watered down

My 8th grader had to pick a book on government censorship for history class, the school library had a list of approved titles but none of them actually talked about real bans happening today. I let him pick a book that's actually banned in a few districts nearby, and now I'm getting side-eyes from the PTA moms who think I'm pushing an agenda. Has anyone else had to choose between telling your kid the truth about what's banned and keeping the peace at school events?

2 comments

2 Comments

jenny58015d ago

I let my kid read the banned book too. The watered down versions are useless for a school project on censorship. You're not pushing an agenda, you're showing him what real censorship looks like.

grant72815d ago

The school library near us had 12 approved books on censorship and only one of them even mentioned the word "ban" in the title lol. @jenny580 is exactly right about the watered down versions being useless. My kid's project ended up way stronger because he could actually cite real examples from that banned book instead of some generic government textbook. The PTA moms can side-eye all they want but theyre not the ones helping their kid understand why some books get pulled from shelves. I got a similar lecture last year and just told them straight up that my kid chose the book himself after reading both options. At the end of the day these kids are old enough to start thinking critically about what information gets kept from them and a school project is the perfect place for that.

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