Found out my school district banned a book I read in 8th grade

I was looking up old favorites from middle school last Tuesday and found out my old district in Phoenix banned "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" back in 2021. It won a National Book Award and I remember it being super honest about racism and poverty. I guess some parents complained about a few scenes involving sex or drinking. It weirded me out because I learned a lot from that book about what other kids deal with. Has anyone else had a book from their own childhood get banned later on?

2 comments

2 Comments

taylor_fox1mo ago

I actually just read an article about this exact topic a few days ago. It talked about how banning books like "The Absolutely True Diary" actually makes kids more curious about the stuff in them because now it feels like forbidden knowledge. I get that parents want to protect their kids but this book helped me understand what it's like growing up on a reservation and dealing with real problems. That's way more valuable than pretending those problems don't exist. The article mentioned that a lot of these banned books end up being the ones that teach empathy the best. It just feels like adults are trying to rewrite history instead of letting kids learn from it.

sean_park81mo ago

Wait, did you say Phoenix banned it? I think it was actually the Tucson school district, not Phoenix. But either way it's messed up that it got pulled from anywhere in Arizona. I read that book in 9th grade and it was one of the few things that actually made me think about how different people grow up. The whole reason it's powerful is that it doesn't sugarcoat stuff like poverty or getting drunk at parties. Kids already know that stuff exists, pretending it doesn't by banning books just makes them trust adults less. It's crazy to me that a National Book Award winner gets treated like it's dangerous when it's literally just trying to show reality.