Mad, Bad and Wicked: Censorship in School Libraries and its Subversion
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single school in possession of a library must censor its collection. Or so we suspected.
Schools are inevitably ideologically charged institutions that represent precise social and historical concerns of their times, and function with their own frameworks of disciplining/ shaping the cultural understanding of their students. It follows that certain texts would be considered inflammatory, unsuitable, or too dangerous for students (children) to read... texts that could turn them mad, bad or wicked!
Along with the educators and administrators of these educational institutions, parents, peers, and even children themselves may participate in the act of censorship. It also follows that young readers would be keen to access forbidden texts and and f...