Today I'm turning over the reigns to another fellow author, Cindy Young Turner, author of
Thief of Hope. She's talking about Banned Books, and her own favorite from her childhood -
THE OUTSIDERS, by S.E. Hinton.
My Favorite Banned Book, by Cindy Young-Turner
There are a number of books on the banned books like that
I’d consider favorites. One of the most memorable was The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I think I was in middle school when I
read it and I got it from one of the Scholastic book clubs. Those things were
great. I was probably one of the only kids who ordered books like All Quiet on the Western Front and some
book about a nuclear holocaust. Nothing but light reading for me!
That’s why I loved The
Outsiders so much. It felt so real and it was so different from what I was
used to as a kid growing up in a quiet suburb of Massachusetts. The Outsiders had tough kids trying to
make it on their own, but mostly it was about loyalty and friendship and
family. It was easy to relate to Ponyboy and his struggles, and I loved his
interest in writing because I was also a young writer. It’s one of the first
books I remember making me cry, and if you’ve read the book, you know why I
did.
The
Outsiders has been banned because of its realistic portrayal of ‘60s
gang violence and family dysfunction (per Wikipedia), plus teen smoking and
drinking. These days a book like that seems tame. YA is a lot edgier now (how
many people died hideous deaths over the course of the Hunger Games trilogy?)
and authors are often pushing the boundaries. But these are problems kids deal
with on a regular basis. We all want to read books that reflect our experiences
and the world around us. Violence and gangs are still an issue, dysfunctional
families are still an issue. You can’t sugarcoat the world because kids will
see right through it.
I’m happy to say that my parents never censored my reading
when I was young. The library was a magical place where I spent a lot of time.
I remember the children’s/YA section was an entire floor. My mom would go
upstairs to the adult section and I’d have free reign of the basement floor. In
looking over the list of banned books, I’ve read quite a few of them. I hope to
instill the same love of reading and curiosity and open-mindedness in my own
daughter. And when she’s old enough, I’ll happily share my paperback copy of The Outsiders with her.
Sydney, a street urchin and pickpocket in the town of Last Hope, has
managed to evade the oppressive Guild for years, but there is no
escaping fate when she's sentenced to death for associating with the
resistance. After she's rescued by a wizard, Sydney is forced to
accept that magic-long outlawed throughout the Kingdom of Thanumor-still
exists, and the Tuatha, a powerful faery folk, are much more than
ancient myth and legend. When the wizard offers a chance to fight the
Guild and bring Willem, bastard prince and champion of the Tuatha, to
the throne, Sydney embraces the cause as a way to find her own
redemption. But Sydney's fear of the Guild, distrust of authority,
and surprising connection to the Tuatha threaten Willem's success. Can
she untangle the strange threads that entwine her life not only to the
fate of the kingdom, but also to Willem himself?
About the Author:
Cindy has always been an avid reader and became
fascinated by mythology and Arthurian legends at a young age. She quickly
decided she enjoyed creating her own worlds and characters and set to work
writing her own stories. She won her first writing contest at age twelve, a
short story inspired by the style of Edgar Allan Poe. Branching her interests
from mythology to classic supernatural tales to medieval history and then to
fantasy seemed to be a logical progression. Her fantasy novel, Thief of Hope, was published in 2011.
A native New Englander, Cindy currently lives in the
Mid-Atlantic region with her family and each year wishes for more snow. Visit
her at her website at www.cindyyoungturner.com
