Crazy Lady: One Of The Banned Books

Numerous amounts of public libraries and schools all around the world eagerly call for the banning of books hoping to have certain titles removed from the book shelves. Crazy Lady! written by Jane Leslie Conly was published in 1993. This book is mainly about a teenage boy named Vernon whose mother died while he was younger and he has to deal with the struggles of family, friends, school, and just life in general. It deals with alcoholism, adult illiteracy, and bullying. With that being said, this book is one of the many books banned today. The reason it’s banned is due to the offensive language used throughout the book. The act of banning is legally prohibiting something from being where it once was. A book can be banned for more than one reason.The top three reasons books are banned is because of offensive language, having too much sexual activity,and the material being unsuited to specific age groups. There is a process books must go through in order for them to become officially banned.It begins with the individual who is issuing a challenge.A challenge is an attempt to remove materials based off of objections or a person or group.If the challenge is successful it will go through as a ban. Even though Crazy Lady! is not appropriate for a younger audience, it does give mature audiences a message they should take when done reading.Therefore this book should not be banned. Although it contains the use of offensive language kids are eventually going to be exposed to it in the future. It’s easy to encourage kids to read books that they can relate to.Writers have to reflect kids’ world in the most veracious way possible, which often means using the kind of language young people really use, immorality and al1.

Profanity is against certain religions such as christianity , so therefore the use of this type of language in this book makes parents believe that if their children are reading this book they’re religion is being disrespected.The thing about this is if the parents feel as such they need to examine the book before letting their child read it.It’s unfair to others because there may be a lot of people who would enjoy reading this book ,but they’re unable to because it’s banned .According to source 2 it states, “At Seymour,Texas,Elementary School, a complaint was filed because the book was using God’s name in vain” (Solonor 1).The author of the source tells the reader this because it’s obvious that the person who challenged this book is a christian. It’s a sin to use God’s name in vain. They believe that doing this is a way of saying that God himself is worthless which is absolutely disrespectful to them.There may also be a lot of people who would be able to take the message that’s provided in this book and learn from it.Which implies how people must take the time to truly understand each other because it’s not okay to falsely judge someone.It also explains how everyone has a burden to bear and a story to tell.

Since the main reason for banning this book is because of the use offensive language let’s try to see the bigger picture,a lot of people feel as though this is okay.The fact that swearing is basically used in the everyday kids are going to eventually be exposed to it. According to Estop, ‘Literature is often held to a higher standard than “lesser” forms of media , like TV and movies” (Estop 1).When it comes to the media,TV, and movies using offensive language society doesn’t make it that big of deal,but when it comes to literature it’s like the end of the world when that shouldn’t be the case.One can’t tell another person how to raise their child , but at the same time all kids are going to end up being exposed to offensive language or swearing words it’s reality whether one likes it or not.

My research on why Crazy Lady! by Jane Leslie Conly was banned is because use of the offensive language,that many people find inappropriate for kids to read.Many feel as though this book is not suitable for children to read under the fifth grade level in which is understandable. The use of profanity is found to be going against certain religions,but kids are going to be exposed to it at some point in their life.I find it very selfish that this book is banned.There is a little amount of swearing sprinkled here and there throughout the book, in which I find nothing to be wrong with.Books should not be held to a higher a standard than any other media site or TV show when it comes to swearing in the course of a story that a younger person might encounter.