AHH I was suppose to go to the church picnic today and I have no idea what happened. I was looking forward to going this year and spending some time with my friends. Ugh anyways school was over on thursday and we had a ceremony/celebration thing at UCSF from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M. It was fun and I will surely miss all of my T.A.s and teacher. On Friday I really wanted to spend my time with daycamp but I was scheduled to go ice-skating with my class. I had lots of fun. It was great and I didn't fall.. Wee......anyways it was a blast and I can't believe that after 2 years I conquered my fear of ice-skating. It wasn't as cold as the first time I went but then again I did fall many time on the ice. So yeah I liked my writing class. I wrote a persuasive essay on the last week and here it is below. You can read it if you want but you don't have to. I just like posting my work here. So that's it. I hope that every had fun that went on the church picnic.
~Bye Bye~

Book Banning
by Wendy Lee

Banning books from the public has saddened many of the world’s readers. Banning books such as the Harry Potter series, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl is wrong and sets boundaries on the readers of today. Many of the books being banned today are “non-peaceful,” and the banners are trying to make the environment safer for their children and the future by banning these books. However, by restricting us to safe and boring books, banners are actually making sure that we don’t think of other possibilities, that we don’t think of the abnormal, that we are not exposed to our own imaginary thoughts. Book banning violates our first amendment right of freedom of speech by not allowing us to choose what we want to read. Books have taught me a lot – they have changed me into a better person - they would expand our world if many people could read them. We as human beings on Earth have learned a lot from reading and to take books away from us would take away our usage of inner deep or 'out of the box,’ thinking.

One of the many books that people are fighting to be banned are the Harry Potter Series. Christian writer, Berit Kjos notes that children are more vulnerable to fantasy stories such as Harry Potter because they may view the imaginary world as much more fun compared to the real world. That may be true in some cases but children are children and no one can stop that no matter what. They have minds like a child and they need to be one until they are ready to give it all up in exchange for a teenage life. In an essay written by Zack H from Stafford, VA says, “ Children cannot be sheltered from the world simply by being kept from reading about it. Profanity, violence, racism, and sex are all parts of the world we live in.” That is exactly what I am saying. “ Our world is sometimes a shameful place, and the first step is overcoming the world’s shamefulness is to educate ourselves about it’s immoralities." He is right and I know that he is saying that our world is full of mistakes and wrongful doings but if you want to reduce those things then you have to learn about them and be very knowledgeable about it in order to take tiny steps and be better.

I have read a book called Of Mice and Men and it is an extraordinary book. I know that in many places the book is banned but only for it’s word contents. Besides the bad language, there are wonderful vocabulary words in there. I read the book and knew the story but what I really loved was I learned more about writing structures. John Steinbeck the author of the amazing book had really used a lot of strategies that made me believe I was actually there seeing everything before my eyes. It was on the list of the most frequently challenged books of 1990-2000. The Giver, also a wonderful book was on the same list but I don’t understand why people would want to ban it. It clearly described another world where everything was organized and there were no choices. It gave me an understanding of how thankful I should be of my world. It took me to another dimension where I wouldn’t have to worry about anything but everything was arranged for me. It seems to me that most of the books on the list are banned on account of the content of sex or sexual language, description, or information. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury clearly shows a good example of what happens to people when they are not revealed to certain books but in this case all books. Montage, the main character, realizes his inner feelings and compares himself with the outer world. He recognizes the importance of books of many genres, thick or thin, bad or good. He saw them as a way to fix mistakes, to find solutions to problems without repeating history. Though not every book is banned in our world today, taking away one is like removing an idea that we can expand into numerous new theories or opinions.

You might say that by presenting every book to the world, it might lead to many problems and insecurity because everyone has the freedom to have thoughts but that’s the beauty of our world. Everyone should have a saying in all things that they’re involved in. You might think that violence will arise and obstacles will threaten people’s lives and they would live in fear and disappointment but books only lead to wonders of one’s own mind. There is a difference between fiction and nonfiction and when people understand the differences and the variance between wrong and right, they would know what to do. Banning books has not changed anything. An individual learns by what she or he sees and hears. At the same time, the person also knows what is wrong and right so if they know, then we don’t have to worry about them reading the book, for they wouldn’t be influenced by it. Restraining humans to particular things causes a dull world that doesn’t put their minds into work. It leaves them empty of feelings. Books with topics like sex in them shouldn’t be banned from the public because one day this issue will be exposed to people anyway. Some say that they are pro on banning books because it teaches children about peer pressure, thinking for themselves, talking animals, animals that smoke, or it may be racist and or sexist, etc. I don’t think that talking animals has anything to do with a person’s mind. People/children should be able to think for themselves and if you can’t, then you have no freedom of speech. We all know that racism/sexism is wrong and there is no doubt about it, therefore what people read will not influence them to be a certain way.

I am against banning books because first of all it limits the people in the world to only the way that it is real. Secondly, it’s hiding great pieces of writing from those who want to learn, and finally the world we live in would be one of misery because no one would think about the unattainable. Everyone needs to give it a chance and live a little because books are an issue in the world. Many people say that our children are not reading enough but you won’t allow them to read what they love to read. Banning books won’t solve anything and most of the reasons for banning books are not a big issue. Many of the issues will be exposed to most of them somewhere along the line. So why ban books when books are part of everyone’s life and a great tool? I say that we should let everyone read whatever he or she wants and make the world a little more educated. Banning books is wasting and destroying minds.