Forbidden Fruit

I recently had several conversations with my youngest son about books he wanted to read, that I'd said no to. This doesn't happen very often (so far, this is the only occasion!) so naturally he wanted to know why. I won't name the author, but the books are, in my opinion, facist, homophobic, classist, mysoginistic - you name it, they tick the box. Plus, they are just not that well written. His argument was that if they were so bad, why were they so popular and why did his school library have them? My response was to try to explain about the power of marketing campaigns and the selling power of celebrity endorsements etc. This mollified him a little bit, but he still had another argument up his sleeve. 'But Mum, you said X's books were also racist, sexist and classist and you still let me read them.'

My husband put forward a similar argument when I spoke to him about it. The key difference for me was that the latter books were a) of their time and b) romping good stories written by a proper children's author. The former are neither. Therefore, in my opinion, they were worth reading and then having a discussion about the content I was less comfortable with. In fact, this is exactly what we did - we listened to them in the car on Audible and I paused it whenever something problematic was said and we discussed why those views/stereotypes are inappropriate.

However, this whole conversation got me thinking about banned books, because in general, I have a major problem with this. I believe passionately in freedom of speech and I believe books should be written which may be considered distasteful because it opens up a dialogue about taboo subjects. However, I effectively banned my son from reading something he wants to, on the grounds that I don't approve of it. So, does that make me a hypocrite? Where should the line be drawn between what is acceptable and what isn't? I think, for me, it's about influence. If the books were well written and it was simply the content I didn't like, I think I would be more prepared to read alongside him and have those discussions. I think my real issue is that there are so many utterly brilliant, proper children's authors out there, that I simply don't understand why you wouldn't choose to read them instead. It's also a question of knowing my own child - he is very easily influenced and is not yet able to discern fully between his own genuinely held views and values and those he has picked up because he's heard someone else say it. When he's older, he can read them if that's what he wants to do, because hopefully he will, by then, have a developed enough character to recognise the author's prejudices and ignore them.

These books have all been banned at some point in their lives.

Possibly the most famous example of a banned book. Its trial for decency caused waves amongst literary and social circles alike. For me, it's one of my favourite reads. Partly, this is because it's a brilliant book and partly it's because I was allowed, at 14, to watch the BBC adaptation starring Sean Bean and Joely Richardson, marking the first time I felt my parents had acknowledged I was growing up.

I read Lolita when I was a teenager and beginning my love affair with classic literature. It was an odd one and I suspect I would have distinctly different feelings were I to re-read it as an adult. Banned because of its attitude towards under-age sex, it is still regarded as a classic novel.

I read this when I was completing the BBC's list of 100 books everyone should read and it was one of the ones I thoroughly enjoyed. It is beautifully written and the sense of inevitability as the story unfolds is heartbreaking. This was banned for its attitude towards religion and its criticism of the Vietnam War.

Another one I read as part of the BBC's list. I struggled to get into this at first, but within a few chapters I was hooked and desperately wanted Stephen to be happy. This book was banned because of the lesbian love story at its heart.

This is, I think, a modern classic of YA literature. I read the books when they were first published and fell in love with Lyra and her world straight away. So much so, that when the second trilogy was published, I was reluctant to read them in case they weren't as good (they really are!). This series was banned because of its criticism of organised religion.