Beloved by Toni Morrison

Moderator---Kathy

The past and the present come together as the story of Sethe, a runaway slave, is told.  For a mere 28 days, she is content and happy in her new home at 124 Bluestone Rd., Cincinnati.  She is safe with her 4 children and her mother-in-law.  She has freedom and she has love.  Then, in the blink of an eye, her whole world forever changes. 

Even though she is no longer in slave territory, she is still a runaway.  The authorities show up to take her and the children back to Kentucky from where she escaped.  She makes a decision on the spot that will forever impact and haunt her life. 

Slavery left a terrible legacy on America and this novel gives an in-depth look at it.  It won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature.  Beloved was made into a movie starring Oprah Winfrey in 1998.

(From our Banned Books series)

It ranks 26th on the American Library Association's list of the top 100 most frequently banned books.  It was banned from the AP English classes at a high school in Louisville, Ky.  It has been challenged by various schools, including a high school in Salem, Mi.  Just last year, a mother in Fairfax Co., Va. wanted it banned from classrooms.  The reasons most used for wanting a ban are that the book depicts bestiality, gang rape and infanticide.

Sethe's Supper:

Ham and cheese croissants,

Frosted sugar cookies and macaroons,

Bread pudding topped with pecans and

whipped cream

 Bans/Challenges???

I understand the challenges to making it a must read, but I still

do not feel any book should be banned, unless, of course, the

objective is to guarantee that people will read it.  Because, really,

what kid wouldn't read a book his or her parents said they

should not read. 

--Kathy

 Though the story gives a close-up look at slavery, it has sexual content

that some school districts and parents might be uncomfortable

with.  I understand how is has been banned/challenged and

don't disagree with that. The bans and challenges have been

to the mandatory reading and discussion of the book as part of the

curriculum, not to the book itself.

--Dee Dee