This beautiful chapter from Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize Winning The Color Purple:

Dear Nettie,

I don’t write to God no more, I write to you.
What happen to God? ast Shug.
Who that? I say.
She look at me serious.
Big a devil as you is, I say, you not worried bout no God, surely.
She say, Wait a minute. Hold on just a minute here. Just because I don’t harass it like some peoples us know don’t mean I ain’t got religion.
What God do for me? I ast.
She say, Celie! Like she shock. He gave you life, good health, and a good woman that love you to death.
Yeah, I say, and he give me a lynched daddy, a crazy mamma, a lowdown dog of a step pa and a sister I probably won’t ever see again. Anyhow, I say, the God I been praying and writing to is a man. And act just like all the other mens I know. Trifling, forgetful and lowdown.
She say, Miss Celie, you better hush. God might hear you.
Let ‘im hear me, I say. If he ever listened to poor colored women the world would be a different place, I can tell you…
…I is a sinner, say Shug. Cause I was born. I don’t deny it. But once you find out what’s out there waiting for us, what else can you be?
Sinners have more good times, I say.
You know why? she ast.
Cause you ain’t all the time worrying about God, I say.
Naw, that ain’t it, she say. Us worry bout God a lot. But once us feel loved by God, us do the best us can to please him with what us like.
You telling me God love you, and you ain’t never done nothing for him? I mean, not go to church, sing in the choir, feed the preacher and all like that.
But if God love me, Celie, I don’t have to do all that. Unless I want to. There’s a lot of other things I can do that I speck God likes.
Like what? I ast.
Oh, she say. I can lay back and just admire stuff. Be happy. Have a good time.
Well, this sound like blasphemy sure nuff.
She say, celie, tell the truth, have you ever found God in church? I never did. I just found a bunch of folks hoping for him to show. Any God I ever felt in church I brought in with me. And I think all the other folks did too. They come to church to share God, not find God.

That’s more theology than most stuff at Mardel has. Or try this quote about not noticing the color purple in a field:

People think pleasing God is all God care about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back.

Think of what we would miss if others determined what we could read. We would miss out on passages like that that propel us to think about God in fresh and compelling ways.

Have you been blessed by banned or challenged books? In what ways. And remember The Bible tops the list of banned books.

I gained my love of reading from my mother. Growing up she always had a book that she was reading. As I grew and my reading evolved from Archie and Spider-Man comic books to Stephen King and Pat Conroy I knew there were times that the adult fare that I had progressed to made her nervous.
She knew because she read what I read. Although there were always TV shows and movies that were off limits to me, my mom never forbade me to read any book that I chose. And for one who did not flourish in a forced learning environment that was my path to learning and scholarship. I know she wrestled with books such as “The Stand” and “The Great Santini” but she let me read anyway.
I would not have the love of reading and learning that I have today if it wasn’t for her willingness to explore and follow narrative paths to themes that weren’t always saccharine. My love of reading may be a little more pronounced than most (103 books read so far this year) but it has always been how I learn.

Last year I first began to celebrate the yearly Banned Books Week. Then I was able to relish Brave New World and Slaughterhouse Five for the first time.

This year I decided to take it to a new level. Saturday afternoon I went to my local library and picked up 10 books that have frequently been challenged. I tried to secure as many of the most challenged books of 2006 that I could and from there went to the top 100 challenged books of the 1990s.

So far, of the five books that I have read since Saturday, I have focused on juvenile fiction. My oldest daughter will soon be reading this entries herself and I long to continue the legacy that my mom provided by letting her read and reading what she reads.

In the coming days I will be talking more about “banned” and “challenged” books. I encourage you to pick some up and read them as well.

So far, here is what I have read:

Bridge To Terabithia–An absolute beautiful book of friendship and loss, I am anxious for the opportunity to let my children read this book. The controversy has been in the past (it was the 9th most challenged book of the 90s) has been a result of allegations of “secular humanism” and other plot elements that you have to make some severe leaps of logic to get to. One of my favorite passages is the main characters wrestling with the love of God. It’s a mature theme, sure, but it is handled with deft care and sensitivity.

James and The Giant Peach–Another tremendous offering by the famed children’s author Roald Dahl. This book was removed from one library because a spider licking its lips can have a double meaning. I kid you not. For those of us who have a heart for the outsider, this is a book that has tremendous beauty and value. Sure, the demise of the aunts is a little harsh but they were mean.

Stay Out of the Basement–This is the second book of the Goosebumps series, scary books for children. I remember being in 3rd grade at my Christian school and fighting with my other classmates over who could check out “Appalachian Ghosts.” Innocuous.

Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret–Yep, I read it. And it did not cause me the internal turmoil that Tracy thought it would. Sure it’s about a young girl wrestling with growing up and with faith. But that’s not a bad thing.

Alice In Rapture, Sort Of–This is an installment of the Alice series by Phyliss Reynolds Naylor, in third place on the most challenged books of 2006. It has reinforced my opinion that my girls are not allowed to grow up. However, the allegations of sexual content and offensive language seem to be overblown, at least in this particular installment. Would I let my 6 year old read it right now? No, but I wouldn’t want it pulled off a middle school shelf either.

Read a banned book. Read a few. You will find some beautiful literature