Quite recently I noticed that one of my books, Eve and Adam and Their Very First Day, had attracted the notice of some people online. Not in a good way. The book is written in the time-honored Jewish tradition of midrash--re-examining a story in a new way, putting it in a different context to try and pull more meaning from it. To me, my book is about faith, how it can help you through difficult times. But to this group of readers, a book that offered anything other than a literal reading of the Garden of Eden story was unacceptable, "blasphemous," to be exact, and should not be on anyone's bookshelf. Aside from feeling like those folks didn't know me at all, and wondering whether they'd actually read my book, the comments really discouraged me.
I believe that a parent has every right to make book decisions for his or her young children; if a book is inappropriate for your child, then by all means don't have it in your house. What I do not believe in is a parent's right to make decisions for other people's children. (I have a friend whose book about a rooster has been slammed for having a word that some people have decided children can't handle: Cock-a-doodle-doo!) Determining what is acceptable for others to read is the first step on a short and slippery path to censorship and book-burning.
No one can disagree that reading a book that reflects your beliefs is a wonderful thing. But if we only read books that reflected what we already knew and believed, we would be so much poorer for it. Books are supposed to open our eyes, provoke us, challenge us to see things differently. Even when it comes to the Bible.
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