BOOKS: Help kids who feel ‘different’

When I was in the sixth grade, I was tormented by a boy in my class who teased me about my freckles. One day he tried to count the freckles on my face. I wanted to disappear. I didn’t want to come back to school. I went into the school library and picked up a book entitled, “The Different One.” The book was about a girl who was different from her classmates and that she had a hard time enduring the taunts of her classmates. The book described her home life and how she overcame her depression over being “different.” From this book I learned to celebrate my freckles and anything else that made me stand out from the crowd.

There are kids who feel “different” and if there are books that can help them and possibly change their lives, those books should be available in the library. One of these books may just save a child’s life.

The common-sense approach to people who want to ban books is: Do not allow people under the age of 18 to have a library card unless a parent signs a permission card which is kept on file in the library. Problem solved.

As to banning books such as “To Kill a Mockingbird,” one of the greatest American novels, that is just plain ridiculous. Book banning is the beginning of fascism.

DONNA HARVEY

Hayden