Banned Books Week, Book 3

Title: Fallen Angels

Author: Walter Dean Myers
Synopsis: Richie Perry, a young man from Harlem, enlists in the Army and is sent to Vietnam. The book follows his time there, his relationships with his fellow soldiers, and the grim reality that was the ground war in Vietnma.
Challenges: A group of parents in Fayetteville, Arkansas have listed Fallen Angels as a book they want banned from high school libraries, along with 34 other novels, because the "books below include vile, vulgar, obscene, graphic, explicit passage on sex, oral sex, anal sex, sadomasochism, multiple partners, three-way sex, gang rape, orgies, group sex, homosexual sex, lesbian sex, psychopathic sexual murders and pedophilia in a titillating manner" (Source).  The group calls itself Parents Protecting the Minds of Children.My Thoughts: My first exposure to Fallen Angels was at the Folsom Public Library. I was twelve years old, and I checked it out because it was about Vietnam. My dad served in the Air Force during the Vietnam conflict, so I found the subject matter interesting, and I recall thinking that Dad would be impressed that I was reading this book.

I remember showing it to my social studies teacher, Mrs. Paxton, thinking she'd be impressed that I was reading such a thought-provoking book. She made a comment about how it was a very mature book--intended for high school students, but she didn't seem to judge me for reading it, and probably figured I was mature enough to handle it. I probably even discussed it with my dad, because over the years, we've talked a lot about military history.

My point here is that I read this book, in its entirety, violence, f-words, n-words and all, at the tender age of twelve, and it did not scar me for life. My mind did not need protecting from this book. I understood that it was a portrait of a certain time in American history, told through the eyes of a young African-American man from Harlem. I knew that army guys facing a bloody war in a faraway country weren't going to speak "cleanly," and I knew that I was going to read gory parts. I didn't read this for titillation--I read it for knowledge, out of interest in U.S. History (an interest I still have, today), and I processed the book quite easily.

Would I recommend this book to other 12- and 13-year-olds? Only if they're emotionally mature enough. I was, other kids might have been, some weren't. But banning it entirely is outrageous, because above all else, the book is beautifully written, painfully honest, humorous, thought-provoking, and eye-opening. After that library copy was due back, I bought my own paperback copy of Fallen Angels--I still have it, twenty years later, along with the sequel, in which Richie Perry's nephew joins the army and goes to Iraq.