The Boy Who Lost His Face...Banned?!

(Graphic retrieved from eaterofbooks.blogspot.com)

The Boy Who Lost His Face 

 By Louis Sachar 

Grade level 4th - 6th 

(Graphic retrieved from http://libr267blog.blogspot.com/2009/02/holes.html)

         Research says The Boy Who Lost His Face was challenged in 1993 in the Jackson Township Elementary School in Clay City, Indiana due to unsuitable words, and was also challenged at the Golden View Elementary School in San Ramon, California that same year because of its profanity, frequent use of obscene gestures, and other inappropriate subject matter. In fact, the book was removed from Cuyler Elementary School in Red Creek, New York in 1993 because the age level and use of some swear words may make it inappropriate to younger children. (Bodart, J. 2009)

          They think this old lady is a witch because she's eccentric, but she's not. So, I feel like it isn't the greatest reason to challenge it in that aspect. However, I was surprised at the amount of language. The "s-word" is used frequently among others not as strong. This is targeted to 4th-6th grade, so it might be a little bit too much for the 4th graders. It did have some redeeming qualities though - the good guy gets the girl, nice guys persevere, etc. I would be fine with it being in a middle school library, but not so much in a 4th grade classroom.

         I do believe that this book would be good to use in an older classroom teaching the children about bullying and what to do if you are being bullied. We have all been through situations that make us think twice if we should do an activity that we know is wrong, but being peer pressured into doing it. You can create a discussion activity with the class, such as what would you do if you saw someone getting bullied? Have you been bullied? This would be a great book that is interesting to read during Bully Prevention/Awareness Month.

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 This could be used during a health lesson that is about mental and physical well being in the course content. This is such a important subject to talk about with kids, especially in these grade levels; I have found that bullying seems to increase in middle school. Instead of letting the students read the book, the teacher can read it to them so that they can avoid the inappropriate language. There are so many lessons that you could create that involves bully prevention and I think that this book would be a great one to use because the boy is very relatable and the situations he gets in happen to a lot of children. I found this website that I thought would be great to utilize within a classroom or even the whole school, each week the kids are to do something that they normally don't do, like make friends with someone you don't know at school; http://www.stompoutbullying.org/index.php/campaigns/national-bullying-prevention-awareness-month/.