It's National Banned Books Week!

[MountainLaurel]

And it's time to celebrate freedom of information and educate outselves and one another on assaults against that freedom (and they are many!). To that end, here are some useful links from the American Library Association:

About Challenged and Banned Books

The books most frequently challenged in 2004:

"The Chocolate War" for sexual content, offensive language, religious viewpoint, being unsuited to age group and violence

"Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers, for racism, offensive language and violence

"Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture" by Michael A. Bellesiles, for inaccuracy and political viewpoint

Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey, for offensive language and modeling bad behavior

"The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky, for homosexuality, sexual content and offensive language

"What My Mother Doesn't Know" by Sonya Sones, for sexual content and offensive language

"In the Night Kitchen" by Maurice Sendak, for nudity and offensive language

"King & King" by Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland, for homosexuality

"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou, for racism, homosexuality, sexual content, offensive language and unsuited to age group

"Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck, for racism, offensive language and violence

Most frequently challenged authors:

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, author of the Alice series
Robert Cormier, author of The Chocolate War and We All Fall Down
Judy Blume, author of Blubber, Forever, and Deenie
Toni Morrison, author of The Bluest Eye, Beloved and Song of Solomon
Chris Lynch, author of Extreme Elvin and Iceman
Barbara Park, author of the Junie P. Jones series
Gary Paulsen, author of Nightjohn and The Beet Fields: Memories of a Sixteenth Summer
Dav Pilkey, author of The Captain Underpants series
Maurice Sendak, author of In the Night Kitchen
Sonya Sones, author of What My Mother Doesn’t Know


Most frequently challenged authors of color, and their rank within the 100 most challenged authors, 1990-2000.

3 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Reason for challenges: racism, homosexuality, sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group

18 The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Reason for challenges: sexually explicit, offensive language, violence

24 Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
Reason for challenges: racism, offensive language, violence

31 Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
Reason for challenges: homosexuality, sexually explicit

39 The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Reason for challenges: sexually explicit, offensive language

42 Beloved by Toni Morrison
Reason for challenges: sexually explicit, violence

67 The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
Reason for challenges: sexually explicit, offensive language

71 Native Son by Richard Wright
Reason for challenges: sexually explicit, offensive language, violence

75 Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
Reason for challenges: sexually explicit, offensive language, occult

85 Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Reason for challenges: racism, sexually explicit, offensive language

86 Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
Reason for challenges: sexually explicit, offensive language

Now everybody, get out there and read these books, show your support for local librarians and other information distributors, and speak truth to power!

[harlinchi]

1. The Age of Reason, Parts One and Two...

...But part two was banned I believe! The author was Thomas Paine. Yup, THAT Thomas Paine -- the guy who wrote "The Rights of Man and Common Sense".

[niyad]

I just love asking the book burners (that is coming) in how many languages

they read. when they look at me in puzzlement, I point out that I read in 5 languages, so which one are they going to ban? I also point out that I was, in the second grade, reading books they STILL cannot comprehend, so how dare they presume to tell ME what I may or may not read. This, of course, is completely beside the point, but it sure does make them scratch their pointy little heads.

[izzybeans]

2. I'm happy to say that I've read or possess several of thiese.

My proudest is the "Captain Underpants" Series. It's hilarious that it has made it to this list. I guess our unders are just plain offensive. Who would of thunk it? and Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison a racist? :rofl: I sure didn't see the Left Behind series on their for being homophobic or some of the vilist trash on the planet. Gee I wonder why.

I want to thank the librarians for their work fighting back the inquisition one book at a time.

[MountainLaurel]

8. The people who hate Captain Underpants

Tend to be the ones who use cutesy little terms for body parts with their children and who refuse to even think about what's happening "Down There," because then Gawd would strike them dead.

:eyes:

[izzybeans]

9. I suppose so. I read it to my son and that's about the only thing that

could make me understand that. I suppose the only other thing could be that many of the stories have to do with taking a moral stand in the face of authority. This could be troubling to some.

[MountainLaurel]

10. You're right on the authority issue

Several books have been challenged because the children "disobey" authority figures who are in the wrong, including "The Chocolate War."

[niyad]

3. exactly--every year I thank them for providing me with a list of books I

am certain to enjoy, since they hate them so much. I think this is SOOOOO thoughtful of them

[MountainLaurel]

7. Same here

I own a t-shirt that says "I read banned books" on the front and lists about 50 books that have been banned in the U.S. on the back. I've read more than 3/4 of them.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

4. Racism...as in...it discusses racism?

Because those books certainly don't promote racism...

[MountainLaurel]

6. The idea seems to be

That if you show racism in a book, then that's promoting racism. Although the people who usually challenge books for that reason tend to be more concerned for how racism reflects on the caucasian majority (e.g., the furor over "To Kill a Mockingbird")

I think one of my favorite lines about this came from a children's book author. To paraphrase, he said that issues like racism, segregation, child abuse, and poverty need to be written about because many children live these stories every day.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

11. Thanks for the further explanation.

Didn't Huck Finn have the same trouble? I completely agree with you. It's the ostrich approach to racism...if you can't see it, it's not there.

[Name removed]

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[China_cat]

12. #1 book on the banned list I have (for 2005)

is To Kill a Mockingbird

(Library Association list)

Powell's List for TODAY


Banned Books

Thursday September 29, 2005

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
3. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
4. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
5. The Giver by Lois Lowry
6. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt, Jr. Vonnegut
7. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
8. The Witches by Roald Dahl
9. Grendel by John Gardner
10. One Fat Summer (Ursula Nordstrom Book) by Robert Lipsyte