Banned Book Week is quickly approaching and the preceding link takes you to the American Library Association’s top 100 of the most frequently challenged books from 1990-2000. I’ve never really cared much for banned books, except that I thought it was silly to ban them, but this year I’ve been selected to represent my class over a two day discussion about the topic so I thought I should do my homework. I am not surprised to see books like Huck Finn, Harry Potter, or The New Joy of Gay Sex (What happened to the Old Joy of Gay Sex?) because I understand why people dislike the book even if I don’t agree.
I don’t really understand how books like How to Eat Fried Worms, A Wrinkle in Time, or To Kill a Mockingbird make the list as I didn’t see them as being very offensive. Any clues?
What books have you read that are on the banned list? Aside from any entertainment value do those books have any meaning for you? I’ll start but this is not a complete list.
How to Eat Fried Worms: It’s been nearly 20 years since I read this book and I’m a little fuzzy on the plot. It involves some sort of bet where a kid is required to eat a worm a day for X amount of days. I remember enjoying the book and it was the first one I read that wasn’t of the choose-your-own adventure variety.
The Adventures of Huck Finn: My favorite 19th century book. I liked how the relationship between Jim and Huck were pretty much equal while they were on the river but once they landed and had to live within the constraints of society that changed. I especially loved that Huck came to believe that even though he might go to hell for stealing (Jim was someone else’s property) he was going to do it because Jim was his friend.
Flowers for Algernon: Had to read this one in high school and it was a pretty big downer. I suppose it doesn’t have much of an influence in my life but it was still a good book.
Lord of the Flies: I really enjoyed this book in high school. What happens when there are no authorities and the uneducated and superstitious take over?
Marc
PS: Even though I mentioned a class earlier I’m not asking anyone to do my homework. I just thought it was a worthy topic.
From http://www.forbiddenlibrary.com/, it seems it doesn’t matter what the position of the book is, simply containing some things is enough to get it challenged. I used to know a site with a better list but I can’t find it anymore. Le sigh. But Brave new World gets challenged for containing sex, The Happy Prince gets challenged for being morbid, Blubber gets challenged for showing children being cruel to one another (fancy that!) and Number the Stars is challenged because, apparently, genocide is a disturbing concept to children. ARRRRGHHHHH.
You can change the year in the URL to get previous entries, a trick that will take you to 2002 but not before.
When you’re discussing the topic, bring up the hysteria surrounding banned books in the US and compare it to the actual number of books banned. Remember to use statistics that show in the US there are:
297,000,000 people
105,000 schools
5,000 school districts
3,227 counties
50 states 58 challenges (for 2005)
Even taking the ALA’s most outlier-ridden statistic (that between 1990 and 2000 there were 6,300 challenges and for every 1 challenge reported there might be 4 or 5 unreported - Cite) of 36,000 challenges, that comes out to one whiny parent for every 2.91 schools for every 10 years.
You gotta admit, challenging the hysteria will make for a more lively debate than merely agreeing with all the other speakers that “banning books is bad, m’kay?”
I’m remembering from a different list. It had more books and longer quotes. It was a raw html kind of thing - plain white background, blue links. If you ever find it let me know.
Read for entertainment by me at one time or another were the three mentioned Stephen King books; Cujo, Carrie and The Dead Zone. All the Harry Potter’s. Slaughterhouse-Five, American Psycho and The Anarchist’s Cookbook (pre 9-11). One doesn’t exactly read ‘Sex’ by Madonna.
I’ve read Catcher in the Rye and Lord of the Flies just to see what the fuss was about. Eons ago in school I read Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, Kill a Mockingbird and Mice and Men.
What meaning did any of these have for me, you asked. From Stephen King; beware of rabid dogs, don’t go to your prom if you you picked on the crazy chic, and watch out for guys in a coma for 10 years.
Serious time? the Anarchist’s cookbook is pretty tounge in cheek, if you take it at face value you will either be a canidate for a Darwin award or a visit from the BATF. Just knowing that there are people who take this shit for real makes me stop and go hummm. Before the internet this could have given the wrong ideas to some knuckleheads, but it’s tame now considering what you could find with a google search. Like sneaking a Playboy instead of today’s Amputee Dwarf Latex Cheerleader porn sites out there.
American Psycho is the one that stuck with me, either the guy is bat-shit crazy or pulling your leg. One hell of a look at the 80’s Wall Street yuppie lifestyle.
Banning books I’ll never understand. A parent seeing what your kid is reading is age/maturity appropriate I can live with. Maybe you don’t let your 10 year old kid watch R movies or some cable TV, good for you. Don’t tell me I can’t let my kid watch or read what I think he can handle.
Please, please note that the list of books are not necessarily banned. This is a list of books that have been challenged, that somebody, somewhere asked for consideration to be banned. It doesn’t mean that it got much further than that request.
IIRC, How To Eat Fried Worms is due to the use of the word “bastard” (there is a version available with the word removed), A Wrinkle In Time due to a reference of Jesus Christ alongside figures from other religions (those fundamentalist types who believe Christianity is the best and only relgion don’t really like that), and To Kill A Mockingbird, like Huck Finn, because of “nigger.”
There’s Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants in the 2004 list. Is it safe for me to visit The USA since I translated the series, or are there going to be picketing masses waiting for me when I arrive?
Ah, prudery. I personally don’t mind that a relatively small amount of book challenging gets so much attention. Attempting to ban books is such a terrible thing, in my opinion, that squashing out even the smallest, most minor outbreak is worthwhile. It’s like forest fires: you stamp out every one, lest a single fire devastate the entire forest.
I’m not sure about Wrinkle. Its author, Madeleine L’Engle’, also wrote *Meet the Austins *, which was quite controversial back in the '60s because it dealt with death; people were horrified that she’d right a book about (gasp!) a grieving child. Since parents NEVER die in the real world. :rolleyes:
Mockingbird is easier to understand. It’s got rape in it. Plus it presents us uppity niggers as if we were real people, not the descendents of Noah’s perverted son Ham..
In sum, the books get banned because many people are stupid.
