# Banned Books Week is soon upon us! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 21, 2004, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-books-week-is-soon-upon-us/265260 "2004-09-21T03:53:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-books-week-is-soon-upon-us/265260/41 "2004-09-22T00:34:55Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > _Flowers for Algernon_ by Daniel Keyes - “Sexual themes” I don’t remember anything sexual in “Flowers for Algernon.” But I read the story in a junior-high-school reader – maybe it was edited. > [@Miller](#): > > _How to Eat Fried Worms_ by Thomas Rockwell - “Inappropriate to age” I remember that one. One kid bets another he can eat a worm a day for a month. What could possibly be more appropriate for the 8-12 age group? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-books-week-is-soon-upon-us/265260/42 "2004-09-22T00:52:27Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I don’t remember anything sexual in “Flowers for Algernon.” But I read the story in a junior-high-school reader – maybe it was edited. I read it in Jr. High, too, and I vaguely recall Genius Charley having sex with the woman who had taught his adult education class before he became smart. I don’t recall it being particularly explicit, and believe me, if it had been, I’d remember it a lot more clearly. > [@](#): > > I remember that one. One kid bets another he can eat a worm a day for a month. What could possibly be more appropriate for the 8-12 age group? I can only imagine that parents were afraid it would encourage their own children to eat worms. ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-books-week-is-soon-upon-us/265260/43 "2004-09-22T02:03:53Z")
Kind of off topic; My son, in the 90’s, had to get my permission to read “adult” books from the library at his HS. By the second month of his freshman year I gave up (after getting a permission slip a day) and sent a note to the school giving him permission to read anything he wanted in the library. (We had way more subversive books at home anyway, hehehe). Case closed, no more problems. This was in Mo. The “system” seemed to work ok for us. Maybe this is the way to go. Have the books available and if parental units want to censor they can, but the books are available to the rest of the students. ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-books-week-is-soon-upon-us/265260/44 "2004-09-22T04:17:12Z")
> [@Marlitharn](#): > > The Anastasia Krupnik series? It’s been a while since I’ve read them, but I remember them being slightly vapid novels about a brainy quirky kid. I was a big fan of the Anastasia books, because she had the kind of parents I would have liked to have. IIRC, her father gives her a sip of his wine when he takes her out to dinner in the neighborhood where he grew up. Ye gods, the horror! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-books-week-is-soon-upon-us/265260/45 "2004-09-22T06:11:23Z")
> [@Fionn](#): > > I was a big fan of the Anastasia books, because she had the kind of parents I would have liked to have. IIRC, her father gives her a sip of his wine when he takes her out to dinner in the neighborhood where he grew up. Ye gods, the horror! :rolleyes: Ah, hence the “underage drinking” **bluecanary** mentioned. I was sitting here trying to remember exactly when Anastasia took her precocious baby brother Sam out on a bender. I wonder what some of these people would have said if they’d seen me, aged eleven, curled up in the library reading _Helter Skelter_. I bet the sticks up their butts would have started spinning so briskly they’d have drilled right down to bedrock. ---
**Author:** ![mrdarklight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bbe5ce/32.png) [@mrdarklight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrdarklight)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-books-week-is-soon-upon-us/265260/46 "2004-09-22T06:18:02Z")
I love the banned book list, because it runs the gamut. There’s the typical fundamentalist Christian banner, but there’s your liberal “ban the n-word” and “ban politically incorrect things” banner. Just goes to show, the difference between left and right in this country is in what they want to ban. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-books-week-is-soon-upon-us/265260/47 "2004-09-22T07:19:16Z")
> [@bluecanary](#): > > Found an interesting website that explains why each of the books on the list were banned. Turns out that the Anastacia Krupnik series was due to: ‘profanity and underage drinking’! > > [banned books project - open books for open minds](http://solonor.com/bannedbooks/) Isn’t that the site **I** linked to on post #10…? _sigh_ Hawley Griffin, signing off… ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-books-week-is-soon-upon-us/265260/48 "2004-09-22T11:55:16Z")
Uh? What piss weak kind of banned book list is this? Where’s Salman Rushdie’s **Satanic Verses**? Marquis De Sade’s **Justine**? Adolf Hitller’s **Mein Kampf**? Vladimir Nabokov’s masterpiece **Lolita**? Ibn Warraq’s **Why I Am Not a Muslim** or Irshad Manji’s **The Trouble with Islam**? Or even something by Oscar Wilde? Or that stupid idiot David Irving? ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-books-week-is-soon-upon-us/265260/49 "2004-09-22T12:25:19Z")
Anyone know why number 98. _The Headless Cupid_ was banned? I actually encouraged my 8 year old son to read this book the weekend before last! What type of parent am I? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-books-week-is-soon-upon-us/265260/50 "2004-09-22T12:33:15Z")
The one I always have to defend on a list of “banned” books is \*Forever \*by Jude Blume. Since Blume is well known for her outstanding works for elementary school kids (Fudge series) and middle school (Are you there God and Then again Maybe I won’t), many libraries would order Forever and assume it is in the same category. \*Forever \*is a novel which deals with a girl’s struggle about losing her virginity. It probably isn’t something that should be read by elementary school kids. Since some school libraries serve students from elementary school to high school, some books are placed in a “restricted” area that can only be accessed by older students. This, to me, seems to be a resonable compromise and I don’t consider this to be censorship. ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-books-week-is-soon-upon-us/265260/51 "2004-09-22T13:25:56Z")
**PictsiePat** , your system would work great for parents who actually want to take responsibility for raising their children. When I was 5, my mom took me to get a library card. One card for everybody. If she took me today, she’d be able to get a children’s card or an adult card for me. The children’s card would restrict what I am able to check out–probably children’s and YA books, which is why people press to move **The Chocolate War** and **Forever** and such to the adult section. > [@Rune](#): > > Where’s Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses? Marquis De Sade’s Justine? Adolf Hitller’s Mein Kampf? Vladimir Nabokov’s masterpiece Lolita? Ibn Warraq’s Why I Am Not a Muslim or Irshad Manji’s The Trouble with Islam? Or even something by Oscar Wilde? Or that stupid idiot David Irving? They’re all on the shelves of my public library, not being challenged by parents, or anyone else. **Lolita** - sound recording 😃 (and books) **Mein Kampf** - 15 copies **The Satanic Verses** - 22 copies **Why I Am Not a Muslim** - 2 copies **Oscar Wilde** - All accounted for **David Irving** - 6 copies of **Hitler’s War** , and all kinds of other WWII related stuff 792 items with “Bible” in the title. The list covers only books challenged from 1990-2000, which explains, I think, Lolita and Oscar Wilde. The fatwah against Salman Rushdie doesn’t affect the United States. But why innocuous books are challenged while truly scandalous books are not is something I don’t know. Why do romance novels sit on the shelves unmarred? Maybe it’s the adult/children argument. Meim Kampf is the only book on your list I encountered in high school. [Here’s an incomplete list](http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/banned-books.html) of more old-school bannings. **The Headless Cupid** was challenged (not banned) due to witchcraft. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-books-week-is-soon-upon-us/265260/52 "2004-09-22T14:03:11Z")
> [@Atticus Finch](#): > > So help me out here. What the hell is wrong with these well-known childhood favourites: > Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck > Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson > A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle > The Witches by Roald Dahl > The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood > The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison > Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes > Brave New World by Aldous Huxley > The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende > Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford > How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell > …and of course, the classic To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee > > I’m seriously curious here. Where is the vaguely objectionable content in these? _The Bluest Eye_ was assigned reading in one of my high school classes, and while I think it’s a good novel I doubt it was ever a “childhood favorite” of anyone. Given that the main character is a little girl who’s raped and impregnated by her own father, I don’t think it’s a mystery what people might find “vaguely objectionable” either. This is not to say I think the book should be removed from public school libraries. It is a powerful novel, and I’m glad I read it. For many of the others on the list, anything that hints at magic or fantasy falls under “occult” for some people and that’s reason enough for them. Oh, **BrainGlutton** and **Miller** , there was a little more in the way of sexual content in _Flowers for Algernon_ than you recall. Aside from Charley’s relationship with his former teacher, I think there was one other woman he got drunk with and almost slept with. There was a female character who did a nude self-portrait of herself that Charley saw…may have been the same woman. At the end of the book Charley had some porn mags, and I think there was something early in the book about him peeping on his sister when she was bathing. Not exactly _The Story of O_ or anything, but not completely G-rated either. But again, I’m not saying this is any reason to ban it. ---
**Author:** ![Klytus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Klytus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Klytus)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-books-week-is-soon-upon-us/265260/53 "2004-09-22T15:16:09Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I read it in Jr. High, too, and I vaguely recall Genius Charley having sex with the woman who had taught his adult education class before he became smart. I don’t recall it being particularly explicit, and believe me, if it had been, I’d remember it a lot more clearly. Yeah, it was edited. In the full version of the book, Charley **rapes** the teacher. ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-books-week-is-soon-upon-us/265260/54 "2004-09-22T15:20:36Z")
> [@Klytus](#): > > Yeah, it was edited. In the full version of the book, Charley **rapes** the teacher. Good god. This was my favorite book as a child. I read it every night before I went to sleep, for like, a year. It’s been formative in my moral stance regarding bliss/intelligence. I don’t remember **any** sex. I’m checking it out as soon as I leave work. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-books-week-is-soon-upon-us/265260/55 "2004-09-22T16:27:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Yeah, it was edited. In the full version of the book, Charley rapes the teacher. Were there three versions of the book? I’ve read the novel and the short story, and in the novel, while the sex scene is fairly explicit, there’s nothing at all to indicate that both parties aren’t consenting. And **dalej42** , at what age do you think that _Forever_ would be appropriate reading? Some girls do lose their virginity in sixth grade or earlier, and those who don’t may well be pressured to. Such a book migh be a very valuable reality check for a girl that age. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-books-week-is-soon-upon-us/265260/56 "2004-09-22T16:30:26Z")
> [@](#): > > To Kill a Mockingbird\* by Harper Lee - “Uppity nigra” Uppity Nigra…band name! Don’t hurt me. ---
**Author:** ![633squadron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/ee59a6/32.png) [@633squadron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/633squadron)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-books-week-is-soon-upon-us/265260/57 "2004-09-22T16:34:47Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Incidentally, if any of you are ever at a community meeting where book-banning is being proposed, read a few excerpts from the Song of Solomon (the original, not the Toni Morrison book of the same name), and express indignation that such a lurid work is allowed in public libraries. Watch the book-burners try to backpedal when they realize just what book you’re talking about (obviously, this only works with a certain segment of book-banners). LOL! Excellent. You should know, though, that the counter-argument is that all of that stuff is just _metaphor_. It’s really talking about our loving relationship to G-d. Yeah, right. Biblical scholars think that SoS was included because it’s attributed to Solomon, reputed the wisest of all men, and so could not be left out. I’ve concluded that Bible study teaches us something about the Almighty, but it teaches us a **lot** about people! ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-books-week-is-soon-upon-us/265260/58 "2004-09-22T16:35:21Z")
What, the **Joys of Heterosexual Sex** is not on this list? It should be. Naturally, it is only one page featuring the missionary position, so mayhap it is lost on the shelves. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-books-week-is-soon-upon-us/265260/59 "2004-09-22T17:07:20Z")
Sometimes telling students that something has been restricted or edited makes them all the more eager to read it! In my high school Spanish class we read _El Sombrero de Tres Picos_. It was a cheaply printed version for school use, and the forward said three small items has been cut to make it more appropriate for high school use. So the first chance I got I went to the public library and got the unexpurgated version,expecting something hot. Boy was I disappointed! ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-books-week-is-soon-upon-us/265260/60 "2004-09-22T17:14:37Z")
I’ve read lots of the stuff on the list, but not all…not yet. Fortunately, most seem available at my public library. I’m reserving a huge batch of banned books. On a not at all related side note, my kids just got library cards a couple of weeks ago and they’re checking out nearly their weight in books every few days. I’m so happy! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-books-week-is-soon-upon-us/265260.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-books-week-is-soon-upon-us/265260.md?page=4)