Read a Banned Book
I’m posting this a little late, but September 20–27 is Banned Book Week, …a reminder not to take one of our most important freedoms for granted—the freedom to read and explore many points of view. So take this oportunity to broaden your mind — read a book from “The List“.
September 25th, 2003 at 2:42 pm
Suuuuurrrrrrreeee…I’ll have to read “a bridge to Terebinthia” again…I don’t recall any occult/satanism in there.
What would be as interesting would be to know who (well, besides fundamentalist wackos) wants books, any books banned.
September 25th, 2003 at 3:13 pm
They accutally have some stats on that information, as well as some graphs. “Parents” acctually make up the largest group of people initiating challenges against books…
http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=Related_Links7&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=40912
(Note the links to some Graphs at the bottom)
September 25th, 2003 at 6:33 pm
Thanks hossman, I didn’t take a close enough look at that site.
As a parent myself I’m fairly well disgusted by what the graphs showed…parents are just too damn lazy to set limits for their children. For example, “A confederacy of dunces” (just a book I’m pulling off the top of my head) is an excellent book and pulitzer prize winner. I will let neither of my children read it before they are sixteen and if a teacher proposed it I would talk with the teacher about whether it’s appropriate for children of that age…then I would sit down with my children and discuss any questions/issues they might have with the book. For example, racism, sexism, masturbation, etc. But I would never want the book banned.
The same holds with television, my children know what the limits are and if I say it’s inappropriate they don’t put up a fight (well, a few sighs but…kids will be kids).
Good grief.
I will now get down off my soapbox. Cheers.
March 31st, 2004 at 4:55 pm
i think its horribly stupid that they ban books. what gived them the right. People are gonna learn about the stuff in “dangerous” books eventually so who cares. btw thanks for that site. it really helped me out because in doing an essay on this. :)
August 19th, 2004 at 9:14 am
Hello- I work for an educational company. We are trying to find info about banned books. I am listing the books we need info on. All we need to know is how many times they were banned in the 20th century and also how many times they were banned before. Also I need to know why. Info that tells us if they were burned as well would also help. I appreciate any help you could provide me with. I need to get this info as quickly as possible. Again, this is for educational purposes. Please help me out. Here is the list:
1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
2. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
3. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling*- for its focus on wizardry and magic
4. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger*
5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker*
6. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee*
7. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton*
8. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley*
9. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut*
10.Lord of the Flies by William Golding*
11.The Dead Zone by Stephen King*
12.The Giver by Lois Lowry*
13.I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
14.Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
15.A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
16.Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Thanks so much
Sean Steingold
September 25th, 2004 at 3:22 pm
you really should put where when why and who banned the book so i dont have to search all over to find all the information!!
February 5th, 2005 at 2:30 pm
tell why it was banned! =)