Books they have tried to ban

[Prophetess]

A Long Shelf Life

http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/37480/a-long-shelf-life

By Vera HC Chan
Fri, September 22, 2006, 3:41 pm PDT
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"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing."—Harper Lee, "To Kill a Mockingbird"​

Compelling as they are, some folks would rather you didn't read the words above. The quote comes from a Pulitzer Prize-winning book that's been denounced for so-called racial slurs and profanity, and banished from school library shelves.
Irony never ceases, nor does the impulse toward censorship. But now is a perfect time to celebrate books such as Lee's masterpiece, "Ulysses," and "Heart of Darkness." Banned Books Week is here and thumb-nosing librarians and freedom-loving bookstore owners are celebrating the 25th anniversary of reading verboten material.
The American Library Association keeps an accounting of objectionable reads. We curled up with a good computer to check which forbidden pages still beckon readers and searchers.

1. "Harry Potter" (Series) (J.K. Rowling)
2. "To Kill a Mockingbird" (Harper Lee)
3. "The Color Purple" (Alice Walker)
4. "The Outsiders" (S.E. Hinton)
5. "Lord of the Flies" (William Golding)
6. "Of Mice and Men" (John Steinbeck)
7. "Goosebumps" (Series) (R.L. Stine)
8. "How to Eat Fried Worms" (Thomas Rockwell)
9. "The Catcher in the Rye" (J.D. Salinger)
10. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (Mark Twain)
11. "The Giver" (Lois Lowry)
12. "Brave New World" (Aldous Huxley)
13. "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" (Mark Twain)
14. "Captain Underpants" (Dav Pilkey)
15. "The Anarchist Cookbook" (William Powell)
16. "Carrie" (Stephen King)
17. "Flowers for Algernon" (Daniel Keyes)
18. "The Dead Zone" (Stephen King)
19. "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" (Maya Angelou)
20. "Go Ask Alice" (anonymous)
21. "American Psycho" (Bret Easton Ellis)
22. "The Chocolate War" (Robert Cormier)
23. "James and the Giant Peach" (Roald Dahl)
24. "The Pigman" (Paul Zindel)
25. "A Wrinkle in Time" (Madeleine L'Engle)

Wow.....I've read several of these. I'm glad they failed.

 

[Larry89]

have you guys read "Brave New World"

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I've read it; it was my third least-favorite book read in high school, behind only The Scarlet Letter and Crime and Punishment.

Why isn't Farenheit 451 on that list? I remember their being talk about banning it.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Brave New World certainly isn't the funnest book to read but its rather important nonetheless. I read several of these books 3 years straight between 8th and 10th grades.

I love that "racial slurs" has been sighted as a primary reason for banning To Kill a Mockingbird. The power of projection.

 

[HndsmCelt]

Any book worth banning is worth reading.

 

[PixelPusher]

I'm suprised at some of the titles listed, particularly since many of them are books I read in school.

Huckleberry Finn? Tom Sawyer? I guess because they acknowledge the reality of slavery in old south.

James and the Giant Peach? Someones gonna have to explain that one to me.

 

[Prophetess]

i was checking the link
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.htm

and it listed almost ever single book that judy blume wrote that i read...now why those? and i don't get the peach one either..

 

[HndsmCelt]

Well uf you really want to see the rationale for each special interst groups efforts to ban books a google search of the book title and the word bann will give you a few hits. Years ago when I still taught high school I wold frequently have kids whos parents would not wnat them to read certain books I was teaching like Huck Finn, Of Mice and Men Diary of Ann Frank or Grapes of Wrath. The school required I give them an alternate assingment so I would make them read Farnehite 451 and write a 10 pare essay on the book... very few ever understood why. The second time they "opted out" I required Moby Dick... there was never a third issue.

An even sader tale comes from last Spring. I had a 19 year old student who's parents neededto know what films I would be showing in my Interpersonal Communication class. Every film that did not have a G rateing was unacceptable and he was also forbiden to watch an episode of Morgan Spurlocks TV show 30 days.

 

[Gargamel]

Now this is precisely why I don't read, all that luridness and racism.

 

[KingKong]

When I first read 'A Clockwork Orange' by Anthony Burgess in highschool (although it wasn't required reading), it was banned in the UK for awhile.

 

[Bricklayer]

Always the urge to control the thought of the young 'uns. Keep them ignorant of other possibilities, and they will grow up just as closeminded as me.

 

[RoyalDiva]

i was checking the link
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.htm

and it listed almost ever single book that judy blume wrote that i read...now why those?

I remember the Judy Blume outcry. A lot of parents wanted her books banned from school libraries because she talked about the reality of puberty and growing up, and she was probably the first author to do so.

 

[GoGoGadget]

My mother is a college professor and was recently involved in... something (I haven't grown out of tuning her out and, therefore, forgot the details)... where several people were reading excerpts of banned books. I was shocked when she told me some of the books on the list.

 

[bibbinator]

I remember the Judy Blume outcry. A lot of parents wanted her books banned from school libraries because she talked about the reality of puberty and growing up, and she was probably the first author to do so.

Is nothing sacred?

Young people have enough to deal with without having to be exposed to puberty. Puberty should wait for marriage as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Padrino]

Well uf you really want to see the rationale for each special interst groups efforts to ban books a google search of the book title and the word bann will give you a few hits. Years ago when I still taught high school I wold frequently have kids whos parents would not wnat them to read certain books I was teaching like Huck Finn, Of Mice and Men Diary of Ann Frank or Grapes of Wrath. The school required I give them an alternate assingment so I would make them read Farnehite 451 and write a 10 pare essay on the book... very few ever understood why. The second time they "opted out" I required Moby Dick... there was never a third issue.

An even sader tale comes from last Spring. I had a 19 year old student who's parents neededto know what films I would be showing in my Interpersonal Communication class. Every film that did not have a G rateing was unacceptable and he was also forbiden to watch an episode of Morgan Spurlocks TV show 30 days.

well played!

book banning has to be the single most perverse act to commit in this day and age. i'm not really one to resort to internet lingo, but wtf? this ain't the 50's. we're kinda past the whole conservative family unit enclosed within a white-picket dungeon routine. whatever a young person doesn't read in a book they're just gonna see on TV or in a movie. if they don't see it there, maybe they'll hear it in a song. if they don't hear it there, maybe someone will whisper it to them in class. censorship breeds curiousity. its a fact of life. i believe there are certain things that young people probably don't need to be seein' just yet...like the first-hand carnage of war. but other than that, sheltering kids does little but turn them into wild animals when they leave home. i go to chico state. i know this for a fact. i don't drink. i don't smoke. i live life by my standards...but i always find it odd when people ask me why i don't drink. this is usually the reasoning they give me: "come on, your parents aren't around. you don't have to live by their rules anymore." gimme a break...

 

[Gargamel]

^ Surprised to see Johnny Got His Gun not on the list. It was assigned reading in my 11th grade English class. Dalton Trumbo was one of those singled out by McCarthy.

 

[Prophetess]

ok, just got a chance to check that list again...

at #51..one of my favorites of all time..
Shel Silverstein's-- Light in the Attic is on that list......

without that book, I would not be the reader I am today!

check this out:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banned_books

 

[RoyalDiva]

I remember the controversy surrounding Silverstein. While most of his work is very innocent and great, some of his works do tend to have a darker side that some may feel is too over-the-edge for children. "Someone Ate the Baby", for instance, is probably a little too darkly humurous for kids. I've still got my copy of "Where the Sidewalk Ends" and read it to this day.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Any book worth banning is worth reading.

I disagree; The Dead Zone is not worth reading.

 

[VF21]

The idea that there are people who apparently have no control over the gremlins who sneak into their house at night, put books on their shelves and then, come morning, force them to read them is frightening.

That has to be the case, right?

 

[VF21]

Looking again at the list, there is one book I don't think should be readily available ... and that's The Anarchist Cookbook. Of course, with the Internet, the information contained in there is now easily found elsewhere but somehow, it still doesn't seem right.

 

[Prophetess]

I disagree; The Dead Zone is not worth reading.

but it makes a wonderful show!

 

[Prophetess]

Looking again at the list, there is one book I don't think should be readily available ... and that's The Anarchist Cookbook. Of course, with the Internet, the information contained in there is now easily found elsewhere but somehow, it still doesn't seem right.

apparently, the author of the book agrees with you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anarchist_Cookbook

 

[StevenHW]

I'm suprised Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf (My Struggle)" is not on that list!

 

[StevenHW]

List of banned books

For a list of various books that have been banned in some places (schools, libraries, certain cities, or an entire country), click here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_books

 

[D-Mass]

Is nothing sacred?

Young people have enough to deal with without having to be exposed to puberty. Puberty should wait for marriage as far as I'm concerned.

LOL...I actually hear things almost as crazy as that from parents every time I teach sex ed. to my 7th graders.

 

[Gargamel]

I'm suprised Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf (My Struggle)" is not on that list!

Mein Kampf is more important than any of those banned books if only because it gives context to where his state of mind was at that point in his life. It has a historical value (as does Albert Speer's memoirs) -- while fully accepting at how inhuman he was. Same goes for Stalin. They can't be nixed from history. Our history as a nation is intertwined with theirs, espec Stalin, who was our ally in WWII (don't forget that).

 

[SDKing]

Well uf you really want to see the rationale for each special interst groups efforts to ban books a google search of the book title and the word bann will give you a few hits. Years ago when I still taught high school I wold frequently have kids whos parents would not wnat them to read certain books I was teaching like Huck Finn, Of Mice and Men Diary of Ann Frank or Grapes of Wrath. The school required I give them an alternate assingment so I would make them read Farnehite 451 and write a 10 pare essay on the book... very few ever understood why. The second time they "opted out" I required Moby Dick... there was never a third issue.

An even sader tale comes from last Spring. I had a 19 year old student who's parents neededto know what films I would be showing in my Interpersonal Communication class. Every film that did not have a G rateing was unacceptable and he was also forbiden to watch an episode of Morgan Spurlocks TV show 30 days.

I love your solution to the parent problem! I've never had a student not read a book because it was banned or because a parent objects. I usually preface the reading of the book with "now this book deals with some mature content and if you don't think that you can handle it, come see me so I can give you something less controversial to read." No one wants to be the only kid in class reading another book.

I'm teaching my first college class this fall, and I was under the impression that parents don't have a legal right anymore to say what the student can or can't see or do without the student's written permission. You aren't under any obligation to talk to the parents even without the student signing a waiver. You know better than I do though. Does the 19 year old have a problem with this? Did you tell him he's not gonna make it in college with parents like his?

 

[Prophetess]

I'm suprised Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf (My Struggle)" is not on that list!

it's on the wiki banned books list.

 

[HndsmCelt]

I'm teaching my first college class this fall, and I was under the impression that parents don't have a legal right anymore to say what the student can or can't see or do without the student's written permission. You aren't under any obligation to talk to the parents even without the student signing a waiver. You know better than I do though. Does the 19 year old have a problem with this? Did you tell him he's not gonna make it in college with parents like his?

Oh the student went along with his parents wishes 100% I actually never talke dto Mom and Dad... thats not my job... lol. He was actually in most ways a good student. Maybe not intellectually curious but good at memorization recall and repeating. Maoers were well organized, free of errors and while not insightfull on topic. And one of the replacment films he chose was Hoosiers so he can't be ALL bad.