Comments on: Banned books

By: anonymous

anonymous — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:00:00 +0000

James and the Giant Peach is banned because one school believed that it promoted disobedience toward authority figures.
An old edition of Little Red Riding Hood was banned because it mentioned that the little girl was taking food and wine to her grandmothers which concerned the school about the use of alcohol. The Giver is banned becasue it erodes influence of religious values in public schools. The Grapes of Wrath was banned because it made California residents look bad. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was banned in the Southern statse because of racist portrayal of African Americans. These reasons are stupid and don’t make sense. And there are so many more books banned for such idiotic reasons. Doesn’t banning books go against one of the admentments in the constitution. I believe it’s the first admentment.

By: retired teacher

retired teacher — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 18:33:16 +0000

What makes you guys think schools are banning these books? Schools and school libraries are the institutions being challenged by parents and churches and political action groups and pressured to remove books from curricula and library shelves. When a challenge is made, an in-school committee almost always decides in favor of retaining the book in question. If the challenge is pursued, school boards, whose members are elected, sometimes–not often–rule that the book be removed.

By: Me

Me — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 21:20:01 +0000

OK, I’m 14, and have read almost all of those books (I haven’t read The Color Purple, A Wrinkle in Time, or The Witches, and I don’t u can actually read Where’s Waldo? : )) so I consider myself pretty well read. Why would these books be banned?? Kids should be encouraged to read, not told that they can’t read it if the adults don’t agree with it. What happened to the good adults that wanted their kids to read?? I’m glad that my parents have encouraged me to read : )

By: ur mother

ur mother — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 14:56:10 +0000

u ghuys are so *** THESE BOOKS KICK ASSMOTHERLOVERS

By: sarah

sarah — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 22:19:06 +0000

why would you ban wheres waldo?

By: Zach Kitzler

Zach Kitzler — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 14:36:07 +0000

I don’t think any school should be allowed to ban books. They are allowed to decide if they teach them or not, but they should not say their pupils are not allowed to read them. If their parents approve, they should be allowed, since parents often know their kids better than their teachers do.

And to Mr. Walden, some books need senselessly offensive language to make a point. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has possibly the worst grammar I have ever read, and that’s one of the things that make it such a great novel. It gives the reader a feel of the times it was written in, and it feels like you’re listening to the actual story being told by Huck, instead of being written, corrected, and edited by a group of over-paid literary analysts. In my opinioin, the books with the senselessly obscene language are the ones that should be read in high school, because they keep the students’ attention and rekindle the fervor for reading.

By: Jerome McCrimmon

Jerome McCrimmon — Wed, 11 May 2005 23:37:52 +0000

Correction to comment by JMcC :name Erskine ;title {God`s Little Acre} oops! JMcC

By: Jerome McCrimmon

Jerome McCrimmon — Wed, 11 May 2005 00:11:21 +0000

When I was about 12 I decided to get an education. This is an admittedly bizarre endeavor in a normal preteen; no one told me to do this and the majority of my teachers would neither have condoned nor, for that matter, have recognized the endeavor. The technique I selected was simple and necessarily subsersive; I read every banned book I could find! I got in trouble when I got caught reading Erskin Caldwell {Gods Half Acre} but the teacher didn`t know what to make of Erasmus {In Praise Of Folly}. I am 70 years old now and still reading esoteric arcana. Seek out the secret for what they want you to know is not what you need to know!!

By: Jeff Walden

Jeff Walden — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Lower-age schools (elementary and to a lesser degree middle school) should have a right to ban literature with adultish material (e.g., The Exorcist and other such often-extremely offensive books - perhaps also books that might cover info on maturation, at least in elementary - maybe a very slight bit more on a case-by-case basis). High schools should have no such rights to limit based on content.

All schools, however, should have a right to ban tastelessly, excessively obscene literature without redeeming values (which would not include The Exorcist and the like). Freedom of speech should let you make points, educate, and entertain, not do so in the most offensive terms possible in public places with children/young adults/whatever. If you have something to say, say it in presentable language that shows that you have a clue about how to act civilized.