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Banned books

Some things are just sick. The list of banned books is one of them. Lets take a little look at a few shall we?

5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Ok, who are we kidding here? I’ve had to read this one dozens of times growing up.

6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Traditional High School Reading

7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling

Even the most conservative body in the civilized world approves. Saying it’s a good thing for kids to read it. Hmm…

9. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

I’ve got this one on my bookshelf. I read it in 5th grade. In a Catholic Elementary School. Class Reading.

13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

I’ve had to read this one too in High School. Required reading for pretty much all American students for a long time.

14. The Giver by Lois Lowry

Here’s another we had to read in 8th grade. In a Catholic School. In Class Reading. Read, and discuss.

16. Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine

Another silly one, considering everyone had no problem in a conservative Catholic elementary school.

18. The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Pretty standard reading for High School students in America. I was able to dodge this one.

22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Read it… Catholic School… Go figure.

27. The Witches by Roald Dahl

5th Grade.. Catholic School. Required in class reading.

41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Has anyone with a High School diploma gotten away without sitting through the book or the movie?

88. Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford

I can’t even comment on this stupidity anymore.

The ones where I even mention the grade, it’s because I had to write down the homeroom on the inside of the front cover. Which also shows the grade. So I know exactly when I read it. This is by no means a complete analysis. I just picked a few I thought would be fun to mention.

And America is still a land of the free?

Here’s a great idea for a new law: Any school district who bans a book is prohibited by law from teaching that America is a ‘free’ nation. The word ‘free’ may not be used in association with ‘America’ (or any comparable terms).

11 replies on “Banned books”

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.

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!!

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.

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 : )

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.

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.

As someone who is an avid reader it honestly disgusts me how people have a right to say that books should not be read! I have not read all of the books on the list, but I’ve heard of them all and just because they go against catholic beliefs or so hints of bad language or racism is the stupidest reason in the world to justify banning them. THEY ARE BOOKS!! Anti religion, bad language and racism surrounds us and if people can’t handle that they are represented in books then maybe THEY just shouldn’t read them. There is know reason to ban them from schools because children of all ages should have a right to learn what is going on in the world.
All my life I have gone to catholic schools in Ontario, and I am so proud to say that I have never been censored when it comes to books that were available to me. In grade 10 english my class read To Kill a Mockingbird, grade 11 The Lord of the Flies and grade 12 A Brave New World, all of which have been on the banned lists.
I am a great believer in the notion that reading novels allows students to learn more then what is given in the textbooks, and books like To Kill a Mockingbird allow you to do just that as well as have a great story behind it.

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