Banned/Challenged Books

[nmrahde]

So I was checking Wikipedia 'cause I couldn't remember Lenny's name and found that "Of Mice and Men" is on the list of most challenged/banned books according the the American Library Association. Here's the list:

1. Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
2. Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
4. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
8. Forever by Judy Blume
9. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
10. Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
11. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
12. My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
14. The Giver by Lois Lowry
15. It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
16. Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
17. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
18. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
19. Sex by Madonna
20. Earth's Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
21. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
23. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
24. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
25. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
26. The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
27. The Witches by Roald Dahl
28. The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
29. Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
30. The Goats by Brock Cole
31. Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
32. Blubber by Judy Blume
33. Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
34. Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
35. We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
36. Final Exit by Derek Humphry
37. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
38. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
39. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
40. What's Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
42. Beloved by Toni Morrison
43. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
44. The Pigman by Paul Zindel
45. Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
46. Deenie by Judy Blume
47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
48. Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
49. The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
50. Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
53. Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
54. Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
55. Cujo by Stephen King
56. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
57. The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
58. Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
59. Ordinary People by Judith Guest
60. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
61. What's Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
62. Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
63. Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
64. Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
65. Fade by Robert Cormier
66. Guess What? by Mem Fox
67. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
68. The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
69. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
70. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
71. Native Son by Richard Wright
72. Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women's Fantasies by Nancy Friday
73. Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
74. Jack by A.M. Homes
75. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
76. Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
77. Carrie by Stephen King
78. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
79. On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
80. Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
81. Family Secrets by Norma Klein
82. Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
83. The Dead Zone by Stephen King
84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
85. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
86. Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
87. Private Parts by Howard Stern
88. Where's Waldo? by Martin Hanford
89. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
90. Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
91. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
92. Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
93. Sex Education by Jenny Davis
94. The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
95. Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
96. How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
97. View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
98. The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
99. The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
100. Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

Some of the books on the list make sense considering the views of mainstream America being what they are. However lots of the others were quite shocking (Why is number 47 on this list?)

Was curious about others' thoughts on the subject of banning/limiting acces to books.

Also do people try to ban books like these in other countries as well?

[jackinthebox]

i also was interested in the topic a few years ago and found the same list. wonder why 84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, 5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and 52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley are on the list. and why the hell 7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling?!
Germany has some lists with films/games/music, but the most books are allowed...

[v.dog]

Harry Potter makes more sense to me than Where's Waldo (88). There must be something in that book that I'm missing.

[Hatesink]

Harry Potter makes more sense to me than Where's Waldo (88). There must be something in that book that I'm missing.Humorous compromising situations Waldo could be found in —there are just too many. It's overloading my imagination (probably for the best, since it's a topic that could potentially see me banned from the forum:p;)).

(I think they might be referring to volume where due to a printing error Waldo doesn't appear at all ;))

Harry Potter controversy:

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

[Apostate]

Harry Potter makes more sense to me than Where's Waldo (88). There must be something in that book that I'm missing.

I remember something about there being cartoon bewbs in one of the books?

What always makes me sad about this list is A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle. This was simply one of the most beautiful, amazing books I read in my little kid years. :(

[Silent Film]

Yeah I recall there was an exposed breast in one edition of Wally, clearly this is enough to have our youth turning into sex-crazed cretins and must be stopped immediately! ;)

[borgdrone89]

4. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

My english class studied this most pointless and stupid book in year 11. It was stupid, and featured a school bully who was controlled by the school rat who had supposedly taken a picture of the bully *you know whatting* in the toilets.
and it featured chocolate. the ending also sucked and was anticlimatic..

and to top it off, it was our teacher's favourite book.
our class spent quite a number of weeks arguing with the teacher about how stupid and pointless this book was. also, for an assignment we were to write a "newspaper style" book review of it. of course, she gave the bad reviews bad marks, and then she started punishing us for it by giving us random incredibly hard english tests which had nothing to do with anything she had taught, and were definitely not part of the curriculum.

suffice to say, i passed the semester with her, but i was glad to see it end.

at one point the whole class was complaining to the head of the english wing about her and we thought we were close to getting her sacked.

out semester 2 teacher was awesome. she was older than most teachers, but she was heavily into rock (eg: nirvana or whatever they're called), worked a second job with her band doing gigs at a cafe next door to a brothel. she was NUTS. she gave us a really clever play to read (much ado about nothing), and she had grumpy fits at the bad kids. (sometimes she went overboard and they stormed out of the room or started crying XD)

[nmrahde]

Just read #13 (Catcher in the Rye) today and wow...I can see why just based on language people would want to ban it. Thing is Holden doesn't mean anything bad by most of it, it's just part of how he talks.

[borgdrone89]

Just read #13 (Catcher in the Rye) today and wow...I can see why just based on language people would want to ban it. Thing is Holden doesn't mean anything bad by most of it, it's just part of how he talks.

yeah, i read this a couple of years ago too, i dont see why it should be banned. a lot of these books contain less bad language then some of your every-day run-of-the-mill movies.

[Hatesink]

I can't believe Naked Lunch isn't on the list.

I guess they just didn't bother even trying to stock it.

[lotkrotan]

most of these are on the list of banned books by religious nuts. I lived with some of them for a while, and they're the only type of people I know that go through the trouble of banning books. The wouldn't let my little brother play Final Fantasy or Pokemon because they promoted magic and monsters, which are not of god's creation. That is why they all hate harry potter...

Brave New World contains suicide, language, and orgies... not exactly PG material.

By the same standards, I'm suprised 1984 isn't on the list.

I love how Stephen King is there 3 times, makes me proud to be 10 minutes from his house (I used to deliver his paper)

[Hatesink]

I love how Stephen King is there 3 times, makes me proud to be 10 minutes from his house (I used to deliver his paper)Did you used to go to his house at Halloween?

[lotkrotan]

yes, he used to have a haunted house at his place each year, not sure if he does it anymore. His house is really impressive, it's not huge or anything, but it's nice, in a nice neighborhood, with a nice creepy fence :)

[Hatesink]

I had an old friend who used to go up to his place around Halloween and let off fireworks.

[Club Heaven]

It's a wonderful thing that the educated people at power are shielding us little sheep from ideas that would harm our innocent, fragile minds. It just shows how much they really care.
I wouldn't want some anarchist wacko filling my head with real world issues when I can read about Britney Spears' cute little baby instead. Why do they let these antisocial losers disturb us neighbourly people in the first place ? They should just line them up and execute 'em like the ugly freaks they are (I bet they can't even get girlfriends, the ugly bastards).
Only when they're all gone we may live our pointless lives in peace, numbness and harmony with our god, the television.

[nmrahde]

Well in this day and age trying to ban a book does nothing but make the would-be banners feel like they have some smidgeon of power (prolly the reason they did it back then too).

However with the internet in full swing you can get access to pretty much every book. Infact, I was reading a text file for Catcher in the Rye. So censorship attempts don't worry me too much (as long as I have a way to get around them), they just make me wonder "Don't these people have any other hobbies or friends or something?"

[borgdrone89]

i think that's an american banning list because our teacher forced us to read the chocolate war, and we live in australia.
so i need not worry if i want to read one of these books

[Demitasse]

I read Flowers for Algernon in the eighth grade. It was a really great short story, and was sad for me. But there is nothing in that book that should have it banned. It's about a retarded person having an experimental surgery that makes him smarter. Why should that be banned?

[PrivateJoker]

Number 60 is my favorite...wow old thread? :eek:

[purplerose1414]

#3 saddens me to a great extent.

[Apostate]

#3 saddens me to a great extent.

Obviously the best way to teach our children about racism and child abuse is never acknowledge that such things exist.

[Death]

Is it me... Or are most of these CHRISTIAN related bannings? The most hypocritical religion in the world again wants to piss me off...

[Demitasse]

The Roman Catholic Church also plays a major part in bannings.

[Ric]

I've read or seen a play/screen version of almost all of those works -- so I guess that ban is as effective as a chocolate fire-guard then!

[JamesR]

The idea of a banned book is so offensive to me as a Human Being.

The Government, nor any organised body, should be able to decide what you read.

[Fuzzy OneThree]

3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
9. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
14. The Giver by Lois Lowry
22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
70. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
It's sad to see these books on the list...

[Demitasse]

The Giver was a great book. I read that one in 8th grade. Because it has a part where the main character wishes to give a girl a bath and has wet dreams (stirrings) people have to challenge it. What the Hell is up with this censorship, man. I thought this was America.