Banned Books Week ~ reasons for banning

How many of these banned characters can you name?

Cross-posted on my Bonnie's Books blog.

Day Two ~ banned classics

According to the Office for Intellectual Freedom, at least 46 of the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century have been the target of ban attempts.  For more information about this list, read this ALA post.

1. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
4. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
6. Ulysses, by James Joyce
7. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
8. The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
9. 1984, by George Orwell
11. Lolita, by Vladmir Nabokov
12. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
15. Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
16. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
17. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
18. The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
19. As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
20. A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway
23. Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
24. Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
25. Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
26. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
27. Native Son, by Richard Wright
28. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey
29. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
30. For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway
33. The Call of the Wild, by Jack London
36. Go Tell it on the Mountain, by James Baldwin
38. All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren
40. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
45. The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
48. Lady Chatterley's Lover, by D.H. Lawrence
49. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
50. The Awakening, by Kate Chopin
53. In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
55. The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie
57. Sophie's Choice, by William Styron
64. Sons and Lovers, by D.H. Lawrence
66. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
67. A Separate Peace, by John Knowles
73. Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs
74. Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh
75. Women in Love, by D.H. Lawrence
80. The Naked and the Dead, by Norman Mailer
84. Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller
88. An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser
97. Rabbit, Run, by John Updike

Cross-posted on my Bonnie's Books blog.

Banned Books Week ~ Sept 27 to Oct 3

It's Banned Books Week, so what are you reading?
Cross-posted on my Bonnie's Books blog.

Lethal ideas

"Ideas are only lethal if you suppress and don't discuss them.  Ignorance is not bliss, it's stupid.   Banning books shows you don't trust your kids to think and you don't trust yourself to be able to talk to them."

— Anna Quindlen

Dangerous Words

Judy Blume has her own page about censorship.

Mighty Girl has a great article on banned books, naming books in several categories:

Children's ~ inappropriate for age group

The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson (age 9 -12)
Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry (age 8 - 12)

Too scary ~ books banned for violent content

Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George (age 10 and up)
The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay (the Hunger Games trilogy) by Suzanne Collins (all age 12 and up)

Prejudiced ~ books banned for racism

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (age 10 and up)
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor (age 10 and up)
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (age 15 and up)

Irreverent ~ books banned due to religious objections

The Golden Compass  by Philip Pullman (age 10 and up)
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume (age 9 - 13)

Too sexy ~ books banned for sexuality

Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden (age 13 and up)
The Color of Earth graphic novel by Kim Dong Hwa (age 10 and up)

Hiding the truth ~ banned nonfiction

It’s Not The Stork by Robie H. Harris (age 4 - 7)
It’s So Amazing by Robie H. Harris (age 6 - 9)
It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie H. Harris (age 10 and up)
Let’s Talk About You And Me by Robie H. Harris (age 3 - 7)
The What’s Happening to My Body? Book for Girls by Lynda Madaras (age 9 to 15)
Ready, Set, Grow by Lynda Madaras (girls, ages 8 - 12)

The article adds a couple of other helpful categories:

Dangers of censorship
Recommended resources

One commenter thinks the best line is...

"A Mighty Girl believes that most topics can be introduced even to the youngest age groups, provided it is done with care and that parents or teachers help children discuss their reactions to these concepts."

Banned Books Week ~ begins today

Last Monday, a school board in North Carolina banned the novel Invisible Man from its reading list.  Although one board member said at the meeting, "I didn’t find any literary value ... I’m for not allowing it to be available," Ralph Ellison won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1953 for this book.  In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Invisible Man nineteenth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. Time magazine included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.

Invisible Man ~ by Ralph Ellison, 1952 As a first novel by an unknown writer, it remained on the bestseller list for sixteen weeks, won the National Book Award for fiction, and established Ralph Ellison as one of the key writers of the century.  The nameless narrator of the novel describes growing up in a black community in the South, attending a Negro college from which he is expelled, moving to New York and becoming the chief spokesman of the Harlem branch of "the Brotherhood," and retreating amid violence and confusion to the basement lair of the Invisible Man he imagines himself to be.

They banned the book just in time for Banned Books Week, which begins today.  If you have a review of a banned book you'd be willing to share here, let me know.  Leave a comment, or email me (Bonnie) at emerging DOT paradigm AT yahoo DOT com

Bridge to Terabithia ~ Bonnie's review

Did you know...?

...that the Bible has been banned at various times, editions, and places in the world?
...that Black Beauty by Anna Sewell was banned in South Africa because of the use of the word "Black" in the title?
...that Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson was banned from some libraries in America due to its content relating to death?

The movie version is as good as the book, probably because it was directed by the author's son, whose friendship with a girl in the neighborhood inspired the book in the first place.  Here's a summary of the book:

Jess Aarons' greatest ambition is to be the fastest runner in his grade.  He's been practicing all summer and can't wait to see his classmates' faces when he beats them all.  But on the first day of school, a new girl boldly crosses over to the boys' side and outruns everyone.  That's not a very promising beginning for a friendship, but Jess and Leslie Burke become inseparable.  Together they create Terabithia, a magical kingdom in the woods where the two of them reign as king and queen, and their imaginations set the only limits.  Then one morning a terrible tragedy occurs.  Only when Jess is able to come to grips with this tragedy does he finally understand the strength and courage Leslie has given him.

You are probably wondering why this book would be challenged.  Because of its content related to death, profanity, and "language."  While critics have wondered whether its themes are too heavy for children, Katherine Paterson said that books we read in childhood are a rehearsal for experiences later in life.  She was inspired to write this book when her son's childhood friend was struck and killed by lightning.  Read more about the author's inspiration.  That link also includes an excerpt from Chapter One.

I highly recommend Bridge to Terabithia, a Newbery Medal-winning novel.  I rate it 9/10, an excellent book.