posted on August 29, 2001 11:00:29 PM new
In less than a month, Banned Books Week will be coming 'round again: September 22-29.
Censorship is alive & well, and a growing number of folks seem to feel that if *they* don't like a book then *no one* should be able to read it. Everyday in this country a book is banned or challenged somewhere and all too often schools & libraries cave in without a fight. Don't let others dictate what you, or your children, should be allowed to read.
You can find a list of the most challenged or banned books here:
posted on August 30, 2001 12:43:29 AM new
Great link! The 1990-99 stats were interesting:
1,446 were challenges to “sexually explicit” material
1,262 to material considered to use "offensive language”
1,167 to material considered “unsuited to age group”
773 to material with an “occult theme or promoting the occult or Satanism,”
630 to material considered to be “violent”
497 to material with a homosexual theme or “promoting homosexuality”
397 to material “promoting a religious viewpoint.”
What I get from the above is that folks who want to ban books think sex (and three other categories) is more offensive than violence. Now that's a group of people I can live without for always!
posted on August 30, 2001 04:47:49 AM new
When I was about 12, growing up in NYC, one of the activities I and my group of friends did in our rounds of 'hanging out' was browsing around in the public library.
One of these times, the title of a book lying around caught the eye of the girl I was with; Thinking it was a religious book, she picked it up, read the synopsis, and put it down again, with the comment "I don't like to read books where things happen to children." Being the contrary sort, I picked it up myself, checked it out, and took it home. It was E.L Doctorow's "The Book of Daniel." Reading that book was a watershed moment in my life.
I'm sure it would be considered inappropriate for a 12 year old. But, things were different then, we weren't as much concerned with appropriateness as we were with the freedom to read, and the librarian didn't bat an eye when I checked it out. Perhaps if my parents had noticed I was reading it, and if they'd been familiar with it themselves, they might have taken it away. But, they didn't, and the book was a revelation to me, it was from that moment that I began to develop an adult perspective. I remember it very fondly.
posted on August 30, 2001 06:12:00 AM new
2 of the books on the most challenged books from 90 to 99 were required reading in junior high for me, and 1 in high school. I went to school in Tx.
To Kill a Mockingbird
Flowers for Algernon
Native Son
I still remember those 30 years later as powerful writings that made me think and question and feel.
Thanks for the link, bunnicula. I'll be feeding my brain with some of those.
posted on August 30, 2001 07:41:45 AM new
I was so lucky growing up: there was literally nothing that my mother ever forbade me to read. She was always willing to discuss things that I didn't understand or which were controversial.
There are many parents that I meet daily who are so fearful & restrictive. Fairy tales? Oh no. Too scary. Laura Ingalls Wilder? Oh no. Ma Ingalls' attitude toward Indians wasn't PC (though historically accurate). Harry Potter? Oh no. Satanic. Huckleberry Finn? Oh no. Racist. So many want to avoid anything that is controversial, thought-provoking, sad or in any way upsetting. Their kids are restricted to literary pablum.
It's bad enough they do it to their own kids. But these are the kinds that often will work very hard to get books removed from school reading lists. I remember when I was in the 6th grade, my mother protested when this was attempted by another parent. Thanks, Mom.
posted on August 30, 2001 07:48:39 AM new
My mother took a book away from me once. I was 9 or 10, it was "The French Connection." A classmate had given it to me because his mother wouldn't let him read it. I hadn't even gotten through the first chapter when my best friend's father noticed it. He told my mother I was reading it, and she took it away. I never have read it.
posted on August 30, 2001 08:06:37 AM new
After Donny's first post, I realized that I had not read The Book of Daniel so I did a search on Ebay, using the title and up pops a book called "Bunnicula Escapes" ending in 27 minutes.
posted on August 30, 2001 08:39:54 AM new
I also found 6 books that I can remember were required reading for me in junior/high school. I just read "Brave New World" again a couple weeks ago.
Could someone please explain to me why "Where's Waldo?" is on this list?????
posted on August 30, 2001 12:51:52 PM newjamesoblivion:James & the Giant Peach has been challenged "because it encourages disrespect for parents/guardians."
posted on August 30, 2001 02:29:26 PM new
I'm all for parents making informed decisions on reading material for [b]their[/i] children.
It's the ones who knee-jerk their way through life, the ones who don't even read the books, who irritate me.
Equally irritating are the ones who want to save MY child from all these evil books.
Mind Your own Business Nosy Neighbors.
I personally read a lot of these banned books myself, and my daughter has read many that are age relevent (Harry Potter, Goosebumps etc. The Witches and A Light in the Attic??!! Who's stupid idea to ban them was that?). She will likely read many of the other banned books in the near future, and I will help her to understand the ones which have some outmoded concepts, like Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn.
I thought Catcher in the Rye was boring, but I read Flowers For Algernon and To Kill a Mockingbird several times for fun.
posted on August 30, 2001 02:59:55 PM new
I thought "The Catcher in the Rye" was boring too (though my college aged son loved it.) And, I've started on "The Decameron" several times, and never got very far. That's a problem with some of these famously "banned" books, they just don't live up to their billing, they need to get dirtier quicker.
Helen, I hope you'll enjoy "The Book of Daniel," I did.
posted on August 30, 2001 06:05:57 PM new
doony: try Slaughterhouse-5 by kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and Catch-22 by Joesph Helm. Both have been banned forever, but are good, easy, and funny reading.
posted on August 30, 2001 06:59:47 PM new Donny, Thanks!
I'm sure that I will!
Borillar
That's my favorite Vonnegut book! After Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut seemed to mellow out a bit. The Joseph Heller book, Catch 22, is a classic! Great suggestions!!!
posted on August 30, 2001 07:36:02 PM new
I'm ashamed to say I've never read any Vonnegut, I've always meant to, though I did see the movie version of Slaughterhouse-5 (and I wasn't impressed at all.) Vonnegut was one of my father's favorite authors, I remember many of his books lying around the house. Catch-22, another of my father's favorites, I must've read 3 times, loved it. I passed it to my kids when they were in high school and they were both crazy about it. I tried another Heller book, long ago, think it was called "Good as Gold," and I hated it.
