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That's really interesting. I expected to see more banned books in my neck of the woods since this area is part of the Bible Belt but the banning in Texas is light compared to the east coast. I guess the east coast reflects the old WASP ethic (which is good concerning work but not with book banning).
As for banning books.....it's totally ignorant. It sounds too much like Hitler's Germany.
On top of that, it defeats the purpose. How many of us rushed out to find a copy of Tropic of Cancer when we learned it had once been banned? I sure did. The same holds true with Lady Chatterley's Lover.
I've always found that articles about "banned" books never delve into the differentiation between banning a book and what is age appropriate for an elementary or high school library. I don't have kids but I wouldn't want them reading books with explicit sex scenes or graphic violence at a young age.
I hate the idea of banning books. I know my local library banned the Harry Potter books because parents were complaining about the magic that was involved in it. Apparently it was showing kids that practicing magic is okay. *eye roll*.
Next thing you know they'll ban Winnie the Pooh because he's a talking bear.
While the issue of children's literature is a concern for parents, I believe it falls under a parent's responsibility not the library's. When it comes to school libraries, I understand this is a complicated issue. Not being a librarian, I don't know how they choose books for children 12 and under.
Banning books like And Tango Makes Three because parents don't want their kids to learn about homosexuality makes me crazy. If a parent is uncomfortable with the subject, he/she is free to not check out the book or to limit their child's exposure. However, there are many people who want their children to learn about the subject so they will learn to accept all people. Banning the book for everyone because a handful of people are upset is ridiculous. I feel the same way about Catcher in the Rye, The Chronicles of Narnia, Alice in Wonderland, etc.
"So now do you see why books are hated and ... feared? They show the pores in the face of life. The comfortable people want only wax moon faces, poreless, hairless, expressionless."
I didn't even know such a thing existed, and that map is different than I would've expected.
So here's my question for the thread - what is your opinion of banned books? Should they/shouldn't they - why/why not?
Great topic and link. I'm LMAO that a district near me tried to ban "Of Mice and Men". Heck, that was required reading when I was a high school freshman. Even 30 years ago I recall the school librarians wearing buttons that said "read a banned book".
funny you should mention "Winnie the Pooh" it was on the list. The banned books started quite a while ago and the list is huge! Our small town library participated in banned books week with a "Read Out". They asked a few people to read excerpts from Banned books. I participated by reading from
"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". Some one else read from a children's book. It was on the banned list in 1970 somewhere because it gave human characteristics to animals! Another reader read from "Call of the Wild". I had to leave early, so I don't know what the other books were.
Great topic and link. I'm LMAO that a district near me tried to ban "Of Mice and Men". Heck, that was required reading when I was a high school freshman. Even 30 years ago I recall the school librarians wearing buttons that said "read a banned book".
Yes.
I still have my copies of Mice and Men, Native Son, and Brave New World, all recently banned books--but I did misplace my Banned Book button.
But this is interesting: Miami, Florida
Last Updated by Alita on Aug 7, 2009
(2007) Sharon Gordon's Cuba was removed from the Norma Butler Bossard Elementary School library amid parental complaints that it did not depict an accurate portrayal of life in Cuba
My parents pretty much let me read anything, and what they (especially my father) kept in drawers or elsewhere, my brothers and I eventually dug out.
I've always had mixed but mostly negative feelings about censorship.
Obviously there is a 'forbidden fruit' aspect when books are banned.
I like to think that the richer reading experience a student has, the better he will be at appreciating literature--or sniffing out propaganda.
5. Twilight (series) by Stephenie Meyer
Reasons: religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
What religious viewpoint? And how is kissing sexually explicit?
If parents can't raise their children to understand the difference between reality & fantasy then that's on the parents. They should not challenge books & try to ban them just to disguise their own inability to prepare their children for the world. And saying things like Twilight, Harry Potter, Are you there God it's me Margret, The Catcher and the Rye, Of Mice and Men, Goosebumps, etc are unsuited to age group is doing just that imo.
Leave the books alone. Let us have the freedom to choose what we want to read, when we want to read it.
Last edited by kerafaith; 10-04-2010 at 08:02 PM..
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