Mysterical-E

Reading for Smarties

BANNING BOOKS

Banned Books Week this year is from September 24 to October 1st.

Stephen King said, "When I go into the schools, I tell the kids to check and see which of the books are there and which of the books aren't there and to be sure to read, not necessarily just mine, but everyone's. Read the books that aren't there first, whether it's Huckleberry Finn or Salem's Lot or whatever, because the most important things that you need to find out are the things your elders don't want you to know."

The U.S. Constitution prohibits the banning of free speech, but that doesn't stop people from trying. Just to refresh our memories, here are the exact words of that amendment, Number 1:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The American Library Association explains that the leading causes for contesting a book are sexually explicit content, offensive language and inappropriate subjects for minors. Most challenged books reside in school libraries, and it's parents who are objecting. The Association also said that the Harry Porter set of books has had more than 3,000 challenges based on what opponents perceive to be Satanic undertones, the most of any book since the year 2000.

I'm sure all readers here are aware that there have been banned books over the years, and several have probably surprised some of us or all of us or even, sometimes, none of us. We all know that recently, Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn" was banned in some schools.

Go here for more info about Banned Books Week: http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/

Of particular interest on the site above is the map. Click on some of the points, and you'll read about what book was either banned or challenged and why: http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/mappingcensorship

One of the most dismaying facts I discovered was from the American Library Association website: "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." Go here for the list:
http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/radcliffes-rival-100-best-novels-list/

As I went searching for banned books, some of the ones I didn't know about surprised me, and some astonished me because of the reasons for the banning, and others didn't surprise me, but dismayed me.

One of the oddest reasons I found for banning books was because they were "real downers." "Anne Frank," and "The Bell Jar," for example. They also had some sexual content that helped get them banned, of course. Perhaps one of the most serious consequences of a book banning was Kate Chopin's decision not to publish another one after "The Awakening" was said to be "immoral" and "scandalous," and received some harsh reviews. It's also possible that Harper Lee didn't publish again because of all the controversy about "To Kill A Mockingbird."

Below are some banned or challenged books with the most unusual reasons for their bannings, in my opinion.

The dictionary. You know, that book that defines things. Everything. So, it's been banned in a few elementary school as not "age appropriate" because it defines things like "oral sex."

"Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" by Bill Martin, Jr., and Eric Carle was banned in January 2010 by the Texas Board of Education not because of content, but because the author has the same name as an obscure Marxist theorist who happens to have died around a hundred years ago. No one checked to see if they were the same person. Scary, isn't it?

"James and the Giant Peach" by Roald Dahl. A children's story. Banners don't like that it has child abuse and say it promotes alcohol and drug use, contains inappropriate language, and encourages disobedience. We'd have to ban almost all of Charles Dickens' books if a good reason to do so was the depiction of child abuse.

Another banned children's book was by the beloved author, Shel Silverstein, "A Light in the Attic." Banned because of an illustration of a child breaking dishes so he won't have to dry them. It became one of the most banned books in the 1990s.

Then there's Dr. Seuss's book, "The Lorax," an allegorical story describing the effects of what happens to the earth when it's not protected. Those opposed to the book thought it shows an unfair portrayal of the logging industry. I'm not making this up.

What about Little Red Riding Hood? Her story was one of the most banned in the early 1990s because she carried a bottle of wine in her basket for her grandmother. Naughty
girl!

Anne Frank's diary has been banned numerous times. The most recent was in January 2010 when a Virginia school pulled it for "sexually explicit" and "homosexual" themes. Missing, of course, the whole reason it has had such a powerful effect on readers which had nothing to do with "sexual content."

In 1922, 500 copies of the book "Ulysses" by James Joyce were burned, that's right, burned, not just banned, by the United States Department of the Post Office. The book was originally published in Paris, France, in 1922. Reasons: obscene and radical. Too ridiculous to comment on.

"A Wrinkle in Time," on the Most Challenged Books of 1990-2000 list, has been banned for religiously objectionable content (for references to crystal balls, demons and witches) among other reasons. Imagine trying to ban every single book that mentions any of those three things!

"Little House on the Prairie" -- the book, not the TV show. Reason: racist the way Native Americans were portrayed. But, but, some white people weren't portrayed as nice people, either.

Read more about banned books: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/banned-kids-books.html#ixzz1Y2WzCriE

"Let children read whatever they want and then talk about it with them. If parents and kids can talk together, we won't have as much censorship because we won't have as much fear." - Judy Blume

And a final word from John Aikin "To choose a good book, look in an inquisitor's prohibited list."

Reading "Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens. Somehow I missed reading it in school. And yes, it's a banned book!