Banned Books
Every burned book or house enlightens the world; every suppressed or expunged word reverberates through the earth from side to side. Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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Stormy Weather Joins Muggles for Harry Potter I also urge everyone reading this site to do the same. Folks, the people of Family Friendly Libraries are working to remove JK Rowling's Harry Potter books-- Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and the as-yet-untitled Harry Potter #4-- from library shelves all over the USA. For those without kids, pick up the books anyway, I heartily reccommend them as an addition to anyone's library. Personally, I found them wonderful reading, of the same caliber as Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth, and CS Lewis' Narnia books (click here for a complete listing)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Singsby Maya Angelou
Objections to this autobiographical novel center on the vivid description of a rape she suffered as a child. Also said to not "represent traditional values."
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
In 1993, this dystopian novel was removed from the Chicopee, Mass. High School English class reading list because it contains profanity and sex.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Censor a book about censorship and burning books? Sounds bizarre, yet in 1992 at the Venado Middle School in Irvine, CA, students received copies of the book with scores of words (mostly "hells" and "damns") blacked out. After receiving complaints from parents and being contacted by reporters, school officials said the censored copies would no longer be used.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
"Conflicting with values of the community."One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (by John Cleland) was finally cleared of obscenity charges in 1966 by the U.S Supreme Court. Since its original printing in 1749, this story of a prostitute is known has been a target for censors and suppressors, both for its frank sexual descriptions and its parodies of contemporary literature, such as Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders.
Ann Frank--Diary of a Young girl
For her thirteenth birthday, Anne Frank's parents gave her a diary. "I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support." Just one month later (July 1942), Anne and her family went into hiding to escape from the Nazis. For the next two years, living in a cramped Amsterdam annex, Anne's writings filled two notebooks. To date, more than twenty-five million copies have been printed in fifty-five languages. Various reasons have been used to justify banning Anne Frank's acclaimed diary. In one 1983 incident, four members of the Alabama State Textbook Committee called for its removal because it was a "real downer."
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller Published in 1961, Heller's novel has been both lauded-- "This novel is not merely the best American Novel to come out of WWII; it is the best American novel that has come out of anywhere in years." [Nelson Algren]-- and heavily criticized. Whitney Balliet fo the New Yorker expressed distastess by griping it was filled with "sour jokes, stage anger [and] dirty words." The Strongsville City School district in Ohio opted not to purchase the book and also keep it from the school's library in 1972. The decision was finally resversed in 1976.
Ulysses by James Joyce
Only after supporters fought for the right to publish the book, was the 15-year ban (1918-33) on this title lifted.
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Profanity, showing disrespect for authority are the themes that recurr each time this book has been challenged since its publication
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Candide by Voltaire
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Challenged upon publication for showing a slave in an honorable role, and in later years as racist. Recently challenged in English classes at Taylor County High School in Butler, Ga. (1994) because of racial slurs, bad grammar and does not reject slavery.
Bridge to Terabitha by Katherine Paterson
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
Down These Mean Streets by Piri Thomas
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Fantasy & Science Fiction Mysteries & Thrillers Main Store E-mail This page last updated on 21 January 2000