I am a little slow on this, but I ran across the news story this morning. This week is banned book week. I had always know that there were books thst we couldn't have at school, but it never seemed to bother me becasue as a child I spent so much time in the public library, I knew how to get a book that the school district may not have wanted me to have. My parents never stopped me from reading any book I brought home. The only thing they would not allow me to read were certain magazines while I was in middle school. Those would be Cosmo and True Romance. As an adult with a child now I understand why however, at the time I was angry. I went back to reading babysitters club and anything by R.L. Stein.
So here is the list of banned books that I found.
Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
Forever by Judy Blume
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Giver by Lois Lowry
It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Sex by Madonna
Earth's Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
The Goats by Brock Cole
Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
Blubber by Judy Blume
Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
Final Exit by Derek Humphry
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
What's Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
Deenie by Judy Blume
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
Cujo by Stephen King
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
What's Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
Fade by Robert Cormier
Guess What? by Mem Fox
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Native Son by Richard Wright
Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women's Fantasies by Nancy Friday
Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Jack by A.M. Homes
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
Carrie by Stephen King
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
Family Secrets by Norma Klein
Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
Private Parts by Howard Stern
Where's Waldo? by Martin Hanford
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
Sex Education by Jenny Davis
The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
So now I know some are not appropriate for children, but really, I don't think a parent is going to be upset because some are not in schools, but others. Every girl NEEDS to read "Are you there God? It's me Margaret." and "Brave New World" and "Of Mice and Men."
I remember reading at least 20 of these books, and wanting to read several others. Two of them were required reading in high school. Emily just finished reading one in her second grade class and reads another while in church. I guess I don't understand. If it gets people reading how is it bad? And how can it be any worse that what people watch in tv? Seriously?
So I think I will be heading to the local library, where, if you remember I paid all my fines and picking up a few banned books to read. So there.
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2 comments:
The reason these are banned is because if you can get a group of like 20 people together, they can successfully ban a book from a school library.
Not all of them have been banned in a lot of places.
I think most of them are okay for a kid to read, but at the same time, some of them need to be discussed either after or while a child is reading them, and some of them are not appropriate for certain ages. At 8 I could technically have read "I know why the caged bird sings" but it would not have been age appropriate for me. I think it's important for parents to at least read the same books a child is reading and discuss the weird parts with them. I do think that once I started working at the library I got into some books I shouldn't have, and it would have been good for my mom to sit down with me and either read them together or explain why they weren't good books to read. I hope to do that with Emlyn and Denali. Anyway I bought a "banned book" the other day from Half Price. Take care!
When I read the list I was shocked. Maybe the reasoning behind some of it is due to lack of parenting. I know that I don't want Emily and Jacob reading some of these books until they are much older. I don’t think I will be reading them a bed time story about why someone has two daddy's but- it blows my mind. When I first ran across this I was blown away. I just wonder how much of the books the people who try to ban them have actually read? Or is it a bunch of people jumping on band wagons and tooting horns they know so little about? I love to read, and wish I had more time to do it. I want my kids to love to read as well. And if allowing them to read Blubber and Harry Potter will open their minds to other books to read that might not be quite so "controversial" then I say read on. (With parental supervision)
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