Comments on: banned books.

By: Jax

Jax — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 16:07:35 +0000

I don’t mind about the crediting either way tbh, glad to have sparked discussion. Not quite sure where I first saw it discussed, was a week or so back, but I’m having problems with my bookmarklet link

By: Sarah, Dino and Mimi

Sarah, Dino and Mimi — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 13:40:37 +0000

28 here, I think.

I blogged it at http://ethicallyspeaking.blogspot.com (I credited you – don’t worry) and it got taken from there to be talked about on http://feministinternational.invisionzone.com/

By: Allie

Allie — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 13:28:29 +0000

Sixteen of them – though I only read the ‘rude’ bits of ‘Forever’ when I was working in a bookshop on a slow day!

It would be interesting to see the balance between sex and violence as the main reasons for complaint – sex seems to be winning by quite a way. ‘Heather has two mommies’ and ‘Daddy’s room mate’ both grace our bookshelves are (apart from being tedious) are remarkable inoffensive.

By: dottyspots

dottyspots — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 22:01:42 +0000

crikey – there are some surprising ones in there. The majority of the ones I’ve read were as before I was 16, save for HP of course.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling (but missing a couple still)
Forever by Judy Blume
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine (yes I have read some of these – rolls eyes)
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
The Witches by Roald Dahl
Blubber by Judy Blume
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
Deenie by Judy Blume (not sure about this one, but rings a bell – I read loads of Judy Blume when I was younger).
Cujo by Stephen King
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis (I even remember exactly where I read this… memories )
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday (I’ve actually got the male one as well)
Carrie by Stephen King
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Running Loose by Chris Crutcher (it’s ringing a bell)

By: Jax

Jax — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 17:24:31 +0000

According to the site that I got the link from:

“Seventy-one percent of the challenges were to material in schools or school libraries. Another twenty-four percent were to material in public libraries (down two percent since 1999). Sixty percent of the challenges were brought by parents, fifteen percent by patrons, and nine percent by administrators, both down one percent since 1999)”

So we aren’t necessarily talking of books assigned on courses (struggling to imagine what courses might require some of the banned books!) just books that are in the building.

Reminds me of the Nat Hentoff story, The day they came to arrest the book.

By: Alison

Alison — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 09:46:15 +0000

27. Will be 28 next week, I’m about to read The Witches to the kids, but I’ve never read it myself!

I love Judy Blume, can’t believe people are still frowning at her. Robert Cormier’s the Chocolate War is a huge favourite of mine, have read one of the other two by him on that list. And How to Eat Fried Worms!!!!! How on earth could that have offended anyone? Does someone really think it would encourage children to eat worms????

From what I’ve read before about these challenges Kath, they’re simply about not wanting to have them in the school library, they’re not all on reading lists for particular subjects.

By: Jan

Jan — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 22:50:43 +0000

I’ve only read 9, and most of those the children’s ones. What a bizarre list, I can think of more offensive ones, and mostly can’t remember being shocked by the ones I have read

By: Claire

Claire — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 22:20:11 +0000

I’ve read 15 but as I’ve read the appropriate version for me of number 28 then maybe it should be 16? How can the male version be more offensive than the female? Makes no sense to me.

By: Merry

Merry — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 20:22:29 +0000

I’ve read 15 and will feel immediately obliged to go and buy all the growing up ones.

By: Kath

Kath — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 20:01:46 +0000

Quite impressed that I’ve read 10 of them, I seem to have loads of books started and not finished most of the time. However, I would probably also object if M was in school and studying some of the books on the list, depending on his age and how it was being approached. So I can’t condemn other parents for trying to have books they find totally inappropriate taken out of a curriculum too. Challenges initiate discussion, surely?

By: Ruth

Ruth — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 19:26:33 +0000

I’d only read six, but I’m not terribly well read. I mean, I have an MA in Literature, but there’s an awful lot of stuff you’d THINK I’d read, which I haven’t.