A simple discussion starter for today: What’s your favorite book (besides Harry Potter) that has been challenged or banned (past or present)? Why?
For lists of challenged/banned books, see the links in this post.
What’s Your Favorite Banned Book?
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All Quiet on the Western Front
The Gulag Archipelago
Animal Farm: Ironic that it was banned in a supposedly democratic country, Great Britain, because it criticized Stalin while WWII was going on. Orwell also noted that the sad thing about the censorship of the book in Britain was that so much of the censorship was voluntary. The press & publishers simply didn’t want to bring up unpopular & difficult topics.
A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle
Not a banned book, but I’m suddenly reminded of a novel ABOUT banning books that I read early in high school, called The Day They Came to Arrest the Book , I think. Not a classic, but I remember being floored when the secretary’s name was Rena. It’s not a name you see in print very often…
Deborah, thanks for your post, because I also just remembered that I hated A Wrinkle in Time when I read it at like 13…I also hated The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe , so I’m thinking I’ll give it another shot. :] (These are the realizations that make me really believe in developmental psychology. Who knew that the middle-schooler who thought symbolism was made up and language arts was a waste of times would, less than ten years later, end up making a living out of symbols!)
The Bible.
I’m not sure if it’s been a banned book, but this topic brings to mind a Children’s Literature class I took in college, and the teacher (who also taught elementary students by day) relayed a conversation he’d had with a worried parent about _Bridge to Terabithia_…
Teacher: What are your concerns?
Mom: Well, the girl in the book DIES.
Teacher: Yes….?
Mom: Well, my daughter might think that SHE could die, or one of her friends!
Teacher: Uh… Isn’t that a reality we all have to face?
I’ve always remembered that conversation because what safer and better way is there to process difficult realities than in the context of a good story? I’ve kept it in mind as I recommend books for my own daughters.
Is that the reason people want to ban “Bridge to Terabithia? That the girl dies in it? It’s horrible, shocking, & terribly sad, but it’s also an unfortunate reality of life. I’ve read the book & seen a made for tv adaptation but I don’t read it anymore because it’s too sad for me but that’s a personal choice.
But yes, what better way to help children process through some of the difficult realities of life than in a fictional setting with a parent’s guidance. And as with most things it’s up to the parents to decide when a child might be ready to read this book, or any other book for that matter.
revgeorge, my parents went to go see the film version of “Bridge to Terabithia” awhile back and they hated it for the simple fact that Leslie Burke dies. What kind of a story is this? they complained. It is a very sad story that portrays the harsh reality of early death, of a life taken away too soon, like you said. I agree that parents reading to their children is important in this respect, that it can guide them to deal and ultimately learn how to confront these harsh realities when they occur.
A few years back, I looked through a list of banned books from the ALA and I saw Catcher in the Rye. I always wanted to read it and seeing that it was in the top ten of most challenged books in the 1990s, I read it. And I loved the book. It’s still one of my favorites.
Oh, jeez ! I went through the banned book list on Wikipedia and found this;
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Children’s Book. Removed from libraries in Herefordshire during a healthy eating campaign due to their interpretation of it promoting over-consumption and obesity.
You’ve got to be kidding me ! I loved that book when I was young !
My favorite “banned” (or challenged) books outside HP:
Howl, by Allen Ginsberg. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but it, along with The Dharma Bums by Kerouac, changed my life. Of course, Howl is really the only thing worth reading from Ginsberg…
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain. Hemingway was right: all modern American fiction does flow from Huck Finn. And Jamie fights this battle with her students/parents every year.
Speaking of Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms is my favorite of his books. I challenge anyone to find something written in English more tragically beautiful than the opening two chapters of that book. I get goosebumps everytime I read the first chapter. No other book has ever done that to me.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll. I just finished teaching this to my Intro to Lit students.
A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess. Again, not everyone’s cup of tea. But I find the book a heck of a wakeup call.
Dave, Howl is a brilliant poem. I remember reading Ginsberg’s poem for an English class taught by John Tytell in college and was amazed. I’ve never read The Dharma Bums but I’ve seen the recent anniversary edition and should read it since On the Road was and still is one of my favorites. I also loved Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
I want to add The Giver by Lois Lowry. For a young reader’s book, The Giver says a great deal and I was hitting myself for not reading it sooner. The main character Jonas is given a unique vocation and risks a lot in the end to save a life.
Johnny, my thesis director at Morehead was my poetry teacher — a guy named George Eklund. We were talking one day and I mentioned Gregory Corso. George says:
Yeah…
It was the equivalent of a 105 year old man telling me, “I remember when the Cubs beat the Tigers to win The Series…best moment of my life!”
revgeorge, yes — I’m bitter. There’s only so much disappointment I can take! Stinkin’ Dodgers…
Victoria, you’re younger than I am, but I remember reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar to my second graders when I was teaching. It’s so much fun and made all of us giggle. What were they thinking when they thought that book should be banned. I don’t remember any of my kids getting a message that to over-eat was the point of the book.
I have to look at the list again. I think I’ve read more of the books on the most challenged list that ones that were actaully banned.
Pat
You don’t need to tell me, Dave. I’m a Cubs fan, too. Right now I’m trying to ignore the playoffs as much as possible. Out of sight, out of mind, out of writhing, soul searing agony watching the Cubs blow it again. I figure if they do win I can buy the championship season dvd. But I won’t write out my check yet.
Don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the thought of The Very Hungry Caterpillar being banned or challenged. Eric Carle is one of our very best picture book artists/writers. And one of the main points of the story is that the caterpillar, when he overeats and feels sick, takes a break from all that consuming. He eats one green leaf and he rests and he feels much better. We could all take a leaf from that book!
Bridge to Terebithia is a marvelous book. I reviewed it a couple of years ago in a banned book write-off, but it’s been a favorite for years. It seems so ironic to me that parents might be concerned that it contains the death of a child, as though they’re afraid children can’t handle that reality. I agree with you all that sometimes a story is the very safest (and most creative place) to deal with topics like death and grief. In fact, Kat Paterson wrote it while working through grief over the death of a young friend of her young son. I’m sure it was cathartic for her and her son, and that it’s been cathartic for many people since.
Dave wrote, “A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess. Again, not everyone’s cup of tea. But I find the book a heck of a wakeup call.”
Hi, Hi, Hi, my little droogies!
Couldn’t resist. Great book & movie adaptation. Again not for everyone as you mention, Dave.
Now, to listen to Ludwig von’s glorious Ninth…
No, A Clockwork Orange certainly isn’t for everyone. I saw the movie and had nightmares from it. I’d never even be tempted to read the book. However, since we’re talking about banned books, I would never suggest that the book or the movie should be banned just because I thought it was awful.
OK, here’s another one that amazes me that’s on the list: Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. I loved that book. And why was it banned? It was in South Africa because of the use of the word black in the title. So clearly, it’s an example of someone banning a book without bothering to read it.
There were quite a few on there that I have read. One that I haven’t, but I’ve always meant to, is Farenheit 451. I saw the movie of it, which was just a bit odd and dated, but its message came through loud and clear and I’ve always remembered it.
The list of challenged books includes Gone with the Wind, which IS one of my favorite books. I’ve been thinking lately that I need to buy another copy and reread it. (I think my copy is lost somewhere in the scary place called our attic, along with a lot of other things I haven’t looked at for years.)
Pat
I was going to say Animal Farm whose publication was delayed in the UK due to its anti-Stalinist sentiments (back when the Russians and the Americans and British were allied against the Germans), when I came upon Little Red-Cap by the Brothers Grimm (a story more commonly known by the name Little Red Ridinghood) which was banned by some schoolboards in California because Little Red was bringing food and wine to her granny, thus presumably enabling the old woman’s alcohol addiction.