I was suprised to see some of my favorite books as a child on there: Bridge to Terabithia, The Anastasia Krupnik Series, A Wrinkle in Time. It's kind of interesting.

http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek...tfrequently.htm

Ah... facism at its finest moment.
If something isn't understood or agreeable... ban it.

The list doesn't even make sense. Why is Where's Waldo on there? Somebody couldn't find him behind the bunch of baloons and therefore got offended?

i'm very curious about why Waldo is on the list. strange indeed.

Judy Blume is way over represented.... but 'Wifey' is not even on the list.

I seem to recall some mention on another MB about something that looked phallic in one of the Waldo books. I don't know for sure, but that's what's coming up when I jar the ole brain.

I have no idea why Bridge to Terabithia is on the list. It was one my favorites as a child too--well, okay, my very favorite, at least in the fourth and fifth grade. I cut my melancholic teeth crying over that story...something like 24 times.

To Kill A Mocking Bird?!!!! the world pays millions for elephant poop on canvas, they call it art, and literary art is treated like elephant poop?!

When I was in middle school, there was a widespread rumour about how the "Where's Waldo" authors hid more than just Waldo in those jumbled drawings. Nekkid people, phallic symbols, dirty words, etc. I don't know that anyone ever *found* any of that stuff...but they got yanked out of school libraries to be on the "safe" side.

From Alibris's banned children's books page:

Where's Waldo?by Martin Handford - Although most of us are searching for Waldo among the crowd in the illustrations of this book, some folks have discovered something else entirely—purportedly a topless sunbather. The book was challenged by libraries in Michigan on the grounds that "on some of the pages there are dirty things."

I feel you....I have a signed copy because I got to meet the author when I was like 12...the shame

who is wifey?

Holy crap...I know a book question that Jaem doesn't! ::makes note on calendar::

"Wifey" is a novel by Judy Blume. Judy made her big coin with kids' lit like "Superfudge" and "Are you there God, It's me Margaret."

But "Wifey" was a bit racy, and took a lot of Blume-junkies by surprise.

<chokes with envy> [Hijack] For shame? Was she mean? [/hijack]

Why is Summer of My German Soldier on the banned books list? Are they afraid some child will read it and start harboring enemy soldiers in their garage attics? That's ridiculous. That was one of my favorite books in middle school, along with The Drowning of Stephen Jones.

On a vaguely related note, Places I Never Meant to Be is an excellent collection of teen fiction. I picked it up on a whim from the Indigo discount table and had to buy it. You might want to look it up. Each author contributed some thoughts on censorship in addition to an original short story.

Hmm, it's only a week now? It used to be banned book MONTH. Damn censors.

I find it funny that a solid chunk of the books on the "banned" list posted above were required reading in my elementary and high schools. Heck, my sister's school put on The Chocolate War as the school play last year. Vive le Québec.

I don't see what the exceptions are to most of those books. I've read most of them and I *think* that I'm a fairly well rounded individual.

aren't I?

Some people will object to anything: too many 4-letter words, too much sex (gay, straight, any), witches or "magical creatures", realistic portrayals of death (Because kids shouldn't know anything about that, right? My father died when I was eight -- and my brothers even younger. Might be nice for kids to know that happens in other families occasionally.), apparently naked tiny cartoon people. You name it, someone's probably objected to it. They feel if it upsets them personally, then no one should have access to it.

The New Joy of Gay Sex

What a hilarious combination of words. Regardless of the vice or virtue of its content, the title makes me giggle like a school girl.

I'm still trying to figure out where The Pigman fits into this selection of reasons. "Ranchy" (oh how the introduction made me laugh!) language aside, I really can't think of any reason for The Pigman to have been banned, apart, perhaps, for sheer tedium, in which case Moby Dick would never again weight school library shelves.

It doesn't take much for some people to complain.

From http://solonor.com/bannedbooks/archives/001764.html

The Pigman

AUTHOR: Paul Zindel

ISBN: 0553263218

Plot Summary: Mr. Pignati is the Pigman--an old man with a beer belly and a strange story. When two high schoolers meet up with him, they learn his whole sad tale.

Complaints: Offensive language, sexual themes
A parent in Plano, Texas, said: The first few words, including 'epic' and 'avocation,' made the novel seem normal, but following words, like 'raunchiest,' 'excruciatingly' and 'subliminally,' are strange words that imply ugly things."

Dude! A BIT racy?! I remember learning A LOT from that book (which I stole from my older sisters room) as a child and finishing it with soooo many questions. I'd have to call it more than a bit racy.... more a graphic adult novel! naughty!
~m

Thanks Jeanne. That site is amusing, in a warped way....

Yeah.. I thought it was a real horny book, even if it was a little harsh on men. I was big fan of Judy's kids books and it confirmed my suspicions that just under the surface, child lit authors are largely seathing with naughtiness.

I wonder if Henry Miller ever penned children books under a secret monicker?

Don't we all have a little just under the surface?

It's certainly fun (if not naughty) to think so.

I know that Banned Book Week 2006 has just passed, but I just came across this article today:

Original source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion...1&cset=true

When Harry met Satan

Published October 9, 2006

All this time we thought the Harry Potter books were about coming of age, triumphing over adversity and eating jelly beans that taste like earwax and vomit. It turns out we have not been paying close attention. There are people out there, lots of people, who think Harry, Hermione and Ron are recruiters for Satan's army.

Last week, a suburban Atlanta mother of four made news by asking the board of education to banish Harry and the Hogwarts gang from school libraries. She says the books are an "evil" attempt to indoctrinate kids into the Wicca religion, and foster the kind of culture that leads to atrocities like the Columbine school shootings.

Plenty of other parents, clergy and teachers worry that the J.K. Rowling series promotes an unhealthy interest in witchcraft. The books have been removed, restricted, banned and burned so many times that they rank first on the American Library Association's list of "challenged" books from 2000-2005.

The Harry-and-Satan theory picked up steam several years ago when the satirical tabloid The Onion ran a story headlined "Harry Potter Books Spark Rise In Satanism Among Children." (The article reported that since 1995, applicants to Satan worship had increased from 100,000 to 14 million children and young adults.) The story was excerpted in e-mail chain letters forwarded by folks who didn't get the joke--and the next thing you knew the Internet was loaded with rebuttals by angry Wiccans, Harry Potter fans and truth-squad Web sites like snopes.com.

Naturally, this has not hurt Harry's popularity. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Banned Books Week, the ALA asked readers to vote for their favorite banned titles. The Harry Potter series finished first in all three age categories--preteen, teen and adult.

Other frequently "challenged" books include literary standards such as "Huckleberry Finn" and "To Kill a Mockingbird"; provocative titles such as "Heather Has Two Mommies" and "What's Happening to My Body?"; the entire Captain Underpants series; just about anything by Judy Blume and, astonishingly, "Where's Waldo?" (Forget Waldo. Can you find the dog sniffing a child's behind?)

The list proves once again that one reader's classic is another's ticket to the dark side.

We're not here to say what anyone's children should read. Parents who worry that Harry will deliver their kids to the devil or encourage them to experiment with earwax and other gateway drugs are free to ban the books from their homes. Just leave them in the library for the rest of us.


Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune

Right on!! Right-wing is badass.

It's that time of year again folks!

Lets celebrate and read an effin' banned book this week!

linky

I'm reading "Catcher In the Rye." I know, I know, it's nothin' new, but I haven't read it since I was in high school 30 some years ago. Drove to Evansville to B&N to get a copy and came home with a copy of Wise Women too. It's a great book of portraits of women 65 and older and a quote or 2 from them. A beautiful body of work.

Cher

I can't believe The Perks of Being a Wallflower is on the list! I kind of feel like it should be required reading for all high school kids.