Banning books still practiced today!

Shakespear was/is rather raunchy in some plays & poems! Well, it doesn't sound as baudy now as when it was written, but A Midsomers Nights Dream was quite scandalous and meant for the commoners.

I knew about most of those books being the subject of banning, being an English major. It's funny, though, how many books that are "mandatory reading" now have been banned in the past.

Don't forget, the series Where's Waldo or Where's Wally, is one the American Library Associations top 100 books being challenged in the decade of 1990-2000.

OK, I'll bite. WHY would you challenge "Where's Waldo"?

http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedboo...frequently.htm

It comes in at number 88.

There are a bunch of books in the "banned books" section of Barnes and Nobles and Harry Potter was on it. I can understand limiting some books at the elementary and middle school levels, but high shcool is a different story. I don't mean letting them read any and everything. Yes ban the sexually explicit books and things that are deemed offensive. They can read that stuff on thier own time.

I can understand banning Sex by Madonna but why ban "What's happening to my body: a book for girls..."? That would be very important information ffor them. Of Mice and Men and Huckilberry Fin are CLASSICS!!! Yes the book usues words that are no longer considered useible words but still it's a great book!

I don't agree with banning books. I run a school library and we have all sorts on our shelves. There are explicit books (fiction and non-fiction) about sex, drugs, violent behaviour, gangs etc.
In my opinion, students are better off learning about these things through the pages of a book than by experimenting in real life.

Sue

::censor::censor::censor:: Of Mice & Men?!
That's being challenged?!

oh, yes, fabulous. our kids are becoming less and less well-educated, their horizons are being shortened, rather than broadened, they can't hold theological discussions, and we wonder why?

A Wrinkle in Time- it's one of the first BIG books I read when I was small.. that my child may not be "allowed" to read it frightens me.

The Witches, Julie of the Wolves, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD?
Oh my goodness. Those are all classics, and all have a moral, and a deeper meaning. I can't possibly understand this!

Flowers for Algernon?! ugh! Why?

Oh! And Lord of the Flies. You know what? Having them not read that particular novel does nothing but make their minds weak. how sad. It's even more sad that some of these books are Newberry awards. :/

Depending on the age of the book, you can actually access quite a lot of them online:

Project Gutenberg

Those that are in public domain of course, depending on copyright laws at the time of publication.

I have a real problem with governments banning books. I have a problem with the government banning any form of art however, as an adult I like the ability to see something, listen to something, or read something and make my own decision.

However a school not having on a reading list or carrying it in the library doesn't bother me at all. Growing up, I read above and beyond what was available at the library and if I really wanted to read something or my parents wanted me to read something, they bough it for me if it couldn't be found at the libraries. Of course that could be what has driven to me to have three bookshelves full of books that are spilling over. But it was a good practice, I was able to read things that weren't carried at the school library not necessarily because they were ban but just because they weren't there. My parents always encouraged me to read and where involved in my choices for a while but I do understand that some parents don't have the time to be that involved and may not want their children exposed to some of the reading that is available out there.

And I have to say some of the books on that list are simply not suitable for children and others I would definately want to pre-read or re-read before I allowed my (future) children to read it. Whether a book is a classic or not some just don't belong around children...Moll Flanders and Canterbury Tales are not something I would be comfortable with my child reading before a certain age. That being said, if I have copies of both books and when they are old enough they are welcome to read them.

And now in the internet age, I seriously doubt there are many books out there that a person couldn't get their hands on, at least in this country, if they really wanted to.

A lot of the books on that list have been challenged and even banned, but have since been reinstated as Classics and mandatory reading. Like Huck Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird (both, I believe, for the N- word), Flowers for Algernon, Of Mice and Men, etc. A lot of these have been challenged and attempted to be banned by religious nuts (not all religious people are nuts, BTW ) who don't think children should read anything that isn't Biblical based, and who don't think sex should be discussed in any way, shape or form (including the changes to their bodies, I believe because of the illustrations that could be viewed as "erotic" or some such rot).

Sounds like me...the library wouldn't carry Of Mice and Men when I was in Middle School so I went out and bought a copy of it. Never did understand why they didn't carry it. It's still one of my favorite books.