Over the years it seems like just about every great book was challenged at one time or another for reasons ranging from the well-intentioned to the indubitably dubious. At the Banned Book Week website you can check out a map of book banning and challenges, and the ALA has a list of the Top Ten Most Challenged Books in 2009 and the decade, as well as a list of banned/challenged classics, along with some of the reasons and places.
Which one is your favorite?
The great Tahereh Mafi (who by the way I had the pleasure of meeting yesterday she’s awesome) is compiling a master list of blog odes to banned books, so if you decide to blog about it don’t forget to add your name to her list and check out the others!
I’d like to give a shout out to #58 on the most-challenged-books list of the decade, Fat Kid Rules the World by K.L. Going, one of those books that, when you see it on a banned books list, it makes you say, “Wait, what?!?!” I mean, what was this challenged for, EXCESSIVE AWESOMENESS?
FAT KID opens with an overweight teenager contemplating suicide on a subway platform, but instead Troy strikes up an unlikely friendship with Curt, who is cool and edgy and wants Troy to be in his band. It’s a realistic and heartfelt and engrossing book that has an incredible friendship at its core.
This one is extra special because K.L. used to be a colleague of mine at Curtis Brown, and when I read it I was just blown away that I knew someone that insanely talented.
Please check it out if you haven’t read it already!
And in the meantime, looking forward to hearing which is your favorite banned/challenged book in the comments section.
Wow. Someone banned Hitchhiker's Guide? Definitely one of my favorite books of all time. I saw Ender's Game on another "banned list" yesterday. Yeah, parents should be interested in what their kids are reading – but actively working to get a book banned just sounds like someone desperately needs a hobby.
I read many of the banned classics as assigned reading in school – and it was a parochial school. I’m grateful my teachers didn't think their strong religious views conflicted with their goal of preparing us for adulthood.
Okay, I've recovered enough from my shock at seeing Charlotte's Web and Winnie the Pooh on the banned/challenged list to realize I ought to have been sore specific regsrding what I was aghast about.
Since Nathan's question was which are our favorite banned books I wanted to be clear that I am not shocked that those books may be someone's favorites, but that anyone could ever find anything possibly ban-worthy about them.
You probably all figured that out – I wanted to make sure. 😉
CHARLOTTE'S WEB does indeed go without speaking, Mira. It's just another part of the spiders' plot to take over the world, which most women warn me is unfolding before our very eyes. Moths and Daddy-long-legs are in on it too, it seems. Anything with six or more legs. Wings optional.
Dictionaries? Definitely! Onto the pyre with them all! BTW, Microsoft World tells me 'califlower' should be spelled 'cauliflower', but it's just a (virtual) dictionary itself, so take no notice.
IRS, DMV, HMOS, anything with initials and no full-stops, out with it! (Please note 'J. T. Shea' has full stops after the 'J' and the 'T'.) Though I hear Hollywood is planning to film 'FORM 4868: APPLICATION FOR AUTOMATIC EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE U. S. INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAX RETURN' with Nicholas Cage as a time traveler who extends the time to file his 2010 tax return to 1865. I hope they don't change the catchy title.
Three of those books were required reading when I was in high school, go figure.
Nathan, Fat Kid is often banned due to its language. Apparently teens don't swear.
It was an absolutely brilliant book, one that's close to my heart. I've written numerous times on how those who object to the language are seeing a forest for the trees.
It frustrates me to no end that I can't use Harry Potter in the classroom.
A children's book that gets young children to read and read a LOT, yet I can't even read it out loud to them. I can have it in my room, but that's about it. Half the people that are so against it haven't even read it.
I could go on and on and on, but I'll just get all fiery. 😛 It makes me want to go ninja choppin'.
My favorite has to The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Definitely should be banned for kids younger than 14, but awesome read none the less.
I love Catcher in the Rye, but I have to go with To Kill a Mockingbird. Loved it so much, named my first daughter Scout.
Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is one of my favorite books ever. Eloquently written dystopian novel that smacks down totalitarianism.
I've written posts about that, as well as Feed, Julie of the Wolves, Looking for Alaska, Thirteen Reasons Why and more. Each of these books is so important, we can't let someone muzzle them.
#26 "Gone with the Wind," and #50 "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin??!! What?! How could these amazing works ever be banned?
I am appalled to think of them being banned as they are so beautifully written and very influential and dear to me.
On a related note, I remember my mother telling me the Catholic church banned parishioners from seeing "Gone with the Wind" in its movie form as late as the 50s-60s – although I think it came out in 1939. Of course, she said it only made her want to sneak out and see it more 🙂
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is my favorite all-time book. I don't think I'd be the same person if I'd never met Scout and Atticus.
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE is also high up there.
Much as I hate the idea of banned books, it sure is nice to see so many people discussing literature with such enthusiasm.
Nathan it seems that the blogosphere is up in arms about explicit banning of books. What about implicit banning?
I searched the online catalogs of some nearby libraries. I couldn’t find a copy of “Mein Kampf”. I shouldn’t have to note that the book had an enormous influence on the 20th century, with repercussions felt today. Yet the book is hard to find, and illegal in several countries. Somehow it doesn’t make the banned book list. I think it is a case of librarians, and others, implicitly censoring the book.
Imagine someone trying to put that one in a high school library.
Please note: I’m not advocating the positions taken in that book.
My favorite banned book is Fareheit 451. What could be more ironic?
Julie of the Wolves, Gone With the Wind, Lord of the Rings, To Kill a Mockingbird and the Harry Potter series to name a few. So many of those on the list were required (and/or recommended) reading in high school. Many of them still are at the high school I graduated from back in 1998. That makes me happy. ^_^
In light of the recent challenging of Speak, I finally read it. Oh my. It's now on my list of favorite books. I'm working on a review of it to go up late tonight or very early tomorrow.
<3,
TL
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I think it's interesting. When we first hear the word "banned", we immediately cringe and think censorship and an assault on free speech. And yet, as I read through ALA's website, I realized that most of the challenges weren't to abolish the books forever for everyone, but rather concerns about some books being available at school for children whom parents feel are too young for the material.
One of the great arguments against banned books is that parents should be responsible for determining what is appropriate for their children. Yet, how can parents do that when questionable books are being offered to their children in school without the parents' knowledge?
Case in point. My 12-year old daughter came home and told me their teacher had assigned them to read "My Sister's Keeper," and they were already half way through. Huh? I had read that book (and thought it was awful), and didn't feel it was appropriate for 12 year olds. So why was this teacher making that determination instead of me?
I think ALA's Banned Book Week could use a little truth in advertising. Let us be outraged for true censorship and not for parents asserting their rights.
That said, my favorite banned book is The Giver by Lois Lowry. But I don't think I'd recommend it to my eight year old.
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE and THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN.
As an English teacher, banned books are always my favorite to teach. I preface the study of each book by telling the kids "We're going to be rebels and read a book that some people think you shouldn't read." There is absolutely no better way to hook them.
Off the decade list I have taught THE THINGS THEY CARRIED (although I actually didn't know that one was banned), GRENDEL, FAHRENHEIT 451, ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, and THE GREAT GATSBY (my favorite) without a single complaint. I did have one mother refuse to allow her son to read BRAVE NEW WORLD. She called it "smut." That child was a reluctant reader, and as soon as his mom said he wasn't allowed to read it, he "stole" a copy from me and had the whole thing finished in a couple of days. That never would have happened if she hadn't protested. I wanted to send her a thank you note.
I also had a parent challenge A CHRISTMAS CAROL, which isn't even on this list. Apparently she objected to Christmas, which I tried to explain is really no more than the setting for the book, but it didn't matter. Christmas was in the title and her kids were not reading it. Crazy.
Well, A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY is my all-time favorite book, BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA is my favorite childhood book and life wouldn't be the same without all the Judy Blume books.
No book should ever be banned – ever!
J.T. – how could anyone change that title? It's perfect, lol.
Well, re. your book with the extremely fat villian, I hope it's okay if I give my opinion. I do believe that you need to write the book the way it's meant to be written. And you also have to be true to the character and his weaknesses. But I also hope you'll be careful not to reinforce sterotypes and prejudice. It's not so much tip-toeing around feelings, it's more about not adding to discrimination against a group of people.
TonyB and Shelli – I think you have some interesting points.
The Sexuality Theory of Value by Billy Soo-Lee. It's a send up of 1984 and the second coming of Jesus Christ. Originally the author was going to call it The Pussy Theory of Value. It was not so much banned, but rejected by publishers because they thought "we can't print that" even though they sent back rejection letters saying that it was very funny. The author self-published and I was lucky enough to pick up a copy.
Fat Kid Rules the World is a fantastic book. I read it five years ago, and it still has an impact on my life.
I actually felt compelled to comment today (normally I just read the posts in my email and leave it at that) because OH MY GOODNESS. I totally read FAT KID RULES THE WORLD in middle school and I'm fairly certain no one I know has ever even heard of it. It was indeed epically awesome, and, especially to me at that age of genuinely and passionately enjoying near-constant pleasure reading, I did not want it to end. So it was one of "those books" and I loved it.
Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging has me laughing out loud every time I read it. Of course, depressing tear-jerkers shouldn't be banned either, but a book that can bring a person so much silliness? If I were rich I'd buy a copy for every high school classroom.
My fave is BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA, and my apology to Ms. Paterson for the attempted murder of her book is on my blog.
Very glad to see the book mentioned by so many others.
(pssst: you switched Troy and Curt's names around).
To Kill a Mockingbird and The Great Gatsby. If I had to choose a YA book, I'd pick Forever by Judy Blume.
Out of the list my favourite would have to be The Color Purple but for me the most bizarre book to have been challeneged is the Harry Potter series. Harry Potter!? A book about the eternal fight against good versus evil. I mean come on people get a life!
I'll pick any/every Judy Blume book that was challenged. In fourth grade, my teacher read the first few chapters of TALES OF A FOURTH GRADE NOTHING to the class and I was hooked. I read as many of her books as I could. THEN AGAIN, MAYBE I WON'T and ARE YOU THERE GOD, IT'S ME, MARGARET both caused a stir, but they were important reads. I learned more facts of life from those books than I did from school, church, and talks with my parents combined.
WORD VERIFICATION: rheli. A southern belle agreeing with you. "Rheli, I did."
hannah-
Gah!! How embarrassing! Thank you.
It has to be Tropic of Cancer, for me. It still leaps off the page almost 80 years later, and one of the first books to test modern censorship laws. May not be the last word in political correctness, but if you want words as potent as dynamite, Miller is your man.
1984 is definitely at the top of my list.
Mine is Harry Potter. I teach in a Catholic School and a group of parents tried to have it banned. Luckily our bishop came forward extolling the virtues of the book so they backed off. However, there are still several kids I teach who are sadly not allowed to read Harry.
I was a little surprised that Huckleberry Finn didn't make the list. It has been the target of censors for over a hundred years for its casual use of the "N" word and juvenile delinquent protagonist.
And it still is censored in this century, sorta. In one of my MA literature classes a few years ago, the Professor chose not to have us read or discuss certain portions of the book. Ridiculous.
Excellent advice, Mira. My young villain's fatness is both a result and symbol of his monstrous excesses, one of several, aided and abetted by a psychotic psychiatrist (alliteration!) he employs as his personal assistant and manager of his vast private theme park. The story is set centuries from now, on an anarchic colony planet.
There have been a number of junior James Bond novels and movies in recent tears. Mine might be considered a sort of junior James Bond villain, complete with private kingdom, henchmen, minions, and boys' toys write large. For example, his train set consists of real steam trains on tens of miles of real tracks. My fat kid literally does rule a world, but that's all he has in common with K. L. Going's character.
Most of the Bond villains had some physical disability or peculiarity, and almost always employed a younger, fitter chief henchman to fight Bond, much as a medieval King might employ a court champion. Overall, my character has more in common with Jabba the Hutt than anyone living today, but there were, no doubt, some people offended by Jabba!
The Seventh Scrolls. I haven't read the book but I think it was the same story in the movie of Demi M. In that movie a fat down syndrome boy committed a murder. He killed his parents because it turned out they were brother and sister, for him that is a despicable MORTAL SIN.That those 2 deserved to die.A retarded who knows what is right from wrong.Wow!
My favorite? The Color Purple. Alice Walker is awesome. 😀 There are some on the list that I still have to read, but many greats are on that list.
For me, Cormier's The Chocolate War, mostly because, as a teacher, I love books that challenge the idea that teachers can't be bad guys.
The Giver.
i love finding howard stern: a summer intern's story
I'm completely going with graphic novels here – something like Sandman or Watchmen – because it just has that extra layer of potential discussion, and is, in general, often deeper. There's the additional element of the pictures. It's amazing how many people won't see the art, but will see the 'offensiveness'.
I don't even really know how many of the books I'm passionate about are banned. If "His Dark Materials" are – I love those exactly for the controversial aspects. The characters aren't always what I'm looking for, but wow is Pullman a genius.
Alice in Wonderland was once banned, I just read, so that goes on my personal favourite-bans too.
All this talk of banned books has me reminiscing about a favourite moment with a banned book. I'm Australian, so I don't know if this was across the board, but I eleven or twelve when Judy Blume released Forever and yes, it was banned at my school. One of my friends though had snagged a copy before the ban and every lunch time a group of about six of us headed to the back of the oval and took turns reading it aloud. I loved every moment of sharing a great book with my friends.
'Beloved' is by far my favorite book of all time, and though I definitely understand why many find it objectionable, I love it because of how beautifully it's written, and how powerful of a story it really is.
I have to say SMACK by Melvin Burgess. I had the honor and pleasure of working with him as an editor for some short stories, so I'm a bit partial.
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