The Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2006

Banned Books Week is coming - September 29 through October 6, 2007 - and even though that seems a long way off, it's never too early to read a good banned and/or challenged book.

Where to begin? How about with the most frequently challenged books of 2006--

1. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, for homosexuality, anti-family, and unsuited to age group;

 2. Gossip Girls series by Cecily Von Ziegesar for homosexuality, sexual content, drugs, unsuited to age group, and offensive language;

 3. Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor for sexual content and offensive language;

 4. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler for sexual content, anti-family, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;

 5. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison for sexual content, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;

 6. Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz for occult/Satanism, unsuited to age group, violence, and insensitivity;

 7. Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher for homosexuality and offensive language;

 8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky for homosexuality, sexually explicit, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;

 9. Beloved by Toni Morrison for offensive language, sexual content, and unsuited to age group; and

 10. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier for sexual content, offensive language, and violence.


Or, perhaps you'd like to stick to the best novels of the 20th Century (according to the Radcliffe Publishing Institute)--here's the top 30--the titles in bold have been banned or challenged:

1. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

2. Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger

3. The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck

4. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

5. The Color Purple, Alice Walker

6. Ulysses, James Joyce

7. Beloved, Toni Morrison

8. The Lord of the Flies, William Golding

9. 1984, George Orwell

10. The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner

 11. Lolita, Vladmir Nabokov

 12. Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck

 13. Charlotte's Web, EB White

 14. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce

 15. Catch-22, Joseph Heller

 16. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

 17. Animal Farm, George Orwell

 18. The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway

 19. As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner

 20. A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway

 21. Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad

 22. Winnie-the-Pooh, AA Milne

 23. Their Eyes were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston

 24. Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison

 25. Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison

 26. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell

 27. Native Son, Richard Wright

 28. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey

 29. Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut

 30. For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway


Three cheers to the American Library Association. Don't mess with librarians. Not only are they sexy, they're right on the front lines of our intellectual freedom. Whether it's fighting the overreaching of the Patriot Act or supporting banned and challenged books, librarians are quietly some of the fiercest supporters of our First Amendment rights. So go hug a librarian today. And go read a banned book.

•  Tip Jar--thanks!

  My favorite banned book? Hmm...so many life-changing books here. Maybe Catch-22 and Slaughterhouse Five.

  by My Name on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:11:57 PM PDT

  •  Hm

    I would go with Their Eyes Were Watching God or Brave New World.

    by ATalbot on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:14:32 PM PDT

  •  I gotta go with

    Catcher in the Rye. But then, Lolita was a hoot.

    by bleeding blue on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:18:22 PM PDT

    •  Umm, you find a pedophile

      forcing a young girl to have sex with him is a hoot?

      I disagree.

      by irishwitch on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:41:17 PM PDT

      •  I thought it well-written, regardless n/t

        by bleeding blue on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 03:34:33 PM PDT

        •  Not good enough for me.

          IU owuldn't censor it. However you need to reqd "Reading Lolita in Theren" becasue the ENglish prof and her students say it far better than I can.

          by irishwitch on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 05:16:51 PM PDT

          •  We all have our "books to burn"

             Vladimir Nabokov is one of the best writers I've read. King, Queen, Knave, Pale Fire and Ada are also good books by Nabokov, I read them all in high school. (I wish I had the leisure time these days!)

            When I was 15, I was reading The Cross and the Switchblade, a fundy-christian book that was all the rage at the time, used as a "teaching" device to bring in teens into the "fold". I never finished it...I caught my secular progressive Mother throwing it into our backyard burning barrel. I was like: "Helllooo, liberals don't burn books. I was just reading it! Burning books, that's what the nazis did!" I was just checking it out, sheesh.

            She was embarrassed, with good reason, for she knew that my beliefs were already set at that time. Or at least she should have.

            by bleeding blue on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 06:54:50 PM PDT

      •  Yes.

        Not the sexual exploitation itself, but the book was extremely well-written. You can actually pinpoint the page number where Humbert begins to descend into madness. I had chills.

        by PerfectStormer on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 04:18:04 PM PDT

•  Charlotte's Web?

  Are you fucking kidding? How could Charlotte's Web be on that list?

  hink

  by MrHinkyDink on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:16:32 PM PDT

  •  interspecies love affairs

    by jimraff on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:18:31 PM PDT

    •  It's not marked as being banned or challenged.

      I think hink is objecting to its being on the list at all.

      by Mehitabel9 on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:25:14 PM PDT

      •  But it should be marked

        I specifically recall a story about Charlotte's Web being banned in some school district in Kansas because they found talking animals to be blasphemous.

        by Zackpunk on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:37:07 PM PDT

        •  Then they should read Numbers.

          More specifically, they should read about Balaam and his talking donkey.

          hink

          by MrHinkyDink on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:44:25 PM PDT

          •  Talking animals

            I seem to remember a talking snake in the Bible somewhere too.

            Maybe it was just talking spiders they had a problem with.

            by Zackpunk on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:45:47 PM PDT

    •  Not challenged or banned...

      Charlotte's Web isn't in bold, but why is it in the top 30 novels of the 20th century?!

      by kn74 on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:29:22 PM PDT

      •  it was voted in

        by pogoalwaysrigh15 on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:34:34 PM PDT

  •  it's really, really sad

    and kids shouldn't have to feel sad, let alone feel sympathy for farm animals.

    by zenbowl on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:27:30 PM PDT

  •  The religious right doesn't like

    talking animals or that animals might have a soul.

    by Temmoku on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:29:15 PM PDT

    •  but I thought

      all the animals in the manger talked when Jesus was born, which is why they all can talk at midnight on Christmas Eve.

      by HugoDog on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:36:34 PM PDT

      •  Putting on my CHurch Lady Disguise

        THAT was a miracle, not FICTION.

        by irishwitch on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:40:09 PM PDT

        •  LOL!

          by HugoDog on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:44:52 PM PDT

    •  The religious right don't like

      IMAGINATION or CREATIVITY. It might lead to THOUGHT.

      by irishwitch on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:39:43 PM PDT

•  Don't forget Harry Potter

  for obvious satanism

  by jimraff on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:17:54 PM PDT

•  What, no Harry Potter?

  Wingnutia leviosa!

  by tjqhzonff on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:18:53 PM PDT

  •  Rowling is the 4th most banned author

    1990-2004.

    by GOTV on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:34:43 PM PDT

    •  and probably the richest!

      by HugoDog on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:36:57 PM PDT

      •  Well, there's that.

        by GOTV on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:37:24 PM PDT

  •  hilarious

    Wingnutia leviosa!

    I'm going to steal that - with attribution, of course

    by anotherdemocrat on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:41:01 PM PDT

  •  32 more days

    Till the seventh book comes out!

    by GoldnI on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:45:16 PM PDT

    •  I will be at home

      sitting outside my door, waiting for the FedEx delivery. Also going to the local independent book store's party at midnight.

      by anotherdemocrat on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:53:09 PM PDT

•  Here's one for the 2007 list...

  Scorpion Down: The Untold Story of the U.S.S. Scorpion by Ed Offley...  My friend & neighbor (& republican!) gave me this book for my birthday & told me he's ready to move to Canada after reading it because it pissed him off so much against our government.  Of course, I used the opportunity to point out to him that cover-ups are par for the course for the republicans & that he should stay & vote Democratic.  

  by madame defarge on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:19:25 PM PDT

  •  Johnson made quick work...

    ...of covering up the truth of the USS Liberty Incident.

    Republicans don't have any monopoly on cover-ups.

    by Rex Manning on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:34:25 PM PDT

    •  You may be right, but...

      the republicans sure seem to have perfected it.  And who knows what we don't know about?  (Hmmm, that sounded a bit like Rumspeak...)

      by madame defarge on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:40:04 PM PDT

•  I noticed that none of the books...

  ...on the recent list have been challenged because of pinko ideas while many of the older books were. What's up? Are pinkos not writing novels anymore or they not being challenged.

  Why was 'Heart of Darkness' challenged/banned? Anyone know?

  by Rex Manning on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:20:42 PM PDT

  •  Heart of Darkness

    Challenged for sexual explicitness, but retained on the Stonewall Jackson High School's academically advanced reading list in Brentsville, VA (1997). A parent objected to the novel's language and sexual explicitness.

    thanks to http://www.ala.org/...

    Harry Potter did make the ALA list of the top 100 banned books of 1990-2000  

    "Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings." (German: "Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen.")—Heinrich Heine, from his play Almansor (1821)

    by HugoDog on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:29:35 PM PDT

•  Hard to pick a (banned) favorite

  from that top 30 list.  I guess I'd pick To Kill a Mockingbird, although I have great affection for a lot of the other ones.  Slaughterhouse-Five and Catch-22 would run a close second and third.

  I can't believe East of Eden isn't on that list.  I can't believe Hemingway made it three times(!).  I can't believe Gatsby is number one.  But that's a different diary...

  by Mehitabel9 on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:22:33 PM PDT

  •  I also can't believe

    that anyone currently living has actually read Ulysses from cover to cover.  It. Can't. Be. Done.

    by Mehitabel9 on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:23:48 PM PDT

    •  So you're thinking counter-psychology?

      If your theory is that no one living has actually read Ulysses, then this leads me to wonder if some tiny group of pro-Ulysses people are challenging the book in the hopes that rebels will defiantly read it.

      by True North on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:27:32 PM PDT

      •  Hah.

        Could be.  If so, I wish 'em luck.

        Actually, I think Ulysses was challenged/banned back in the days following its publication, prolly because of Molly Bloom's monologue at the end of the book, which was pretty racy for its time.  I dunno why anyone would bother to ban it now.  

        by Mehitabel9 on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:30:38 PM PDT

•  Thanks for this

  The ALA is a fine and progressive organization committed to the idea that the written word not be diminished.  Every year, the local indie bookstore here celebrates Banned Books Week with the ALA.

  I still show my button that reads, "I Read Banned Books."

  by GOTV on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:23:52 PM PDT

  •  This is it

    

    Though the colors are beige with black writing.

    by GOTV on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:42:54 PM PDT

    •  buttons, shirts, totes for sale - support ALA!

      Hey, great to see this diary!  I work for ALA and it's wonderful being able to advocate for the First Amendment (and fight against the USA PATRIOT Act, etc.) for a living!

      If you want to support ALA's terrific work (if I do say so myself), you can purchase some sweet Banned Books Week items (the above button, BBW t-shirts, bracelets, tote bags) here.

      More information & ideas for celebrating Banned Books Week are at our blog, too.

      < /advertisement>

      by jakester on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 03:07:52 PM PDT

  •  I have one...

    ...that says, "Everything I need to know about life I learned from reading banned books."

    by PerfectStormer on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 04:19:28 PM PDT

•  Forever by Judy Blume

  I was a HS librarian and was asked by the teachers to remove it from the collection.  I had students read it with parents permission (this was a really small town and I didn't have much experience at the time), but I refused to remove it from the collection.   I was a school librarian only for a year, and that experience made me realize that I never wanted to deal with censorship again.

  Here's a little something from Blume's site about censorship:

  Today, it's not only language and sexuality (the usual reasons given for banning my books) that will land a book on the censors' hit list.  It's Satanism, New Age-ism and a hundred other isms, some of which would make you laugh if the implications weren't so serious.  Books that make kids laugh often come under suspicion; so do books that encourage kids to think, or question authority; books that don't hit the reader over the head with moral lessons are considered dangerous.  

  Censors don't want children exposed to ideas different from their own.  If every individual with an agenda had his/her way, the shelves in the school library would be close to empty.  I wish the censors could read the letters kids write.  

  Dear Judy,
  I don't know where I stand in the world.  I don't know who I am.    That's why I read, to find myself.
  Elizabeth, age 13  

  Like CS Lewis said once (paraphrased), we read to learn we are not alone.

  Tips for the librarians and the writers.

  by benny05 on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:24:15 PM PDT

  •  have a 4 for standing up for freedom

    That would be really hard, being the new librarian and standing up to a teacher.

    by HugoDog on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:40:13 PM PDT

•  I've only read 15

  of the top 30. But I loved Animal Farm, Brave New World, and 1984, even as a teenager. In fact, I'm pretty sure I read Animal Farm on my own, in grade school.

  BTW, how could anyone challenge Charlotte's Web???? Unless they think that all books with talking animals in them are manifestations of the devil or something, and that pretty much wipes out all children's books.

  I bought Catcher in the Rye a couple of years ago, and made sure I bought it from a mailstream bookstore, so it would get recoded by whatever secret agency it is that records such purchases. If you saw the movie Enemy of the State, you will recognize the snark.

  by anotherdemocrat on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:24:26 PM PDT

  •  don't you mean conspiracy theory?

    with mel gibson and julia roberts?

    by pogoalwaysrigh15 on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:29:05 PM PDT

    •  you're right

      I was conflating the 2.

      I get a kick out of that genre of movie, so I've seen a lot of them.

      by anotherdemocrat on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:30:38 PM PDT

      •  actually

        i thought conspiracy theory was pretty good(for a chick flick)

        by pogoalwaysrigh15 on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:32:23 PM PDT

•  I've read 25 of 30 - now I know

  Why they don't want the youth of America to read them.

  They might grow up and actually question authority.

  Can't have that!

  cp

  by Chrispy67 on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:24:34 PM PDT

  •  24 for me

    I thought I had heard that Winnie The Pooh was banned, too, somewhere...sigh...

    by cfk on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 03:24:03 PM PDT

•  Gone with the Wind?

  I have to admit I never read it. They must have really cleaned it up for the movie :-)

  by bleeding blue on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:24:59 PM PDT

•  Winnie the Pooh?

  I had to look it up. Apparently it promotes juvenile delinquency.

  by Hannibal on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:26:49 PM PDT

  •  Read the diary

    The banned books on the 30 Best Novels list were emboldened.  Winnie the Pooh was not.

    by GOTV on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:29:24 PM PDT

    •  Was banned in england for piglet

      I guess it was offensive to Muslims. The Winnie the Pooh movies were banned in Turkey too.

      by Hannibal on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:32:33 PM PDT

  •  Winnie the pooh

    is not in bold type, which means it hasn't been banned. It's just on the list of best books, that's all.

    by MyBrainWorks on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:29:44 PM PDT

•  Winnie-the-Pooh?

  22. Winnie-the-Pooh, AA Milne

  Anyone want to take a crack at what in the Hell the objection to Winnie & Tigger is?

  by Rimjob on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:26:50 PM PDT

  •  Tigger is a bit too bouncy?

    by Pager on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:28:12 PM PDT

  •  See

    here.

    by GOTV on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:30:34 PM PDT

•  Those librarians including Marianne are tough,

  tough dudes and dudettes and best not messed with when it comes to the Freedom to read or more importantly what you choose not to read..! Who is a better judge of that then you ? Aint that what this whole g'damned country used to be based on..ALA forever may they stand tough for us and the U.S. I support the ALA and I am always willing to sign anything they place in front of me every time I walk into our Steubenville Schiappa Library. Sadly it's usually about the lack of state and or federal funding but we can spend One Billion Dollars every week killing everything that moves, man, woman or child in the Mid East..Somthing dont seem right with that policy...I have seen the best minds of my generation buswhacked...That non-reading fukin jerk...

  by Johnny Rapture on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:30:05 PM PDT

•  I'm surprised Harry Potter isn't on this list

  That's been attempted to be banned too for "magic".

  by benny05 on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:30:36 PM PDT

  •  It's been on past lists numerous times.

    by GOTV on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:32:22 PM PDT

  •  I wrote to Laura Mallory to ask if

    the "crusaderoflove" MySpace blog is actually hers. Wrote twice. Never got an answer. If she doesn't answe, I am assuming it is hers.

    It's also Number One on the Top 10 most frequently challenged  books of the 21st century.

    by irishwitch on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:36:18 PM PDT

    •  laura mallory could use a good book

      on english grammar; her spelling and grammar are ATROCIOUS

      by pogoalwaysrigh15 on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:39:30 PM PDT

      •  She could use a book on crticial thinking

        as well.

        by irishwitch on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:42:42 PM PDT

        •  I'M NOT SURE SHE CAN READ

          honestly, she is clearly mental; her rantings are not only badly written(and spelled), they are scary

          by pogoalwaysrigh15 on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:45:41 PM PDT

•  Challenging Books

  Incidents of challenging books that pop up all over the country, usually because the books are argued to be either racially, or morally offensive. And I'm always surprised at the classics of literature that get hit.

  For example.....

  "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain, in Renton, Washington......
  

  
  

  "Huckleberry Finn," first published in 1885, chronicles the journey of a rough-hewn, 13-year-old white boy and a runaway slave down the Mississippi River on a raft through the antebellum South. What's wrong with the book, Clark, Phair and numerous other critics have said, is its use of the notorious "n" word -- not once, not a few times, but more than 200 times.

  "It's not just a word," said Clark, the guardian for her granddaughter. Both are African American. "It carries with it the blood of our ancestors. They were called this word while they were lynched; they were called this word while they were hung from the big magnolia tree. That word, in the history of America, has always been a degrading word toward African Americans. When they were brought to America, they were never thought of as human beings in the first place, and this word was something to call a thing that wasn't human. So that's what they bring into the classroom to talk about. I just think it's utterly unconscionable that a school would think it's acceptable."

  Clark, who was president of the Parent-Teacher-Student Association at Renton High last year, took up the battle against "Huckleberry Finn" after Phair reported in April that her 11th-grade language arts teacher had assigned the book.

  "I was humiliated and horrified that this book was being taught, when it has the word 'nigger' 215 times," Phair said.

  "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury, in Conroe, Texas......
  

  
  

  Alton Verm, of Conroe, objects to the language and content in the book. His 15-year-old daughter Diana, a CCHS sophomore, came to him Sept. 21 with her reservations about reading the book because of its language.

  "The book had a bunch of very bad language in it," Diana Verm said. "It shouldn't be in there because it's offending people.....If they can't find a book that uses clean words, they shouldn't have a book at all."

  Alton Verm filed a "Request for Reconsideration of Instructional Materials" Thursday with the district regarding "Fahrenheit 451," written by Ray Bradbury and published in 1953. He wants the district to remove the book from the curriculum.

  "It's just all kinds of filth," said Alton Verm, adding that he had not read "Fahrenheit 451." "The words don't need to be brought out in class. I want to get the book taken out of the class."

  "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee......
  

  
  

  Challenged at the Santa Cruz, Calif. Schools (1995) because of its racial themes. Removed from the Southwood High School Library in Caddo Parish, La. (1995) because the book's language and content were objectionable. Challenged at the Moss Point, Miss. School District (1996) because the novel contains a racial epithet. Banned from the Lindale,Tex. advanced placement English reading list (1996) because the book "conflicted with the values of the community." Challenged by a Glynn County, Ga. (2001) school board member because of profanity. The novel was retained. Returned to the freshman reading list at Muskogee, Okla. High School (2001) despite complaints over the years from black students and parents about racial slurs in the text. Challenged in the Normal, ILL Community High Schools sophomore literature class (2003) as being degrading to African Americans. Challenged at the Stanford Middle School in Durham, N.C. (2004) because the 1961 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel uses the word "n*****."

  "Of Mice & Men" by John Steinbeck.......
  

  
  

  Challenged in O'Hara Park Middle School classrooms in Oakley, Calif. (1998) because it contains racial epithets. Challenged, but retained, in the Bryant, Ark. school library (1998) because of a parent's complaint that the book "takes God's name in vain 15 times and uses Jesus's name lightly." Challenged at the Barron, Wis. School District (1998). Challenged, but retained in the sophomore curriculum at West Middlesex, Pa. High School (1999) despite objections to the novel's profanity. Challenged in the Tomah, Wis. School District (1999) because the novel is violent and contains obscenities. Challenged as required reading at the high school in Grandville, Mich. (2002) because the book "is full of racism, profanity, and foul language." Banned from the George County, Miss. schools (2002) because of profanity. Challenged in the Normal, Ill. Community High Schools (2003) because the books contains "racial slurs, profanity, violence, and does not represent traditional values." An alternative book, Steinbeck's "The Pearl", was offered but rejected by the family challenging the novel.

  by Rimjob on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:38:22 PM PDT

•  They need to update their website...

  ALA...most of the stuff on it is from 2000 and earlier.  Harry gets challenged all the time and even his movies are forbidden...as if nonsense words mean actual witchcraft spells that wll work. The people who challenge books still believe in fairytales...btw, Grimm's fairytales are often challenged...the original versions were too bloody. But bad people did get punnished in them so that should have been acceptable.
  This year it was "The Higher Power of Lucky" which had a "bad" word on the first page but won the Newbery award anyway....I love reading about why they challenge books. Often it is for nothing more than disrespecting adults....like that never happens....ask W if he ever disrespected his daddy....will wonders never cease.

  by Temmoku on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:39:57 PM PDT

  •  I doubt the offended parties

    think that the spells in Harry Potter work.

    Although I would not be surprised if they thought the series was the work of the devil.  We are talking of people who, in the 80's, played heavy metal music backwards on turntables, listening for messages from the netherworld.

    So actually, I take it back: they might very well think the spells in Harry Potter work.  Would that it were so.

    by LithiumCola on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 03:07:16 PM PDT

  •  Wetsite looks pretty up-to-date to me

    Banned Books Week 2007

    by Marlyn on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 03:38:01 PM PDT

    •  weBsite

      n/t

      by Marlyn on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 03:38:33 PM PDT

•  To Kill a Mockingbird

  How pitiful.  I think I will find a copy and read it again (and again, and again).  

  by sheddhead on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:44:06 PM PDT

•  Recently here in Nashville

  Someone tried to get "The Things They Carried" off their kid's reading list, because apparently war has a lot of graphic violence and soldiers sometimes use profanity.  Who would've thunk it?

  Really, that book should be required reading.

  by GoldnI on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:47:54 PM PDT

•  Also,

  You should see if yor local bookstore is a member of the American Booksellers Founation for Free Expression.

  

  Freadom isn't free.

  by GOTV on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:50:12 PM PDT

•  Memories

  My high school English teacher gave us the Harrad Experiment to read. And this was in rural Indiana in the late 60's.
  Can you imagine the herd of cows parents would have had if they knew? And evidently nobody 'snitched'.

  It was later made into a movie

  At Harrad College, where controversial coed living situations are established, the students are forced to confront their sexuality in ways that society previously shunned. Part of the experiment is to pair incompatible members of the opposite sex as roommates in order to make them shun the traditional concept of monogamy. The film's primary two "couples" are the sex-crazed Stanley (Don Johnson) and ultra-timid Sheila (Laurie Walters), and insecure Harry (Bruno Kirby) and liberated Beth (Victoria Thompson). In charge of the "experiment" are Prof. Philip Tenhausen (James Whitmore) and his wife, Margaret ('Tippi' Hedren), who seem to enjoy the tension they instigate, as well as the graphic sexual episodes that unfold.

  http://www.imdb.com/...

  by Catte Nappe on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 02:52:43 PM PDT

•  The 100 Most Frequently Challenged 1990-2000

  The ALA also has a list of the 100 most frequently challenged books for the decade 1990-2000.

  This list includes Where's Waldo? I wish I knew why someone--a lot of someones, apparently--challenged this one.

  If you check the 100-Most-Challenged list, you'll find many new books to read during Banned Books Week. Or before.

  by True North on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 03:05:13 PM PDT

  •  (implied) boobies

    On one page, "there's a tiny drawing of a woman lying on the beach wearing a bikini bottom but no top."

    I'd tell you where but that would ruin the point of the book!  :-)

    by jakester on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 03:10:28 PM PDT

•  Gatsby? Egads!

  I mean, seriously -- that book is meant to humiliate and ridicule everything "offensive" that it portrays -- are people challenging it because they LIKE Gatsby?

  by Nonpartisan on Tue Jun 19, 2007 at 03:22:09 PM PDT