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I recently stumbled upon an article from American Libraries Magazine (courtesy of The Fiancee – who thought it would make a good post and was right, as usual), about challenged/banned books. From there, I found the American Library Association’s (ALA) webpage about challenged/banned books – including lists of the most commonly challenged/banned books by year (including some fascinating statistics – it’s worth checking out, really, for the jaw-dropping factor if nothing else).
I cannot even believe that there are still challenged/banned books. Seriously. What year is this again – 1811? Oh, no, wait – I’m sure it’s 2011. Banned books. We’re like five minutes away from Fahrenheit 451
The ALA defines a challenge to a book as “a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness.” From 2001 – 2010, American libraries were faced with 4,659 challenges. Of these:
- 1,536 challenges due to “sexually explicit” material;
- 1,231 challenges due to “offensive language”;
- 977 challenges due to material deemed “unsuited to age group”;
- 553 challenges due to “violence”
- 370 challenges due to “homosexuality”; and
- 121 materials were challenged because they were “anti-family,” and an additional 304 were challenged because of their “religious viewpoints.”
The ALA estimates that as many as five times this number of challenges are made but not reported. (All statistics are from ALA and available here.)
You’re going to have to pardon me, I feel a rant coming on and may not be able to control myself.
We live in a world in which sex is used to sell everything from the traditional “man things” like beer and fast cars to shampoo, soda, and furniture. A world in which “erectile dysfunction” has become an everyday term – as have the names of the drugs to treat it. A world in which we can watch the overweight, the musically untalented, the mentally ill, and the pathetically intoxicated get made fun of on “reality television.” A world in which the news will show graphic pictures of the aftermath of accidental and intentional bombings, stabbings, shootings, and explosions. A world in which every other day contains a new sex scandal from a politician, actor, or athlete. All of these things are on television and in newspapers/news magazines EVERY DAY and no one is challenging or banning them. Yet books – including children’s and classic literature – are still being challenged and/or banned.
To quote an eminently quotable, if admittedly not very highbrow, favorite movie of mine: “I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!” (Zoolander, if you’re not in-the-know)
How do the book challenges/banners not see that all they do by challenging/banning is incite interest in the things they fear and hate most and grant even greater power to the ideas expressed therein? I mean, come on – we all know that the most interesting and tempting things are usually those that we are told are bad for us, because if they weren’t so interesting and tempting, why would anyone have to warn us away??
I am not saying everyone at every age needs to read everything. I will agree that there are topics that require a level of maturity to be understood and/or appreciated and that are not appropriate for children. But banning something is not the way to keep it out of a child’s hands; the way to do that is to pay attention to what your child reads/watches/does, and to talk to them about what they read/watch/do.
And I’m not even going to start down the First Amendment path or talk about the slippery slope of censorship or information-control. Nor am I going to go on and on about the importance of the free exchange of ideas, of encouraging people – yes, even children (gasp, shudder) – to consider the multiplicity of ideas, expressions, religious viewpoints, or of the difference between entertainment and propaganda/proselytizing.
What I am going to do is share the top 25 most commonly challenged/banned books of the past ten-ish years. And encourage you to read them. And talk about them. And think about them. Actually, to read and talk and think about anything and everything. That is the beauty of the written word – it allows people in the world to read and talk and think about anything and everything, even things that they might find difficult or disturbing. Because if we don’t read and talk and think about things, how will we ever understand them? And if we don’t understand them (or refuse to even consider them), they have a kind of power over us – power they may not deserve or warrant.
Most Frequently Challenged/Banned Books: 2000-2009 (courtesy of the American Library Association; full list of 100 books available here)
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1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
2. Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
4. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
5. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
7. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
8. His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
9. ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series), by Myracle, Lauren
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
11. Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers
12. It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris
13. Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey
14. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
15. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
16. Forever, by Judy Blume
17. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
18. Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
19. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
20. King and King, by Linda de Haan
21. To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
22. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar
23. The Giver, by Lois Lowry
24. In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak
25. Killing Mr. Griffen, by Lois Duncan
Great post! I read this list awhile ago and had to read ‘And Tango Makes Three’ – its a children’s picture book. I LOVED it!!
At work, I gave a middle school student a Captain Underpants book for his birthday. His dad returned it to me with no explanation. 🙁 That book was so silly and fun; I enjoyed it when I first read it. I bet he’s going to see far worse movies this summer.
I agree that it’s amazing we try to ban books in this day and age, seriously? I can see where some might draw offense, particularly His Dark Materials, but they’re great books and meant to be throught-provoking. I think people fear anything that steps outside the echo chamber.
I just think it’s so unfortunate that books get banned or refused – I can appreciate a parent having feelings about certain topics, based on their own beliefs, but it seems so perfectly evident to me that outright banning is so NOT the way to go about explaining or defending those beliefs… and I’m clearly going to have to look for all the books on here that I am not already familiar with, because now I want to see what on earth people are so upset about! Thanks for all your comments everyone!!
The problem with banning books is– who are we allowing to make this important decision? The government? Better not be. The school administration? If people say that those “in charge” are doing it because parents want them to, then parents need to ban the books from their own home (though the child might read it at lunchtime or a friend’s house if so motivated). My opinion vs. the next person’s opinion will never match up completely.
Seriously, Captain Underpants?? When I worked with Title 1 kids in 1st-3rd grade who had reading difficulties, I bought some Captain Underpants and it jump-started the desire to learn to read for a couple young boys. Fast forward a few years and one was reading Harry Potter. Oh wait a minute…that is on the banned list too….. Rae
Hey! I found your blog through Book Blogs. Anyway, another problem with a list like this is that it makes an aspiring writer like me almost nervous to tell my stories the way it should be told, no matter how dark. Then again, Banned Books Week is also a wonderful promotional technique. People like to read what they are told they can’t. ^_^
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Such a fabulous, fantastic, ______ (put any positive adjective here) post!!!
Book banning is downright disgusting if you ask me, and I’m very happy to see some amazing, AMAZING books on that list (The Color Purple, His Dark Materials, Harry Potter, The Catcher in the Rye), if not for the fact they are good and popular enough for people to even care enough to ban them, then for the fact that nobody is immune to temptation.
In other words, you ban something – it will get read. At least it works like that for me.
I couldn’t agree more Nikola and Tiffany – the minute you tell people (especially kids, seems to me) NOT to do something, it is the first, last and only thing they want to do!! Thanks so much for stopping by and your comment, and especially for your very kind words!! 🙂
Harry Potter?! What was the problem with that!
I firmly believe that everyone should have the right to read any published material.
Who decides what books should be banned and which ones aren’t?
Ridiculous isn’t it? I wonder whether this is more…prevalent in America in comparison with Europe…what do you reckon?? I might do a bit of research as how uptight we are this side of the pond..
Rae and TK – I couldn’t agree more that one of the biggest problems with banning (aside from the obvious issue of censorship/control) is who exactly becomes The Authority determining what is “acceptable” and what isn’t… Lucy, I would not be at all surprised to learn this is an American (or primarily American) phenomenon – I am curious to look into this now too. If you find anything let me know and I’ll do the same! Thanks again to all of you for taking the time to weigh in and share your opinions – and of course for reading!! 🙂
The only book series I agree should be banned is Gossip Girls but it’s a judgement made entirely of my bias of YA novels (even though I’m YA and I have read some good ones), not because of the sexual content its critisized for, but because its probably poorly written and anti-feminist. And it probably doesn’t enlighten you in any way or challenge ideas, it’s just the promiscuous and daily lives of rich girls. Just as you need good food for a health body, you need good books for an intelligent brain.
But I agree parents have to look out for what their children are reading.
The other books such as Dark Materials or To Kill a Mockingbird have something to say.
and oh, thanks for welcoming me on bookblogs. I just have to say this, but your site seems very cluttered to me (5 columns seems a bit much), very overwhelming. I don’t mean to offend just take it as an observation. 🙂
Thanks for your feedback Rosanna – no offense taken, always helpful to hear feedback!
I have to say I can’t stand behind banning, even when it’s a book with no literary or intellectual merit at all – too slippery a slope for me by far. I don’t mind if a parent bans books from their child’s reading, mind you – to me, overseeing what your child takes in (mentally, physically, or whatever) is a parent’s job. But I don’t think society should be in the business of telling us what we can/can’t read…