Banned Book Week: September 27 - October 4
This week, September 27 to October 4, is the ALA event, "Banned Books Week." From that site:
Banned Books Week... is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, this annual ALA event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted... BBW celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one's opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.
I took the list of "100 Most Challenged Books, 1990-2000" and put it into a WorldCat.org list of the same name [Note: when a series, like the "Harry Potter" books was given, I opted to just add the first book as a placeholder for the entire series].
As I went through the list adding items, I was struck by a fairly consistent set of themes among the challenged items. Books about sex, race, scary things (ghosts, psychic powers, magic) and adolescence (or some combo thereof) seemed to show up more than anything. Though, for many of us, adolescence and horror may have had some natural overlap...
I'm not a librarian, and have been in the industry only about 3.5 years. Perhaps somebody with more experience could explain to me in the comments why "Where's Waldo?" is on the list.
Being a fan of high-density linking, I exported my WorldCat.org list to HTML, put it into a Google Docs page, and deleted everything but the title names and links. That's what's pasted in after the jump. If you'd like to put it on your blog or web site to help promote the event, just view the page source and copy/paste the whole block.
The adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Swayer's comrade) by Mark Twain -- The adventures of Tom Sawyer ; Tom Sawyer abroad: Tom Sawyer, detective -- The agony of Alice -- Always running: La Vida Loca, gang days in L.A. -- American psycho: a novel -- The anarchist cookbook -- Anastasia Krupnik -- Annie on my mind -- Are you there God? It's me, Margaret -- The Arizona kid -- Asking about sex and growing up: a question-and-answer book for boys and girls -- Athletic shorts: six short stories -- Beloved: a novel -- Bless me, Ultima -- Blubber -- The bluest eye -- The boy who lost his face -- Boys and sex -- Brave new world -- Bridge to Terabithia -- Bumps in the night -- Carrie; a novel of a girl with a frightening power -- The catcher in the rye -- The chocolate war by Robert Cormier -- The claiming of Sleeping Beauty -- The clan of the cave bear -- The color purple -- Crazy lady! -- Cross your fingers, spit in your hat; superstitions and other beliefs -- Cujo -- Curses, hexes, & spells -- Daddy's roommate -- A day no pigs would die -- The dead zone -- Deenie -- The drowning of Stephan Jones. -- The Face on the Milk Carton -- Fade -- Fallen angels --Family secrets -- Final exit: the practicalities of self-deliverance and assisted suicide for the dying -- Flowers for Algernon -- Forever ...a novel -- Girls and sex -- Go ask Alice -- The goats -- Goosebumps: monster edition #1 -- The great Gilly Hopkins. -- Guess what? -- Halloween A B C -- The handmaid's tale -- Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone -- The headless Cupid -- Heather has two mommies -- The house of the spirits -- How to eat fried worms -- I know why the caged bird sings -- In the night kitchen -- It's perfectly normal: a book about changing bodies, growing up, sex, and sexual health -- Jack -- James and the giant peach -- Julie of the wolves -- Jump ship to freedom -- Kaffir boy: the true story of a Black youth's coming of age in Apartheid South Africa -- Killing Mr. Griffin -- A light in the attic -- Lord of the flies: a novel -- Mommy laid an egg!: or where do babies come from? -- My brother Sam is dead -- Native son -- The new Joy of gay sex -- Of mice and men -- On my honor -- Ordinary people -- The Outsiders -- The pigman; a novel -- Pillars of the earth -- Private parts -- Running loose -- Scary stories to tell in the dark -- Sex -- Sex education: a novel -- Slaughterhouse-five, or, The children's crusade: a duty-dance with death -- Song of Solomon -- The story of Little Black Sambo -- The Stupids die -- Summer of my German soldier -- The terrorist -- Tiger eyes -- To kill a mockingbird -- The view from the cherry tree -- We all fall down: a novel -- The what's happening to my body? book for boys: the new growing-up guide for parents and sons -- The what's happening to my body? book for girls: a growing-up guide for parents and daughters -- "Where did I come from?": the facts of life without any nonsense and with illustrations -- Where's Waldo?: the fantastic journey -- The witches -- Women on top -- A wrinkle in time
On September 29, 2008 at 10:21 AM Working Rachel said:
One of the Where's Waldo? books had a beach scene in which some mischievous kids had untied a woman's bikini top. It was challenged because someone decided you could see too much of this woman's microscopic breasts.
On September 30, 2008 at 1:28 PM Jeannie0012 said:
I did a presentation on Banned and Challenged Books at our local Barnes & Noble last Saturday. I brought along a copy of Strange Fruit (a 1944 edition) by Lillian Smith. You wouldn't find it on any current lists dispite the fact that it is still being printed. The book was banned in Massachusetts. In fact it sparked the quintenssential "banned in Boston" issue. A bookstore owner was arrest and convicted of possession and sale based on an obscenity law from the 1700's.
The Massachusetts Superior Court upheld the conviction 4-5 the next year (1945). The one dissenting judge's opinion was pure genius however. The Case was the Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Isenstadt. Judge Lummus, the dissenting judge, stated that the book did indeed have a great deal of sexually explicit material but rather than being "titillating" as the majority had ruled, he found "their courseness repellent" and that "virtue is not derided, neither is vice made alluring...the reader is depressed, unable to solve a tragic problem."
Two other participants of my presentation brought along their favorite books that had been banned or challenged previously, Tar Baby and The Freedom Writers.
Has anyone else done anything for this week of recognition?
Jeannie
On November 10, 2008 at 12:36 PM Jen said:
May I be so ignorant as to ask who chooses the banned books on the Banned Books List?
On November 10, 2008 at 1:10 PM Andy Havens said:
Jen -- not an ignorant question at all. There are a number of different lists of banned books out there. In this case, I used the American Library Association's "100 Most Frequently Challenged Books, 1990-200." According to the ALA, that list is... "Out of 6,364 challenges reported to or recorded by the Office for Intellectual Freedom, as compiled by the Office for Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association."
More information is available at the ALA Web page linked to above in the main blog post.
Thanks for the question.