Don’t forget today starts Banned Book Week. Sept. 23rd – 29th.
Don’t forget today starts Banned Book Week. Sept. 23rd – 29th.
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Don’t forget today starts Banned Book Week. Sept. 23rd – 29th.
Please can you explain how you people handle this particular week… I do not live in the US and, unless the writings of such or such author are illegal to begin with, (in my country you cannot incite to hate a particular community or group of people for instance), we don’t ban books from any library shelf… Some kind of caution may exist as to what novel we can advise our pupils to read, but that’s just so personal… Anyway this is something I find quite distressing… So, does it mean you choose to read these banned books on that particular week? Or do you recommend them?
For me I choose to read one of the books on this list. Which I will find post. What happens here more often than not is that either parents or members of school board or members of library board object to what is in the book for example the books about Harry Potter have been banned in some schools and some libraries because people think they glorify witches.
http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/banned
https://bannedbooksweek.org/banned-books-week-2018-calls-out-censorship/
@Faith I was not aware Harry Potter would be seen as subversive…
@Faith thanks for the links
Not so much subversive as the people who are religious and find witches and supernatural to be works of the devil objected to their children reading the books in school.
@Faith thanks for precision… I didn’t consider it from that angle
Just to be clear, books are not banned by the Federal government [yet] but by local groups who want impose their standards on others in the community. Usually they do this by petitioning schools, libraries, etc. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. Librarians, in general, do not want to ban books. This attempt to “ban” is different than designating books for special categories, or putting age limits on them, or putting them behind a desk so they must be asked for. My local library maintains a glass front shelf for books that have been singled out for restriction. It’s an attempt at compromise. What’s on the shelf? Not anything like Harry Potter, but some books with excessive violence or with explicit sexual content.
Thanks Marilee – though I know in some southern states Harry Potter has been banned from school libraries, also Judy Blume, etc. It is sad.
@Faith Fortunately, it’s un-common to ban books like Harry Potter here in the south where I live. When it’s happened, it gets an undue amount of media attention, not because everyone is doing it, but because it’s an aberration.
That it is an aberration is great – it seems to me the list keeps getting longer every year and it just continues to make me sad. Virginia is the state I was referring to in my comment about Harry Potter. I have family who live there and my cousin was so upset. Keep fighting the good fight.
Every country on earth, at one time or the other, has banned books. Banning books is a cheap political tool to control opinion. Example: bonfire of the vanities.
In the USA, at various times and places, To Kill a Mocking Bird, has been banned. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it.
Huck Finn
@Marilee I absolutely get it that it is not a national decision, but a local one… As a foreigner, I don’t get it (although I get ratings according to the ages of the readers, for some novels need mature minds…)
@Chloé I wish it was that way and in some places like Marilee says they just put the books behind the desk or in a locked cabinet and you have to ask. Though in some places they have actually taken the books out of the schools and libraries.
Wikipedia has a list of the top 100 banned or questioned since 1990 (that is when they started making the lists). Though Wikipedia can be questionable at times, the list is a good one.
@Faith I’ve just checked this list… It really saddens me… I regularly teach and/or mention these in my lessons (I am currently teaching Animal Farm for instance…)
@Chloé One of my favorites.
@Faith Kids usually love it… All the more as they understand its writer’s satire…
Love this discussion! Great explanations!
It is a great discussion. @Chloé, what country are you in?
Many books that are banned in one area, are taught in others.
@Grace I would like to know too?
@Grace I teach in France.
We read banned books all year round..but, during book banned week, some people tend to observe it, and read banned books! Hope that helped
@Linda it helps… Thank you… I can’t understand why such books as Harry Potter could be banned as was mentioned in an earlier post… So sad to say the least…
@Chloé some people object to witchcraft.
I’m rereading Why the Caged Bird Sings which has been banned for its brutal realistic depiction of the rape of an eight year girl.
Faith Long It is indeed a difficult book to read and whenever I recommend it I warn the potential young readers… But I feel such books are absolutely necessary… Some of my sixteen-year-old pupils have read it and found it essential
So do I – I find it horrifying that any book is banned – I feel that the reading should be left to the person and if the person is not old enough to make such a decision then the parent should guide the child, but the books need to remain on the shelf.
@Faith well-said!
I used to work for a library-software company, and for Banned Book Week, we would bring in our fave banned books, strike a silly group pose, and post it in our newsletter! Librarians rock!! (And no, I’m not a librarian…just had the pleasure of working with a bunch of them.)
Is there a list of must-read banned books?
I read Lolita recently, just to see what all the fuss was about because I believe it was previously banned… didn’t rate it.
Huck Finn was banned in some schools??
yes it was
Funny thing they don’t seem so bad anymore.
That’s because you are an adult!
Books are banned because, i’d like to say narrowminded and add a few other adjectives but I’ll leave it with, people who think they might be harmful to children.
@Joanie You got it in a nutshell.
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak remains my most favorite banned book (and I’m old!)…and it’s become my granddaughter’s favorite banned book and she doesn’t even know what a banned book is!!!!!
I didn’t realize this was a banned book- why?
There is a list on wikipedia that has the top 100 books banned or questioned with the reason why and the year.
thanks! I’ll check it out.
@Raeanne Because Mickey fell through the dark, out of his clothes!!!!!!?
Great book! I read it to my students when I was a media specialist.
What’s your recommendations for banned books??? My favourite would be Animal Farm.
@Ruth where is that Banned?
Soviet Union – not sure if it is still banned in Russia or not
@Ruth my favorite would be Huckleberry Finn. Absolutely love Mark Twain.
Go Ask Alice is one of my faves. But I am participating in the Letters to Banned Authors activity because I was really shocked to see one of my fave authors, Cassandra Clare, listed. I expected Ellen Hopkin’s but don’t think she should be either and of course everyone is in turmoil over 13 Reasons Why.I think it’s by Jay Asher.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
I went looking for it today but couldn’t find it. I know my Gma has a copy but she lives on the other side of the world.
I think I’ll take this chance to finally read Frankenstein
@Allissa It is amazing. There is so much background to this book, so I will try to keep my rant short but I love Mary Shelley. Lol it was actually her stepfather who gave her the idea of reanimation. He even seemed to dabbling in a bit. Also this book came out of a competition that she had with her husband Percy bysshe Shelley and George Gordon Lord Byron and I think someone else but I can’t remember who else. Basically they were very chauvinistic and said that a woman cannot write as well as a man could. She showed them that it was quite possible and it is such a truly remarkable remarkable book
I am going to check out the shinning for this week
Heather Has Two Mommies. And that is a sweet little book that I often give as gifts.
Got a copy of Johnny Got His Gun.
Earlier this year I read “The Catcher in the Rye” for the first time, to fulfill one category in my local library system’s “Ten to Try” Reading Challenge bookmark for 2018. The bookmark has 10 categories, one being “read a banned book”–and “Catcher” has been banned in places, over the years.
I’m sorry I don’t recall what the banned books is? Are they books no longer in print? I’m sorry I don’t remember
Books whose use has been censored because of somebody’s objection to their content or author.
I just went to buy I know why the caged bird sings but none of my local bookshops have it… guess I will be reading catch-22 unless any one has any other suggestions.
Read the colour purple, animal farm and 1984
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95190615
Reading Catcher in the Rye. Read Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe earlier this month.
Started reading the Harry Potter series because there was talk of banning them. Loved the entire series, the movies, the after books and Universal studios Harry Potter lands.