Something worth looking at and thinking about again---
American Government does not censure writing or ban books. However, libraries, churches, schools, book stores, and online retailers such as Amazon do ban books. American bans less books than other countries worldwide.
There is even a Ban Books Week https://library.ucsd.edu/news-events/banned-books-week-2021/. During this week libraries across the country review challenged or banned books. This is a time the entire book community-librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers and yes, readers, can share in the support of the freedom of authors to express ideas, even if their readers don’t agree with them.
The most common reasons books are banned from schools or libraries etc. are:
Racial themes or dialogue : The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Encouragement to destruct lifestyles: This includes drug use, co-habitation without marriage or homosexuality: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chboskey
Blasphemous Subject: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Intimacy issues: Sexual content or dialogue, Fifty Shades series by E.L. James
Violence or negativity: American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
Presence of Witchcraft: books containing sorcery or witchcraft: Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
Political Favoritism or extreme political groups: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Inappropriate age group: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Think about the books you write. I write about the witches of the Coastal Coven. There are spells and magical creatures in my books. Could my books be banned? Probably, if Harry Potter was banned from certain places, especially certain churches because of the sorcery and spells!
I was surprised by some of the books on this list of one hundred most challenged/banned books in America. Remember, not challenged/or banned by the government, but by schools, libraries, churches, bookstores, online retailers and parents.
The First Amendment of the Constitution protects our right to freedom of speech. To be able to write about any subject, to offer our opinions on any subject. That other people or entities try to control what I read I find deplorable.
One thing that was mentioned on the Banned Book site banning books tend to make the books more popular. If a person wants to read it, there is always somewhere you can buy it here in America, thanks to an underground market for both legitimate or pirated copies.
Other countries are not so lucky. Many governments forbid the banned books to even be printed, and absolutely don’t allow them to be sold. People have been jailed because of reading banned books.
Here’s the 100 top banned books in America in 2019.
I’ve heard of or read 29 of these books and marked them in bold. I was surprised that some of them made this list. I don’t think writing or reading books should be restricted in any way.
Freedom to read what we choose is as important as the freedom to write what we want.
How many do you recognize and/or have read?
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 and 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 Lauren Myracle
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 Dave 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
26. Beloved by Toni Morrison
27. My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier
28. Bridge To Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
29. The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney
30. We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
31. What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones
32. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
33. Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
34. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things by Carolyn Mackler
35. Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
36. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
37. It’s So Amazing by Robie Harris
38. Arming America by Michael Bellasiles
39. Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
40. Life is Funny by E.R. Frank
41. Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher
42. The Fighting Ground by Avi
43. Blubber by Judy Blume
44. Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
45. Crazy Lady by Jane Leslie Conly
46. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
47. The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby by Dav Pilkey
48. Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez
49. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
50. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
51. Daughters of Eve by Lois Duncan
52. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
53. You Hear Me? by Betsy Franco
54. The Facts Speak for Themselves by Brock Cole
55. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Green
56. When Dad Killed Mom by Julius Lester
57. Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
58. Fat Kid Rules the World by K.L. Going
59. Olive’s Ocean by Kevin Henkes
60. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
61. Draw Me A Star by Eric Carle
62. The Stupids (series) by Harry Allard
63. The Terrorist by Caroline B. Cooney
64. Mick Harte Was Here by Barbara Park
65. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
66. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
67. A Time to Kill by John Grisham
68. Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
69. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
70. Harris and Me by Gary Paulsen
71. Junie B. Jones (series) by Barbara Park
72. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
73. What’s Happening to My Body Book by Lynda Madaras
74. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
75. Anastasia (series) by Lois Lowry
76. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
77. Crazy by Benjamin Lebert
78. The Joy of Gay Sex by Dr. Charles Silverstein
79. The Upstairs Room by Johanna Reiss
80. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
81. Black Boy by Richard Wright
82. Deal With It! by Esther Drill
83. Detour for Emmy by Marilyn Reynolds
84. So Far From the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Watkins
85. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher
86. Cut by Patricia McCormick
87. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
88. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
89. Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissenger
90. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
91. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
92. The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
93. Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
94. Goosebumps (series) by R.L. Stine
95. Shade’s Children by Garth Nix
96. Grendel by John Gardner
97. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
98. I Saw Esau by Iona Opte
99. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
100. America by E.R. Frank
9 comments:
Great post, Diana! I've read 20 of the books on the Banned list from 2019. I'm familiar with at least 25 more, some of which I want to read. I agree that banning books is not a road we want to go down.
I recognize the titles of many of the books although I did not go back and count them. I have not read that many of them. In some ways I'm surprised by that but in the last 20+ years my reading has been very circumspect, mainly romance and even more narrowly historical (Medieval through WWII) romance. I do not support the banning of books and even more so the rewriting of text books to paint slave owners as benevolent if slavery is even included in the books. If anything, a true accounting of the history of the world might heal some wounds and create a foundation for a more compassionate future.
Thanks for your comments, Sarah.
I agree with you on the history books, Judith. Not enough of what really happened in our history is included in most history books. Thanks for stopping by.
I've read 32 and recognize many others. Great way to tie in banned books awareness (that was recent!) with our theme this month. There was a book from the perspective of a trans child that was banned by a suburban school district near Houston in the last week or so -- it's maddening. Free expression and exchange of ideas and opinions underpins everything we stand for (or claim to anyway).
You put it so well , Eleri Grace. Thank you for commenting.
An important post, Diana. I do understand parents wanting to monitor their children's reading. I would do the same based on their age and what I interpret as their ability to handle certain subject matter. However, I would never make it so that the books I don't choose for my children to be banned for all children. Some children can read Harry Potter at 8 years old and know that it is fantasy. Other's can't do that until they are 12 or older.
As for the banned adult books, who do they think they're kidding? All you have to do is ban a book and it immediately becomes the book everyone wants to read. That is exactly what happened to the Fifty Shade o Grey book. When it was released, the reviews were not very good based on the writing. It probably would have disappeared from the public consciousness within a few months, except those who find the topic alluring. Instead, men and women raised a loud furor declaring it pornography on the one hand and against feminism on the other. Heaven forbid a teenager read it and think this lifestyle is right.
Of course, that quickly drove it to #1 on the NYT list because everyone had to know what was so bad about it. :). I personally didn't like the book, for many reasons, but I wouldn't try to foist my dislike on the rest of the reading public. IMO parenting involves reasoning and living your values every day, talking through why they are important and getting children/teens to think about choices and decisions. Just saying, "you can't have it because I said so" has never been a winning long term strategy.
We are fortunate to live in a country where there truly is freedom to create books and to read books as we choose. There are publishers who specialize in acquiring and publishing controversial books. Yet, as a society, we still try to control other people's thoughts. It has been this way since the founding of our country. I doubt it will ever end.
I own far more of these than I have actually read. It is a multi-faceted problem that is/has been taken to the extreme through the entire course of our country's history. One can only hope that the voices of reason will ultimately prevail.
I've read 24. Thanks for pointing this out, and happy belated Banned Books Week!
Maggie and Lynn,
Thanks for commenting back in 2021 when I first wrote this blog. And thanks to everyone else too.
Banning of books is still prevalent in the world and. our society.
Thanks for checking in everyone.
Diana
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