Banned Book Week
 

How many have you read?

I've missed Captain Underpants, American Pyscho and The Chocolate War.

I cannot believe some of the titles on this list.

Source

"Harry Potter" (Series) (J.K. Rowling)
"To Kill a Mockingbird" (Harper Lee)
"The Color Purple" (Alice Walker)
"The Outsiders" (S.E. Hinton)
"Lord of the Flies" (William Golding)
"Of Mice and Men" (John Steinbeck)
"Goosebumps" (Series) (R.L. Stine)
"How to Eat Fried Worms" (Thomas Rockwell)
"The Catcher in the Rye" (J.D. Salinger)
"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (Mark Twain)
"The Giver" (Lois Lowry)
"Brave New World" (Aldous Huxley)
"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" (Mark Twain)
"Captain Underpants" (Dav Pilkey)
"The Anarchist Cookbook" (William Powell)
"Carrie" (Stephen King)
"Flowers for Algernon" (Daniel Keyes)
"The Dead Zone" (Stephen King)
"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" (Maya Angelou)
"Go Ask Alice" (anonymous)
"American Psycho" (Bret Easton Ellis)
"The Chocolate War" (Robert Cormier)
"James and the Giant Peach" (Roald Dahl)
"The Pigman" (Paul Zindel)
"A Wrinkle in Time" (Madeleine L'Engle)

"Harry Potter" (Series) (J.K. Rowling)
"To Kill a Mockingbird" (Harper Lee)
"The Color Purple" (Alice Walker)
"The Outsiders" (S.E. Hinton)
"Lord of the Flies" (William Golding)
"Of Mice and Men" (John Steinbeck)
"How to Eat Fried Worms" (Thomas Rockwell)
"The Catcher in the Rye" (J.D. Salinger) -Favorite book ever
"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (Mark Twain)
"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" (Mark Twain)
"Captain Underpants" (Dav Pilkey)
"Flowers for Algernon" (Daniel Keyes)
"James and the Giant Peach" (Roald Dahl)
"The Pigman" (Paul Zindel)
"A Wrinkle in Time" (Madeleine L'Engle)

What's wrong with James & the Giant Peach?

Who's banning these books?

Fundies

It doesn't name names, but the ALA site does show some general statistics.

Challenges by initiator 2000-2005.


The Challenges by type might also be instructive.

What I've heard anecdotally (and the stats presented may support this) is that it's mostly the "monitoring my own child is too difficult and therefore the world must conform to my standards" set. Parents. The ones whose televisions apparently lack a power button. It's for the chiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiildren! Many might also be fundies, but my impression is that they focus more on the "witchcraft" or "occult" angle and the biggest complaint is language.

From the linked stats I think fear of "the Other" plays a huge role as well

Banned Book Week is a giant misnomer and I got in hot water at library school for calling it a giant scam.

Very few of the books on the list have been banned. Mostly they are books where someone has attempted to have them banned. In most cases they've failed. Everytime a wacko parent goes to the school board demanding some book be removed from the library, regardless of what actually happens then it is a candidate for the list.

And it isn't just fundies. It isn't fundies that demand that Huckleberry Finn be removed. And if I went to the school board to say that the school libraries shouldn't have intelligent design textbooks in their science collection then that would go on the list.

Plus, the vast majority of the list are elementary school library challenges which is where "censorship" is most appropriate.

But saying that while interest groups out there would like various books taken out of public view very few actually succeed wouldn't be a huge fundraiser for the ALA.

I'm sort of bummed that over time this list has evoled to be more and more childrens books and lost are the classics that tested the censorship waters early on where is James Joyce, Henry Miller, or D.H. Lawrence? Where's all the classic Olympia Press erotica? It's as if the list itself has been sanitized and censored. I think I'll go out and buy a Hustler Magazine to truely celebrate the spirit of the occasion.

The works of the authors you mention were all at the heart of criminal prosecutions/importation restrictions, etc., which is truly the test of a banned book. The above list, as Alex mentions, seems to be about selectivity for school children, where we all more readily agree a line should be drawn but disagree about where.

Hustler, however, is a good reminder of our freedoms, particularly when one recalls Jerry Falwell's unsuccessful libel/emotional distress suit. You might want to enjoy a Campari as you celebrate.