Another Banned Book
What book? “It’s just not age appropriate,” said Cadmus, adding that this is the first time a book has been removed from classrooms throughout the district. This book.
Banned Book Reviews: Forever, Rabbit Run, The Awakening, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Forever, by Judy Blume. Prominent on any list of banned and challenged books is Judy Blume’s Forever. It’s a great title, but Judy Blume could just as well have named it My First Fuck. Considering that Blume’s audience is made up of pre-teen and early-teen girls, it’s easy to understand why so many parents have […]
Banned Book Review: A Prayer for Owen Meany
When I started my banned books project in September, I didn’t realize that other people have done similar things. Searching the web for information on why John Irving’s novel A Prayer for Owen Meany (review below) has been challenged so many times, I stumbled upon a very nice site called Banned Books. Bonnie, the proprietor […]
Banned Book Review: Uncle Tom’s Cabin
When Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe, he reportedly said “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war.” It’s impossible to overstate the impact Uncle Tom’s Cabin had on mid-19th Century America, indeed the world. Lincoln was dead on. Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a barn-burner, even today. What a […]
Banned Book Reviews: The Chocolate War, The Satanic Verses, The Giver, Flowers for Algernon
The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier Stories for and about adolescents follow certain established conventions. Brave young boys and girls stand up to social and peer pressure, buck conformity, and do the right thing. They look bullies in the eye and the bullies back down. The bad guys lose. The good guys experience adversity but […]
Banned Book Reviews: Four for the Kids
Last month I decided to read some banned books. I gave myself a year to finish the project. I’m sandwiching these books in with my regular reading, rather than tackling them all at once. One month in, I’ve finished four controversial books for children: And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell Looks […]
Banned Books Project
Banned Books Week starts today, September 26, and runs through October 3. So many books have been banned or censored, there’s no way you could read them all. There have been thousands and thousands, and more join the list every day, thanks for the forces of ignorance and intolerance loose in the land, whipped on […]
Banned Books Week
In honor of which, I challenge you to list which of the American Library Association’s 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books you’ve read. I’ll start. Here are the ones I’ve read: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling The Catcher in the […]