What better way to start a banned book news roundup than with the American Library Association’s 2010 Most Frequently Challenged Books List? Here are the top ten:
1. And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
3. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
4. Crank, by Ellen Hopkins
5. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
6. Lush, by Natasha Friend
7. What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
8. Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich
9. Revolutionary Voices, edited by Amy Sonnie
10. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer
Looks like I have more books to add to my banned books project reading list!
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Challenging and banning books? That’s for pussies. Fundamentalist Mormons know how to get the job done!
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A parent agonizes over allowing his 11-year-old son to read Lady Chatterly’s Lover, and seeks inspiration from Plato, who took a dim view of allowing his fellow Greeks to read The Odyssey.
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Well, this is encouraging: a recent Harris poll shows most Americans are against book banning! But the margin isn’t huge: only 56% of poll respondents said they were against banning any book. As with any poll, results can be interpreted to suit those who want to manipulate the data, and some of the pro-banning results are interesting:
- 11% would ban the Bible from school libraries
- 16% would ban books that discuss evolution
- 28% would ban the Koran
- 34% would ban books about vampires
- 41% would ban books about witchcraft and sorcery
- 45% would ban books with references to sex
- 62% would ban books with “explicit language”
Obviously, some of the people who responded to the Harris poll are not overly concerned about the basic conflict between the First Amendment and citizen-led efforts to get books removed from schools, public libraries, and book stores. But here’s a well-written article by someone who is.
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If you’re a book lover and a criminal, you might not want to commit your crimes in South Carolina, because there’s a jail there that’s banned all books … except the Bible.
Then again, when it comes to behind-the-bars reading, given the choice between the Bible and Danielle Steel, I might ask to serve out my time in South Carolina.
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Looking for a gift for the banned book lover in your family? You can’t go wrong with this!
Looking for a gift for me (hint, hint)? James Jones’ heirs have authorized an uncensored digital edition of From Here to Eternity. I need the Nookbook version, please!
Has anyone actually read “Lady Chatterly’s Lover” recently? It’s downright tame compared to what goes on on television. Unfortunately, as most revolutionary books do, it hasn’t stood up well to time. It’s mannered, dated, arch, coy, and cloying. Lawrence was a much better poet than novelist.
“Brave New World”? Geez, guys, it’s already been made as a TV movie. As it turns out, Huxley was sort of right about soma, it’s just that the real soma is television.
And “Nickel and Dimed,” by Barbara Ehrenreich? Who are these people? Union busters? It’s another of Ehrenreich’s books exposing the eternal oppression of the workers. Hardly even controversial.
If you want to ban something, don’t let anyone under the age of 12 see “Bambi.” Ever been in a theater full of weeping children when Bambi’s mom dies.
Let us not forget the great Bertolt Brecht poem:
“On the wall in chalk is written:
They want war.
He who wrote it
Has already fallen.”
Or Brecht’s outrage at NOT being burned. Something like “Why have I been left out? Haven’t I always told the truth? Burn me!” (Or words to that effect.)
Reliza, I was surprised to see Nickel and Dimed on the list. I’ve heard of just one challenge, that from the parents of one student in New Hampshire. But now that I think about it, I’m willing to bet there’s an organized right wing campaign against the book. I’ll see what I can Google up on that.
No other surprises, at least as far as LCL and BNW … I’ve been following news of book challenges for a while now, and believe me, there are people out there still trying to get Uncle Tom’s Cabin banned.