<p>I printed out the ALA list of banned books for my daughter while she was in middle school. She’d already read a great many of the books on the list at that point and was astounded that so many of them had been challenged. The controversies in Kansas and Georgia don’t surprise me in the least (although they sadden me), but at least they are issues out in the open. At our local library, my daughter went to see if they had the Al Franken book, “Lying Liars…” No luck, but there was no shortage of Rush Limbaugh books or Ann Coulter books. Thank goodness our library belongs to a cooperative, so she doesn’t have to rely on the hometown selection decisions.</p>
<p>That one book that was so awful was ranked 9. I have to admit that I left children’s literature behind and went straight into Kipling and Robert Louis Stevenson. I enjoyed Treasure Island much more than Bridge to Terrabithia!</p>
<p>When my kids were in middle school, I was very disgusted by the “social cause” books they had to read. . . “Pinballs” was one, about a group of foster children. I don’t object the content of the books. What I hated was that these books only seemed to be written only to project a “cause du jour,” not books where authors’ were writing to express their ideas with their style, more like books paid for by the page by some education czar.</p>
<p>Wow, Chrisd, I wasn’t quite that down on them, some were well written, besides the above mentioned “A Bridge…” there was “Sounder”, “Dicey’s Song” - the problem was that after 4-5 of these in a row, you just wanted to say “Uncle!”. At least “Holes” has a little whimsy to go with the reform school, ala Roald Dahl.</p>
<p>GS1028, what was the awful one ranked #9? Some of us would consider Treasure Island kid’s literature, but I get your point.</p>
<p>wow ive read six of the books on that list lol… and 2 of them were required HAH. i had to read black boy in 8th grade, it was really good, i dont quite understand why it would be banned, but whatever. and song of solomon last year. this one i dont get either, theres no sex and no violence, hm…
the bean trees is absurd, i have no idea why thats there either. i cant think of one offensive thing that happens in the book… maybe that Turtle was abused?? but that was before the book even starts so that can’t be it. </p>
<p>Jon Stewart in response to the fact the Mississippi banned his book, “Mississippi has books?”
lol. :)</p>
<p>ah, yes, there is sex in song of solomon, but the very fact that ive forgotten about that aspect of the book just goes to show that us teenagers are not scarred and whimpering. i find something very disturbing about that website, it seems like they only want kids to be reading about sunshine and rainbows. they have the nerve to ban toni morrison, maya angelou, barbara kingsolver…</p>
<p>I am surprised To Kill a Mockingbird one of my favorite books isn’t on that list</p>
<p>I am sure glad we live in Seattle
After reading where a Catholic school in Ca wanted to dismiss a girl when it was found that her parents were “lesbians” I showed the article to a friend who is considering placing her daughter in a Catholic school next year. However, she said that the school put on the Laramie project for their drama production this year. Its nice to hear about communities that actually teach tolerance</p>
<p>emeraldkity- To Kill a Mockingbird is number 41 on the list. It is one of my favorites too.</p>
<p>I have read about twelve on the list. Three were read for book group and eight for school. It is important for teens to read books with risque topics in school or at home while they still can discuss them with adults and peers, ratheer than waiting until they are faced with these things in college or as adults. Luckily, I live in a large city where tolerance of different races, sexualities, and beliefs is common.</p>
<p>I ran a book group in 5th grade. Some of the books we read were " Holes", “The Giver”, “bridge to Terabithia” “Number the Stars” & “to Kill a Mockingbird”
I think it is important for parents and children to read the same books so that they can discuss the issue raised. Challenging topics don’t go away just because you are ignorant of them.
Our local Childrens theatre which is one of the premier theatres even did Bridge to Terebitha a few years ago ( they also did Holes and A shape of a girl )
I am wondering with the banning of “In the night Kitchen” and “wheres Waldo” why the Bible hasn’t been banned, it has violent and sexual imagery to rival anything except for perhaps Madonnas book :eek:</p>
<p>“I am wondering… why the Bible hasn’t been banned, it has violent and sexual imagery to rival anything except for perhaps Madonnas book”</p>
<p>actually, the bible has about no violent or sexual imagery (or at least the new testament) part of the problem with the passion was that mel gibson turned about one verse of the bible into a feature length film.
i still agree that all this banning is ludicrous though.</p>
<p>We read mostly classics and such in hs. English books from the 1800’s were great for vocab building and any nasty activity was just implied. I don’t think there is a compelling reason to use explicit material in hs no matter what the state of knowledge of the kids.</p>
<p>I am part of a mother-daughter bookgroup. While I have not always liked the books that we read, there have been many interesting conversations. We currently have about eight mother-daughter pairs, and we are all very supportive of one another. We have created a close community in which we can feel comfortable to be ourselves and discuss our opinions on issues. In a trusting environment such as this one, we are able to talk about controversial issues.</p>
<p>In my Spanish class, we are watching “Maria Full of Grace”. We had a class discussion on our views on drug restrictions. While I was surprised that many of my peers knew quite a bit about the influences of specific drugs, I was impressed with the maturity shown during the discussion. Most people in my class have been exposed to books on the challenged list in school. We have been able to slowly increase the intensity of our discussions, leading to what I consider to be a very positive high school experience.</p>
<p>georgiamom-
I live in that “conservative” county here in the great state of GA. I hadn’t realized that the county had taken this conservative tilt, as most of my friends are as “liberal” as I am. In 2000, I downloaded stencils and carved our halloween pumpkins into Bush and Gore faces, and made the kids “vote” before they got their candy. WHOA!! That’s when I realized that the county had taken a turn… Oh, PS-- even though I live in the supposedly best school district in the state, my kids go to private school :)</p>
<p>Ah, I remember when my entire senior class–all girls-- decided to read Lady Chatterley’s Lover (stealthily, of course) BECAUSE we’d read it had been banned a couple of years earlier (I believe the presiding Law Lord commented that this was the sort of books he would not wish his servants to read). And since, we, nicely brought up girls, did not understand many of the sexual references, it led to any number of whispered discussions about sex that would have horrified our parents. I am convinced that a forbidden book is like a forbidden fruit: irresistible.</p>
<p>Emerald–Just skimming, but had to respond–my kids’ Catholic high school put on Laramie project a couple of years ago, and Cuckoo’s Nest this year. One of the teachers there is a lesbian and another is a guy that used to be a girl. No, I am not making this up. All Catholic schools are not alike.</p>
<p>I’m surprised to see that the diary of Anne Frank is on the list - clearly they can’t be meaning the complete version in which she writes about <em>gasp</em> menstruation and <em>thunderstruck</em> being attracted to boys…
I’m also surprised by the fact that Adrian Mole made it on to the list of bad books - I must admit that’s mostly because I struggle to see it as the kind of book you would study in school. Reading over the few quotes they have I can’t help but feel like they missed the point entirely. Even taken out of context, it should be obvious that Adrian is actually rather a prude himself…</p>
<p>I can’t believe that stupid people would try and censor literature. Literature is a celebration of life and all aspects of it. By shielding your children from some of the more tawdry aspect of things you are simply depriving them of a complete education. Of course there is a time and place for things. But, by the time the student is a senior at hs there should be no censorship whatsoever. </p>
<p>People talk about morality, but for me, the utmost in immorality is someone preventing the dissemination of knowledge. Such banned book lists are dumb idiotic. Anyone who proposes such a thing should be run out of town after being tarred and feathered.</p>
