It's that time again....Banned Books week! Here is a sampling of the books that are on this years' list....
Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings"...is not on the list for this year, but has been challenged and/or banned in previous years.
"Wicked" by Gregory Maguire There are concerns about the sexual content on a few pages of the book. "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult has been pulled from classrooms in Michigan...as it is "too racy for middle school students".
The entire "Twilight" series by Stephanie Meyer due to sexual content.
Here are a few of the titles from the 2008-2009 list of banned books.
Okay, this is a bit much...."The Lorax" by Dr. Seuss was challenged in a California Unified School district because the book "criminalizes the foresting industry"...And "The Little Mermaid" by Hans Christian Andersen (the edition with illustrations of bare-breasted mermaids was challenged in Texas School District because it was "pornographic" and contained "satanic pictures").
Okay, that was just a taste of the books on display here at the Unalaska Public Library....Visit your local library, check out a banned/challenged book, and make up your own mind. That's what America is all about!!!
Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings"...is not on the list for this year, but has been challenged and/or banned in previous years.
"Wicked" by Gregory Maguire There are concerns about the sexual content on a few pages of the book. "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult has been pulled from classrooms in Michigan...as it is "too racy for middle school students".
The entire "Twilight" series by Stephanie Meyer due to sexual content.
Here are a few of the titles from the 2008-2009 list of banned books.
Okay, this is a bit much...."The Lorax" by Dr. Seuss was challenged in a California Unified School district because the book "criminalizes the foresting industry"...And "The Little Mermaid" by Hans Christian Andersen (the edition with illustrations of bare-breasted mermaids was challenged in Texas School District because it was "pornographic" and contained "satanic pictures").
Okay, that was just a taste of the books on display here at the Unalaska Public Library....Visit your local library, check out a banned/challenged book, and make up your own mind. That's what America is all about!!!
I LOVE Banned Books Week! Can't believe some of the books that have been banned or challenged. I don't like censorship--yes, different people have differing opinions about what's acceptable, but let me make my own decisions! :) So glad the Library recognizes this week each year. Hurray for freedom!
ReplyDeleteAmen Gigi! In one of my favorite Supreme Court cases the court ordered an Arkansas school board to return the Harry Potter series books back to the shelves of their libraries WITHOUT restriction!
ReplyDeleteJustice Robert Jackson captured the central issue in future book battles: "If we are to eliminate everything that is objectionable to any person or is inconsistent with any of their doctrines, we will leave the public schools in shreds." Furthermore, in Epperson v. Arkansas, the Supreme Court opined, "The First Amendment does not permit the State to require that teaching and learning must be tailored to the principles or prohibitions of any religious sect or dogma." http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-5420109/Harry-Potter-and-the-public.html
Nobody has the right to tell me what I can and can't read!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just say NO to banning books!
Thank you for keeping this topic in the forefront!
Mystic
As long as I am working at this (or any other) library, I will keep putting up my display and encouraging my patrons to read whatever they want to....thanks for your input Mystic!
ReplyDelete*lol* that's rediculous! they don't even go into detail in Twilight. oh well...
ReplyDeleteLOL Twilight is on the banned books list? Ladies if you want to read a vampire series that you know will get banned and make your cheeks blush then read The Black Dagger Brotherhood series by JR Ward.
ReplyDeleteTHAT series I could totally understand...but Twilight? Kids are probably getting an eye and ear full more at home than that series.
All it says in the challenged books biography is that the Twilight Series was removed from and later reinstated in the middle school libraries of the Capistrano, Calif. Unified School District. The books were initially ordered removed by the district's instructional materials specialist, who ordered that the books be moved from middle school to high school collections. That order was rescinded and the books remain in the middle school libraries.
ReplyDeleteAlso challenged at the Brockback Junior High in Magna, Utah by a parent over "sexual content in the Mormom author's fourth novel, Breaking Dawn".
There you have it :)
Black Dagger Brotherhood?? I'll have to check into that series...it seems EVERYONE is writing vampire books these days, doesn't it????