Here we are again. It feels like it was only yesterday.
It's Banned Books Week 2020, which started September 27 and ends on October 3. So I am getting in towards the end, which is usually what seems to happen.
Each year, the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom posts a list of the 10 most "challenged" books. Books can be challenged for many different reasons. The ALA, by the way, is the American Library Association.
Here's a blogger who goes in each year with a comprehensive post and a reading.
And here (drum roll) is the list of the 100 most challenged books from 2010-2019.
(Just so you don't think this is a list of books that don't deserve to be read, please note that the Holy Bible weighs in at #52 most challenged in the past decade.)
You might be surprised at the lists of books that have been banned, at least once, somewhere, by a government, a school, or some other "authority". They include such classics as:
The Handmaid's Tale
Two Mark Twain classics: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Black Beauty
To Kill a Mockingbird
Flowers for Algernon
Where's Waldo?
In the Night Kitchen (I read that one to my son when he was young. He's a productive adult, hopefully not scarred for life).
Also, there's a series my son got into big time growing up: Harry Potter. (Sadly, the challenges to that series probably don't surprise you.)
Here are some of the scary facts.
Do you really want someone to be determining what you should be reading?
I don't.
How many banned books have you read?
I have read everything you just named, except for the last two books. And I think I turned out OK.
ReplyDeleteI've only read 14, but most just aren't my sort of stories. Oh, I have read or heard my kids read aloud more, but 14 for my own reading pleasure. I can't believe some of those would be challenged in any way! Like the Dave Pilkey series? They may be very stupid stories, to adults, but serve to get young boys interested in reading. Not saying girls don't enjoy them! But, getting boys reading for fun is more of a challenge (I studied library and information technology, and interned in a juvenile hall library).
ReplyDeleteHarry Potter now has a different sort of backlash, thanks to certain comments of its author. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how many banned books I've read. I am constantly surprised by what offends some people. I get not wanting their own children exposed to certain ideas, but saying no one should. . . People. . .
So interesting that "Flowers for Algernon" was banned. Can't imagine why, but could say that for all these titles. Fascinating.
ReplyDeleteIt's always interesting to see what some people are trying to keep us from reading, which just gives us all the more incentive to read it!
ReplyDelete