September 21-27, 2014 is National Banned Books Week, a week celebrating the freedom to read and remembering how censorship infringes on intellectual freedom. Ever wonder why some books are banned or challenged? Check out a small sampling below…
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White banned or challenged because:
- in 2006, parents in Kansas because “humans are the highest level of God’s creation and are the only creatures that can communicate vocally. Showing lower life forms with human abilities is sacrilegious and disrespectful to God.”
- ranked 13 out of 100 most banned and challenged classics
On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin banned or challenged because:
- Darwin was accused of “dethroning God by challenging the literal interpretation of the book of Genesis”
- continuously banned in Tennessee from 1925-1967
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling banned or challenged because:
- 1999-2002 Harry Potter topped the list of most banned and challenged books in the United States because it portrays wizardry and magic
- in 1999 alone, Harry Potter and the sorcerer’s Stone was challenged and/or banned 26 times in 16 states
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson banned or challenged because:
- some critics have described a pivotal rape scene as “child pornography” (although they admit to having never read the book)
- challenged in a Sarasota, FL school for emotional aftermath of rape, bullying, depressions, sexual harassment, and family dysfunction in 2013. Currently under review at the school district level.
Ulysses by James Joyce banned or challenged because:
- “it might cause American readers to harbor impure and lustful thoughts”, includes obscene language and obscenity
- banned in the United States by customs censors in 1922
- 500 copies were burned when an attempt was made to import the book
- the ban on importation was finally lifted in 1933 by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
- Velsicol Chemical Corp. tried to prevent the book’s publication and stop the New Yorker from publishing the text in serial format
- alleged that Carson was “innocent dupe of a communist conspiracy to undermine the superiority of the Western World, and reduce us to starvation”
Want to know more about Banned Books Week or see what else has been banned or challenged?
Swing into the library and READ BANNED BOOKS!
Bibliography
Anderson, Laurie Halse. “Ever Wonder How the Mind of a Book Banner Works?” madwomanintheforest.com, 2013.
Bald, Margaret. Literature Suppressed on Religious Grounds. Facts On File; New York, 2006.
“Banned and/or Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the Twentieth Century.” http://www.ala.org, 2014.
Stein, Karen F. Rachel Carson: Challenging Authors. Rotterdam: SensePublishers, 2012. eBook Collection, EBSCOhost.
Sova, Dawn B. Literature Suppressed on Sexual Grounds. Facts On File; New York, 2006.
Shhhhhh! 