Banned

Hello friends, on the blog today you’ll find my post about banning. It’s a far cry from what I usually share. What comes to mind when you read that word, banned? Banned from a casino for reading cards, banned from the market for writing bad checks? Or something else? Banned books? I know there is a strong possibility that some of my lovely readers stopped reading my post right there. Yes, today I’m writing about banning and challenging books. Not a recipe, not a DIY, or printable, I’m sharing a topic that has upset me for years, and years.

If you’re still reading, thank you. Here is the definition of challenging books ( they want to be banned or may have already been banned in some states).“Challenging a book is the attempt to ban a book from a library, school district, institution, organization, government entity, retailer, or publisher based on its content. “

I’m sad to share that banning books in America is nothing new. Book banning is what I understand to be the most widespread form of censorship in the United States. It has been going on for decades.

Book banning in school libraries is currently the prime target for a group of people (herein referred to as they) that believe reading certain books will lead to questions about topics they do not want to address. Or they think the books will somehow influence children negatively.

Okay so let’s run with that sentence, “they think the books will somehow influence children negatively.” They say the main focus for banning books is on books that have some instances of Race, History, Sexual Orientation and/or Gender.

Banning a book can not change history!

• I DO think books should be accessible in an age-appropriate manner. Example: To Kill a Mocking Bird should not be found in the picture book section of the school library (where I seriously doubt it is in the first place).
• I Do think teachers should make parents aware of their required reading at the beginning of the school year. This will allow parents to decide which books they find inappropriate for their child. It is my hope that when the children are older, they will read the classics their parents wouldn’t let them read.
• I Do believe that books should be in the appropriate section of the library or allowed to be requested (if age appropriate.) If “they” are concerned about young children discovering the book. There’s no need to ban it!

This is a list of only a few of the thousands of banned or challenged books, the authors and the publication dates.  Yes, you read that right, these are only a few of the many, many books that have been banned or challenged.

LET ME PREFACE THIS LIST WITH, DO YOU THINK THEY’VE READ ALL OF THESE BOOKS?

listed in alphabetical order *

• A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess, 1962
• A Court of Mist and Fury, Sarah J. Maas, 2016
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain, 1884
• All American Boys, Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely, 2016
• All Boys Aren’t Blue, George M. Johnson, 2020
• An American Tragedy, Theodore Dreiser, 1925
• And Tango Makes Three, Peter Parnell, 2005
• Animal Farm, George Orwell, 1945
• A Wrinkle In Time, Madeleine L’engle, 1962
• Beloved, Toni Morrison, 1987
• Brave New World, Alus Huxley, 1932
• Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson, 1977
• Cat’s Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut, 1963
• Dear Martin, Nic Stone, 2017
• Drama, Rain Telgemeier, 2021
• Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer, 2005
• Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury, 1953
• For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway, 1940
• Forever, Judy Blume, 1975
• Gender Queer: A Memoir, Maia Kobabe, 2019
• Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell, 1936
• Harry Potter (series), J.K. Rowling, 1998
• Harriet the Spy, Louise Fitzhugh, 1964
• Hop On Pop, Dr. Seuss, 1991
• How to Be an Antiracist, Ibram X. Kendi, 2019
• I Am Jazz, Jazz Jennings 2014
• Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison, 1952
• Jacobs New Dress, Sarah Hoffman, 2014
• James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl, 1961
• Lady Chatterley’s Lover, D.H. Lawrence, 1928
• Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov, 1955
• Looking for Alaska, John Green, 2005
• Lucky, Alice Sebold, 2017
• Lord of the Flies, William Golding, 1954
• Monday’s Not Coming, Tiffany D. Jackson, 2018
• Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs, 1959
• Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell, 1949
• Nineteen Minutes, Jody Picoult, 2007
• Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck, 1937
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey, 1962
• Out of Darkness, Ashley Hope Pérez, 2015
• Sons and Lovers, D.H. Lawrence, 1913
• Sophie’s Choice, William Styron, 1979
• Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson, 1999
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie, 2007
• The Awakening, Kate Chopin, 1899
• The Adventures of Captain Underpants, Dav Pilkey (series),1997
• The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison, 1970
• The Breakaways, Cathy G. Johnson, 2019
• The Call of the Wild, Jack Lonn, 1903
• The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger, 1951
• The Color Purple, Alice Walker, 1982
• The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank, 1947
• The Family Book, Todd Parr, 2013
• The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein, 1964
• The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck, 1939
• The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925
• The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood, 1985
• The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas, 2017
• The Infinite Moment of Us, Lauren Myracle, 2014
• The Lord of the Rings, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, 1954
• The Lorax, Dr. Seuss, 1971
• The Lawn Boy, Jonathan Evison, 2018
• The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer, 1948
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky, 1999
• The Sun also Rises, Ernest Hemingway, 1926
• The Truth About Alice, Jennifer Mathieu, 2014
• Thirteen Reasons Why, Jay Asher, 2007
• To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, 1960
• Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller, 1934
• Ulysses, James Joyce, 1920
• We Are the Ants, Shaun David Hutchinson, 2016
• Women in Love, D.H. Lawrence, 1920

That’s a pretty long list my friends, and it’s only a few of the books being banned or challenged. Did you know during the 2021-2022 school year, more than 1,600 books were banned from school libraries. The bans affected 138 school districts in 32 states, the states with the highest number of banned books are in Texas and Florida.

If book banning is successful, what will They ban next?

*Research and book list all obtained from legitimate sources.

 &npsb;  

Please share your thoughts on this subject in the comments. Have a great day!