Book Banning Alive and ... Well...?

I received a notice today about an upcoming virtual presentation about banned books. The folks involved in the discussion include two authors whose writings are frequently banned, or at least challenged. Being the curious cat I am, I decided to check right into their works!

One author is Sonya Sones, who has written stories in the form of poetry, some about the experiences of adolescent girls. Having been an adolescent girl once (believe it or not!), I find her writings right on the mark with many of the experiences. But I can see why some less enlightened people would find her books reprehensible--not because of the content, but because they are less enlightened people. Because they fear anything that might get people thinking. Because they wouldn't want our adolescent girls to believe that their thoughts and feelings were normal, or that they HAD those thoughts and feelings in the first place!!

I can go on and on and on about censorship, but I won't. What I will do is present you, gentle and intelligent reader, with the American Library Association's (ALA) list of challenged books for 2005. I'm actually disappointed to see that "Of Mice and Men" has dropped off the list this year. And happy to see "Catcher in the Rye" once again on the list. Only because the longer these great works of literature appear on these lists, the longer they stay in the public eye, and on reading lists!

Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2005

The following books were the most frequently challenged in 2005:

The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom received a total of 405 challenges last year. A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness. According to Judith F. Krug, director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom, the number of challenges reflects only incidents reported, and for each reported, four or five remain unreported.

The “10 Most Challenged Books of 2005” reflect a range of themes. The books are:

• “It's Perfectly Normal” for homosexuality, nudity, sex education, religious viewpoint, abortion and being unsuited to age group;

• “Forever” by Judy Blume for sexual content and offensive language;
• “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger for sexual content, offensive language and being unsuited to age group;
• “The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier for sexual content and offensive language;
• “Whale Talk” by Chris Crutcher for racism and offensive language;
• “Detour for Emmy” by Marilyn Reynolds for sexual content;
• “What My Mother Doesn't Know” by Sonya Sones for sexual content and being unsuited to age group;
• Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey for anti-family content, being unsuited to age group and violence;
• “Crazy Lady!” by Jane Leslie Conly for offensive language; and
• “It's So Amazing! A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families” by Robie H. Harris for sex education and sexual content.

Off the list this year, but on for several years past, are the Alice series of books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain.

Thanks to the American Library Association (ALA) for this information about banned books. Check out their site.

"...mankind would be no more justified in silencing ...one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."

I agree.