Banned Book Week

This week (Sept 25 – Oct 2) is Banned Book Week.

I never really understood the whole banning of books. If a parent doesn’t want their child to read a certain book, then it’s their responsibilities to do so (just like with television). It’s not up to the libraries and bookstores to police your values. We all have the freedom to read what we want (ever hear of the First Amendment of the Constitution?) and decide for ourselves what we want to read. If you’re concerned about what your child is reading, then it is your responsibility to police that. Nobody has the right to tell me what I can or can’t read.

Now, stepping off my soapbox, back in March the Huffington Post listed the 11 most surprising banned books (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/29/the-11-most-surprising-ba_n_515381.html)

Here’s the list:

1. The Dictionary, both the Merriam Webster and the American Heritage Dictionaries (Really?)
2. Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (banned for obscenity and negative light in which the country was painted (lol).
3. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig (because it portrayed policemen as pigs)
4. The Bluest Eyes Ever by Toni Morrison (obscene language and gratuitous violence)
5. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle (banned jus t this past January because author has the same name as obscure Marist theorist – but not the same person).
6. James and the Giant Peach and The Witches both by Roald Dahl (obscenity and violence and sexism)
7. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (sexually explicit and homosexual themes)
8. Little Woman by Louisa May Alcott (who knows?)
9. For Whom the Bells Tolls and A Farewell to Arms both by Ernest Hemingway (sexual content and pro-communist views)
10. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein (promotes disrespect, horror and violence). Side note: become one of the most banned books in the 1990s.
11. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (battle between good and evil).