Back in October, 2010 I heard about Banned Book week. This is a project spearheaded by the American Library Association as “an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment”. Held during the last week of September, Banned Book Week highlights the benefits of free and open […]
As I Lay Dying, by American author William Faulkner, was published in 1930. The title derives from Book XI of Homer’s The Odyssey, when Agamemnon says to Odysseus: “As I lay dying, the woman with the dog’s eyes would not close my eyes as I descended into Hades.” As I […]
Since 1990 there have been more than 50,000 incidents in which a book’s right to an existence has been called into question. Why? For nothing more than the simple fact that they expressed ideas that made someone, somewhere, feel uncomfortable; and that discomfort was taken as a personal offense. There […]
And Tango Makes Three is a children’s book (ages 4-8) written in 2005 by Justin Richardson, an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry in New York, and Peter Parnell, a playwright (The Cider House Rules). The story is based on true events about a couple of chinstrap penguins living in New […]
According to the Office for Intellectual Freedom, at least 46 of the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century have been the target of ban attempts. Over the past decade, American libraries were faced with 4400 challenges. 1,413 challenges due to “sexually explicit” material; 1,125 challenges due […]
My friend over at the Graubner library in Romeo, Michigan just emailed me a copy of the American Library Association’s “Library Bill of Rights”. I had emailed him about the Banned Books Awareness and Reading for Knowledge project and here is part of what he said to me: “In regards […]
One of the greatest books that changed the world, The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (1947), was perhaps the most brilliant literary reply to Mein Kampf. Although it was not written to do just that, it\’s impact on a worldwide readership sure did. The diary has now […]
Within two weeks of its 1951 release, J.D. Salinger’s novel rocketed to Number 1 on the New York Times best-seller list. The book- which explores three days in the life of a troubled 16-year-old boy- has been a “favorite of censors” ever since its publication. In 1960, school administrators at […]
Both the Merriam-Webster and the American Heritage Dictionaries have been banned in various schools. The Merriam-Webster 10th edition was banned in a California elementary school in January, 2010 for its definition of oral sex. The complaint of one parent was enough to incite a witch hunt by Oak Meadows Elementary […]
Did you know that virtually everything written by Judy Blume has been banned? “Forever”, “Blubber”, “Deenie” and “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” are among her most controversial novels. Though light in tone, many of Blume’s books deal with very real and very difficult issues for children, including friendship, […]
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