Don't Read These Books

Did you know that there have been books that were banned?

What that means is, someone found a book offensive, and declared that it should not be available, either for sale or in public libraries. It happens to this day both in other countries and in the U.S. There have even been gatherings where people piled the books up and set them on fire. These were typically religious extremists, but other groups have decided that some books were not fit to be available and burned those as well.

You might be surprised to see what some of them were, and why they were banned. Such as:

"Fahrenheit 451," by Ray Bradbury
-Oddly, this book included references to burning books.

'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' by Mark Twain
-This book used the derogatory "N" word, which is highly offensive and enough in this instance, for some people, to ban the book.

"The Catcher In The Rye" by J.D. Salinger
-It is all about teenage angst (longing and confusion)


"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee
-This book was thought to promote white supremacy, although it's about a white lawyer defending a black man, and also the book used the "N" word

"The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck
-The book was banned for using 'vulgar' language.

"Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
-It was banned because it was depressing. Seriously??

And check out some banned books that will probably surprise you more:

• The "Harry Potter" series, because it promoted sorcery and wizardry
• The Bible (still banned in North Korea)
• The Quran
• "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" because it showed young people smoking
• "Little Red Riding Hood" because she had wine in her basket (I don't recall the story mentioning the contents of the basket, but whatever)
• "Sleeping Beauty" which was thought to promote witchcraft and magic
• "Harriet the Spy" by Louise Fitzgerald, for teaching children to spy, back-talk, and curse
• "Where's Waldo" by Marvin Handford, because in one book there is a partially-exposed woman's breast. And--so what if there is? How would anyone find it?
• "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe, because it was anti-slavery
• "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Remarque-banned for insulting the Nazis in WWII (!)

As well as more recently written books---

• "The Hunger Games"
• "Gossip Girl"
• "13 Reasons Why"
• "Twilight"
• "Captain Underpants"

Why?? Here is a source of banned books and the 'reasons' they were banned:
http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10

Have you already read some of these books?  Let's hope so!!


Another list of banned books:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_books_banned_by_governments

Do you think some books should be banned, or not. And if so, banned by whom-who should have the power to decree a book as unfit? Why? What effect does forbidding something usually have?