Banned Books #3

Walter Dean Myers
















In support of banned books week, I've decided to read A Mercy by Toni Morrison. Ms. Morrison has several titles that regularly show up on 'challenged' book lists. I've also decided to read one of the young adult titles, probably one that's shelved in my local branch since I need to go down there to pick up a title I ordered via ILL to do research on for a term paper. The branch is little, but I'm hoping to find a book by Walter Dean Myers, who has several titles that show up in challenge lists.

Audiobook image found at Barnes & Noble. Image of Walter Dean Myers found on Random House

Most Challenged Books by Authors of Color

From the ALA list (link in title above):





3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou


17. The Color Purple by Alice Walker


31. Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane


34. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison



36. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers


45. Beloved by Toni Morrison


69. Native Son by Richard Wright


73. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende


78. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya


84. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison


85. Always Running by Luis Rodriguez



Also written by authors of color & challenged frequently:


Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry by Mildred D. Taylor


American Indian Myths and Legends by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz.

Banned Books Week

Banned books week rolls around again. This year it will be 26 Sept. through 3 Oct. Every year I promise myself I'll read one of the books on the list & post a review. I've yet to do that. :( This year isn't looking terribly promising for accomplishing that goal either. However, once again I will attempt this. I've not picked one yet, but I plan to read one of the most challenged books of

Banned Classics, top 50, according to the ALA, link at bottom of list:


1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
6. Ulysses by James Joyce
7. Beloved by Toni Morrison
8. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
9. 1984 by George Orwell
10. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
11. Lolita by Vladmir Nabokov
12. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
13. Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
14. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
15. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
16. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
17. Animal Farm by George Orwell
18. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
19. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
20. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
21. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
22. Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne
23. Their Eyes are Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
24. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
25. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
26. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
27. Native Son by Richard Wright
28. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
29. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
30. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
31. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
32. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
33. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
34. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
35. Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
36. Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
37. The World According to Garp by John Irving
38. All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
39. A Room with a View by E. M. Forster
40. The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
41. Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally
42. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
43. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
44. Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
45. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
46. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
47. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
48. Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence
49. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
50. The Awakening by Kate Chopin

To see the entire list click here.

Banned book Week, pt. 3

Versus



"Children deprived of words become school dropouts; dropouts deprived of hope behave delinquently. Amateur censors blame delinquency on reading immoral books and magazines, when in fact, the inability to read anything is the basic trouble."
~ Peter S. Jennison

Censorship reflects society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime." ~Potter Stewart

"You have not converted a man because you have silenced him." ~John Morley

Obscenity is not a quality inherent in a book or picture, but is solely and exclusively a contribution of the reading mind, and hence cannot be defined in terms of the qualities of a book or picture." ~Theodore Schroeder

The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame." ~Oscar Wilde

Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas. The source of better ideas is wisdom. The surest path to wisdom is a liberal education." ~Alfred Whitney


Every burned book enlightens the world." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson



Images found on Wikimedia.org

Banned Book Week 2008; pt. 2

American Booksellers Association list of most frequently challenged books.

10 Most Challenged Books of 2007 according to the American Library Association. Website accessed September. 30, 2008

1) “And Tango Makes Three,” by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell

2) The Chocolate War,” by Robert Cormier

3) “Olive’s Ocean,” by Kevin Henkes

4) “The Golden Compass,” by Philip Pullman

5) “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” by Mark Twain

6) “The Color Purple,” by Alice Walker

7) "TTYL,” by Lauren Myracle

8) "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” by Maya Angelou

9) “It’s Perfectly Normal,” by Robie Harris

10) "The Perks of Being A Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky

It's Banned Book Week

This year it's between September 27-October 4. I found the following list on their website (click link in the title above), citation below the list. I noted which ones I've already read. I'm thinking about adding another few to my library request list, perhaps I can find one that's already on the list for the Nobel Challenge I've joined.




The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald


The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger


The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck Read this one


The Color Purple, Alice Walker


Ulysses, James Joyce


Beloved, Toni Morrison


The Lord of the Flies, William Golding Read this one


1984, George Orwell Read this one


Lolita, Vladmir Nabokov


Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck


Catch-22, Joseph Heller


Brave New World, Aldous Huxley


The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway


As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner


A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway


Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad


Their Eyes were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston


Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison Read this one


Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison


Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell


Native Son, Richard Wright Read this one


One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey


Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut


For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway


The Call of the Wild, Jack London Read this one


Go Tell it on the Mountain, James Baldwin Read this one


All the King's Men, Robert Penn Warren


The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien Read this one


The Jungle, Upton Sinclair


Lady Chatterley's Lover, DH Lawrence Read this one


A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess


Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie


Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut


A Separate Peace, John Knowles Read this one


Women in Love, DH Lawrence


Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller


Rabbit, Run; John Updike





"Banned and or Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Co," American Library Association, March 29, 2007.
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/reasonsbanned.cfm (Accessed September 26, 2008)
Document ID: 367742