Pathedic
 

Here is a list I got from my Enlgish teacher of the 50 most banned books in the 90's:

1) Impessions - edited by Jack Booth, et al.
2) Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
3) The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
4) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
5) The Chocolate War - Robert Cormier
6) Bridge to Terabithia - Katherine Paterson
7) Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark - Alvin Schwartz
8) More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark - Alvin Schwartz
9) The Witches - Roald Dahl
10) Daddy's Roomate - Michael Willhoite
11) Curses, Hexes, and Spells - Daniel Cohen
12) A Wrinkle in Time - Madeling L'Engle
13) How to Eat Fried Worms - Thomas Rockwell
14) Blubber - Judy Blume
15) Revolting Rhymes - Roald Dahl
16) Halloween ABC's - Ever Merriam
17) A Day No Pigs Would Die - Robert Peck
18) Heather Has Two Mommies - Leslea Newman
19) Christine - Stephen King
20) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
21) Fallen Angels - Walter Myers
22) The New Teenage Body Book - Kathy McCoy and Charles Wibbelsman
23) Little Red Riding Hood - Brothers Grimm
24) The Headless Cupid - Zilpha Snyder
25) Night Chills - Dean Koontz
26) Lord of the Flies - William Golding
27) A Separate Peace - John Knowles
28) Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut
29) The Color Purple - Alice Walker
30) James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl
31) The Learning Tree - Gordon Parks
32) The Witches of Worm - Zilpha Snyder
33) My Brother Sam is Dead - James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
34) The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
35) Cujo - Stephen King
36) The Great Gilly Hopkins - Katherine Paterson
37) The Figure in the Shadows - John Bellairs
38) On My Honors - Marion Dane Bauer
39) In the Night Kitchen - Maurice Sendak
40) Grendel - John Champlin Gardner
41) I Have to Go - Robert Munsch
42) Annie on My Mind - Nancy Garden
43) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain
44) The Pigman - Paul Zindel
45) My House - Nikki Giovanni
46) Then Again, Maybe I Won't - Judy Blume
47) The Handmaiden's Tale - Margaret Atwood
48) Witches, Pumpkins, and Grinning Ghosts: The Story of Halloween Symbols - Edna Barth
49) One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
50) Scary Stories 3: More Tales To Chill Your Bones - Alvin Schwartz

Now I don't know about you guys, but this list is pathedic. Halloween ABC's?! Dear God, these people have no lives, I swear...
I don't know about all you, but I now want to buy all these books just to spite those morons.

Re: Pathedic
 

We read that one in the 8th grade. Why was it banned? I even think there was a PG movie made out of it.

interesting.

i think the whole concept of banning books is stupid. we had to have parental permission to read stephen king books in our middle school =\.

Freedom of Speech is one of my most passionate causes.
 

It's a shame that simple minds are so easily intimidated. More pathetic behavior from the stupid and petty among us:

http://www.aloha.net/~mikesch/ILP-1559.htm

Re: Freedom of Speech is one of my most passionate causes.
 

I must agree. There is actually a book about books and their banning/disposal called Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Great book, and I recommend it to all who believe in the first amendment, freedom of speech.

Re: Pathedic
 

i've read these. banning books is stupid. it jsut breeds contempt.

Heather Has Two Mommies - Leslea Newman

http://www.freakygamers.com/smilies/s/cwm/cwm/cwm27.gif

sick GLAAD on your school administration, they forced all public schools to stock it

Who were they banned by exactly, and any reasons given.
I can't even see a common thread in them.

UJ

One problem with public school where they bend to the whims of a few. It only take a few whiney parents to fuck over the rest of us.

well, I haven't looked at the list, but to those of you looking for reasons why -

- Look for themes of homosexuality, magic or witchcraft, possible racial conflicts (imagined IMHO, as in the case of Twain's works), graphic description of sexual or violent activity and possibly communist or anti-capitalist themes.

I too remember being amazed when during high school I discovered that books were still being banned - I thought that was something they did away with in the 20's. :rolleyes: My advice is simply this - go down the list if you have time and read them for yourself. They will give you an incredible understanding of the people who want them banned. Personally, I think the only books that should be considered for banning are the volumes of mediocre tripe that fill our shelves today.

Re: Pathedic
 

I have read all of these below... Most of them in... grade/middle school. I don't think these books were ever banned, rather people tried to block them from putting them in school libraries or reading
lists due to objectionable content.

I would imagine, out of the books i've read from the list,
someone could object too

2) Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck Shooting someone in the head
3) The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger obvious :rolleyes:
4) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain racism
5) The Chocolate War - Robert Cormier Making Communism and Democracy look like too different flavors of the same thing
12) A Wrinkle in Time - Madeling L'Engle NO CLUE
13) How to Eat Fried Worms - Thomas Rockwell Slipping insects in peoples food
20) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou Abuse
23) Little Red Riding Hood - Brothers Grimm Eating Children?
26) Lord of the Flies - William Golding Violent Bludgeoning deaths and more...
28) Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut Very graphic...
30) James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl Too imaginative?
33) My Brother Sam is Dead - James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier Gun Violence? Hanging People?
36) The Great Gilly Hopkins - Katherine Paterson The little girl addresses blacks as niggers, she steals wallets from blind people... lots of 4 leter words...
43) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain racism

For the most part... innocuous. Well... I might suggest keeping
gilly hopkins in middle school- i read that in 5th grade. :eek:

Stealing wallets from blind people? EXCELLENT :D


The banning of books is a ridiculous and outdated idea. Only in backward and retared countries would such a practice happen.

(America - LOL)


I find it funny that James and the Giant Peach is banned, wheras something like Mein Kampf, or The Joy of Sex is apparently ok...

Re: Pathedic
 

OMFG!!
These were among my favorate books as a kid.
The witches?!?!? a kid gets turned into a mouse by some witches, and exacts revenge in a brilliant way, then lives out the rest of his now much shortened life with his grandma. A brilliant story.

Revolting rhymes is another book every kid should read. in fact to read all of these 50 books should be a requirement.

Only in america... :rolleyes:

This kind of thing seems to springing up all over America - banning books, religion in schools, etc. It seems that you are trying to turn the country into Disneyland. But the fact of the matter remains that bad things happen in the world, slavery happened, racism did exist, and still does, and people still kill. Hiding the books that contain this material won't make it disappear.

A lot of these books were written at a time when the environment portrayed in the book reflects accurately the way the world was at that time. Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn" is a perfect example, written at a time when slavery was at it's strongest. Should we ban history books because it contains references to Hitler, genocide, war??

Apparently yes.

They will ban talking next.

It's interesting to note how quick the Europeans are to point out the flaws of the Americans, yet so easily forget their own. If my memory of history serves me correctly, it was a European papal court which unleashed the terror of the Index of Prohibited books on the world for 500 years and counting, and it was from a European leader's policies that we get the term 'Fascist state'... infact, the most comprehensive work on censorship, 1984, finds it's inspiration from European demogogues.

You, as well as I, know the dangers of pointing out specific isolated cases as some kind of indicator of a nation's character.

I agree - every nation has its flaws. But for a country that considers freedom of speech paramount to everything you believe in, isn't this censorship going against everything you believe in??

And, regarding the Index of Prohibited Books - this was a list compiled by the vatican and forced upon all catholic countries that looked to them. We diden't get a choice - either obey it or be burned as a heretic.

America, since it is so rooted in an economic outlook, is very susceptible to changes in attitude and thinking. Since economies are never at rest and are in constant flux, so is American thought and values. These attacks on civil liberties are just trends, but in the end, the rights guaranteed in the Constitution are always defended successfully by true, patriotic Americans. Justice and equality always prevails, not only in America, but in all modern democratic nations. I do honestly believe that freedom of speech is alive and well on this continent. That's the whole reason there is even an issue with nuts like Jerry Falwell (in a less free society, he wouldn't even exist), and why consistently, year after year, anti-Flag burning bills are shot down.

re: Index
Yes, it was forced down the throats of the many by the few. But so is school censorship... kids have no power and no say in what they read. If they speak out, they risk expulsion. True, being expelled isn't as bad as being burned at the stake, but it's no less shameful than excommunication.

ban this!
 

I was told that Huck Finn was banned cause they went around naked.
I wonder why :eek:

For me it's also interesting to note how quickly Americans distance themselves from Europe when it comes to pointing out flaws in our way of thinking. It seems easy to forget that 500 years ago when these acts were passed that the vast majority of your families descendants were living here under the same regulations. Modern flaws, certainly, have no founding in the past, but it seems unfair to refer back to a point in history when the majority of modern-day americans were under the same soverign. The history that you refer to is your history too.

Unless of course, you are native american... :)

Regarding the teaching of religion in schools - we have been faced with this same situation for the last hundred years, long before it became an issue in America. The animosity between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland is widely known, yet we still manage to live together and go to the same schools. The outright banning of religion from american schools for me is the equivalent of a dentist fixing a tooth with a hammer and chisel. Sure, it will solve the problem, but the end results aren't so pretty, and it is excessive to an extreme.

Why is it not possible to hold religion classes, giving the student a choice whether he or she should attend?? Thats what happens here. The parents can then choose whether their child receives religious education or not. Schools worldwide cater for different sciences (Physics, chemistry, biology) so why can't the same be done for different religions? Using the same logic should christians be banned from biology class because they don't believe in evolution???

lol
who's up for some peyote (or however the **** you spell it)

Exactly. And to assume that the actions of certain overzealous power hungry school administrators reflects the views held by the majority of Americans is equally as asburd.

Not to fan any flames, but we did leave Europe for a reason ;)

The situation in the Americas is much more complex than a simple dichotomy between one root religion. I admit, there is a growing number of asian/african immigrants in Ireland, but the percentage of such ethnic immigrants in the North American continent is magnitudes more. To expect to cater to every single religion represented in America is irrational at best, and impossible at worst (I am not promoting moral relativism in anyway, but I think I should defend the American way in the manner that any good American would do).

Not to fan any flames either, but the vast majority of your descendants left for their own gain. The first European settlers were primarily after the wealth that the americas could provide, and wiped out many of the indigineous people in the process. Following that there was the land race - free land for anybody who cared to travel - wiped out many native americans in the process. The californian gold rush - monetary gain.

The majority of the Irish emigrants left simply because we were starved out of our own country - we weren't given much of a choice.

I thik we should all just be one big happy family :)

Yes, we should. Group hug!

liberalism and political correctness has swamped america recently
i'm so glad i went through a conservative private school, such a huge contrast from what's being forced down the throats of children today.

dunno why americans are bashed so much from what they did to native americans, don't see it much different then what englishmen did to indians ("dots not feathers") and their policy which starved millions in a one sided trade agreement.
not to mention what those "innocent" natives did to each other for hundreds of years before europeans arrived in the americas.

this is often the liberal attack platform, bash america for mistakes it made over 160 years ago; then try to make us the bad guy and show it's our past actions that cause our current trials and that we deserve to have our skyscrapers flattened.

It is precisely that sort of right wing crap that we are trying to remove from society.

And why is that? Because it makes you uncomfortable?

Bullshit.
Europeans and then, later, Americans, fucked over the native Americans good and proper. And are quite rightly castigated for it. Just as the British Empire fucked over India, most of Africa, Ireland, and lots of other places coloured pink on maps. Just as one small tribe fucked over the neighbouring small tribe a thousand years ago. Just because lots of people did it in the past doesn't mean it is justified, ever. America is a great place, embodying many ideals we should all aspire to, but the self indulgent juvenile whining of bigoted pricks who have no conception of how privileged they are, and who are only just now realising that the world isn't set up to service them and are now bitterly complaining about that fact, does not help anybody in these trying times. No offence.

"Social Darwinism" on the grandest scale, I say...

Why the holy hell would academic classics such as Lord Of The Flies and Catcher In The Rye be banned?!

Not banned- more like prevented from being aquired by the school library or used as curriculum material