Banned Books

Sorry about not posting the last couple of days, but I have been rather busy. Today's post is regarding some of the books in school libraries that have been banned or challenged by parents. We all know that kids can be stupid, but parents of kids can be downright idiotic. Sometimes this fat-headedness manifests itself in the form of parents trying to censor the books that appear in the library of their child's school. I have not read every one of the books on the following list so I cannot comment directly, but here are some of the more seemingly outrageous instances of censorship gone wild that I have found.

The format for the list is as follows: Author's name. Book's title. Reason for challenge/ban of book. [My comments]

1. Briggs, Raymond. Father Christmas. Santa Clause was misrepresented.
2. Browne, Anthony. Piggybook. Language "too British."
3. Dahl, Roald. James and the Giant Peach. Undermines adult authority.
4. Grahame, Kenneth. Reluctant Dragon. An attack on home, the family, and adults. [Incidentally, the premise for this story is that a friendly dragon is the subject of a town's prejudice. A boy from the town shows everyone that the dragon is friendly and there is no reason to fear him. The town's people welcome the dragon. That's it.]
5. Handford, Martin. Where's Waldo? A woman's bare breasts are visible on one of the pages. [Any of you who have tried to find Waldo before will understand how absurd this sounds. Then again, how will the parents ever be able to explain to their son that women have breasts?]
6. Heine, Helme. Ten Naughty Little Mice. The mice are "eliminated" in a way that is too violent.
7. Hodges, Margaret. St. George and the Dragon. Makes women look silly. [Perhaps there's a good reason?]
8. Joyce, William. A Day with Wilbur Robinson. The pictures are weird.
9. Lewis, C.S. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Anti-Christian.
10. McCloskey, Robert. Blueberries for Sal. Makes children underestimate the danger of bears.
11. Munsch, Robert. Pigs. Uses the word "pee."
12. Munsch, Robert. Thomas's Snowsuit. Undermines the authority of school principals in general.
13. Pare, Roger. Annick ABC. The word "nudist" is used.
14. Steinbeck, John. Grapes of Wrath. Depressing.
15. Stevenson, R.L. Treasure Island. Portrayal of Long John Silver is demeaning to the disabled.
16. Weis, Lyle. No Problem We'll Fix It. Against two-parent families. [The book depicts a functional, single-parent family.]
    
17. Williams, Garth. The Rabbit's Wedding. Unsuitable to show marriages between blacks and whites in a "kid's book". [The book is about the marriage of two rabbits. One rabbit is white and the other is black. The book is illustrated in black and white.]

Well, there you have it. I hope you had a good laugh. If you have heard of other cases of censorship equally as laughable then feel free to leave a comment.