by Heather Kushnerick, Special Collections Librarian & College Archivist
Banned Books Week is an annual
event celebrating the freedom to read. It brings together the entire book
community - librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and
readers of all types - in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express
ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.
Every year hundreds of requests are
made to remove books from library shelves because the content is considered
objectionable. Over the years, the list
of challenged or banned books has
included titles such as Mark Twain’s The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer; Carrie, by
Stephen King; Judy Blume’s Are you there God? It’s Me, Margaret; The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by
Douglas Adams; How to Eat Fried Worms
by Thomas Rockwell; Winnie the Pooh
by A.A. Milne, and Little Red Riding Hood.
Objections to books are typically
made because someone judges the content inappropriate on social, political or
religious grounds, or because it is sexually explicit. The American Library
Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom compiles a list every year of
the top 10 most frequently challenged books.
They have also compiled lists of the top 100 most
frequently challenged and banned books for the decades of the 1990s and the
2000s. Number 69 on the list for the
2000s is Fahrenheit 451 by Ray
Bradbury, a book that is itself about censorship and the banning and burning of
books. Originally published in 1953, the
publisher, Ballentine Books, marketed two different versions of the book – the
“adult” (i.e. original) version and an expurgated version that was sent to
schools. In 1973 it stopped selling the adult
version, but continued to publish the edited version in which over 75 passages
were changed; offensive words such as ‘hell,’ ‘damn,’ and ‘abortion’ had been
removed. The publisher withdrew the
edited version in 1980 after Bradbury discovered what they had done (Sova, Dawn
B. Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on
Social Grounds. New York:
Facts on File, 2006).
One of the most censored books in
America is Slaughterhouse-Five by
Kurt Vonnegut, and the list of reasons is quite long: obscenity, vulgar
language, violence, inappropriateness, ungodliness, immoral subject matter,
cruelty, and an unpatriotic portrayal of war.
It has been the subject of several lawsuits as well: in Michigan, Todd v. Rochester Community Schools
(1972), circuit Judge Arthur C. Moore told a high school to ban the book for
violating separation of church and state.
The Michigan Appellate court overturned this decision. It was one of the books mentioned in Pico v. Board of Education, the first
school censorship case to make it to the Supreme Court. The court ruled that “[l]ocal school boards may not remove books from school library shelves
simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books …” (Board of
Education v. Pico, 457
U.S. 853 (1982))
There are many court cases
surrounding the right to read; one of the more recent ones is from 2003, Counts v. Cedarville School District
(295 F. Supp. 2d 996). The suit was
filed in reaction to the school district requiring students to obtain written
permission from their parents in order to have access to the Harry Potter
books. The Court overturned the board’s
decision. In 2000, the court ruled in Sund v. City of Wichita Falls, Texas
(121 F. Supp. 2d 530) that a city resolution to remove Heather has Two Mommies and Daddy’s
Roommate from the children’s section of the library was discriminatory.
Of the 416 books that were challenged or banned in 2017, the
top 10 most challenged are:
- Thirteen Reasons Why written by Jay Asher
Originally published in 2007, this New York Times bestseller has
resurfaced as a controversial book after Netflix aired a TV series by the
same name. This YA novel was challenged and banned in multiple school
districts because it discusses suicide.
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian written by Sherman Alexie
Consistently challenged since its publication in 2007 for acknowledging
issues such as poverty, alcoholism, and sexuality, this National Book
Award winner was challenged in school curriculums because of profanity and situations that were
deemed sexually explicit.
- Drama written and
illustrated by Raina Telgemeier
This Stonewall Honor Award-winning, 2012 graphic novel from an acclaimed
cartoonist was challenged and banned in school libraries because it includes LGBT characters and was considered “confusing.”
- The Kite Runner written by Khaled
Hosseini
This critically acclaimed, multigenerational novel was challenged and
banned because it includes sexual violence and was thought to “lead to terrorism” and “promote Islam.”
- George written by Alex Gino
Written for elementary-age children, this Lambda Literary Award winner was
challenged and banned because it includes a transgender
child.
- Sex is a Funny Word written by Cory
Silverberg and illustrated by Fiona Smyth
This 2015 informational children’s book written by a certified sex
educator was challenged because it addresses sex education and is believed to lead children to “want to have sex or ask
questions about sex.”
- To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper
Lee
This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, considered an American classic, was
challenged and banned because of violence and its use of the N-word.
- The Hate U Give written by Angie
Thomas
Despite winning multiple awards and being the most searched-for book on
Goodreads during its debut year, this YA novel was challenged and banned
in school libraries and curriculums because it was considered “pervasively vulgar” and because
of drug use, profanity,
and offensive language.*This
book was removed from all school libraries in Katy ISD until a 15 year old
student collection 3,700 signatures on a petition, spoke at a school board
meeting, and started a book club about the YA novel*
- And Tango Makes Three written by Peter
Parnell and Justin Richardson and illustrated by Henry Cole
Returning after a brief hiatus from the Top Ten Most Challenged list, this
ALA Notable Children’s Book, published in 2005, was challenged and labeled
because it features a same-sex relationship.
- I Am Jazz written by Jessica
Herthel and Jazz Jennings and illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas
This autobiographical picture book co-written by the 13-year-old
protagonist was challenged because it addresses gender identity.
Click
here
for more information on Banned Books Week.
