Banned Books Week September 21-21, 2014

5 Books I can’t believe are on the Top 100 Banned Books List

Hey guys! Since once again my #FridayReads is exactly the same as it has been for the last couple of weeks ( #FridayReads- Sept 12, 2014 – Game: The Sequel to “I Hunt Killers” by Barry Lyga ) I thought it would be fun to do a little something different for this weekend.

So for this week, lets talk about BANNED BOOKS WEEK!

Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than 11,300 books have been challenged since 1982 according to the American Library Association.

These are books that for one reason or the other, people thought weren’t fit to be available to the public. There are several places to find the official list for various decades, but what I found to be the most current and easiest to navigate was over at the ALA website (American Library Association).  This is their Yearly Lists of Challenged and/or Banned Books, and they even provide a PDF Download ( Books Challenged and/or Banned – 2013-2014 (PDF) ).  I looked through the List of 100 most frequently challenged books 2000-09 and it is so weird to see some of these books on the list.  I mean, some of them you can understand how someone might get a little bent out of shape over them or not want their children to read them. But some of them… I’m just like WHAT?! Let me show you a few, that way you will understand what I’m talking about.

So here are FIVE BOOKS I can’t believe are on the banned books list!

In no particular order:

Harry Potter Paperback Box Set (Books 1-7) by J. K. Rowling

Release Date: 2009-07-01

Now for the first time ever, J.K. Rowling’s seven bestselling Harry Potter books are available in a stunning paperback boxed set! The Harry Potter series has been hailed as “one for the ages” by Stephen King and “a spellbinding saga’ by USA Today. And most recently, The New York Times called Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows the “fastest selling book in history.” This is the ultimate Harry Potter collection for Harry Potter fans of all ages!

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Our friend Harry here is one of the most frequently challenged book series because some feel the series presents dangerous ideas that are bad for readers.  The Potter books have been banned because: they promote witchcraft; they set bad examples; and they’re too dark.

Read more: Harry Potter Banned? | Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/spot/banned-harry.html#ixzz3ERANfUmx

I remember when these books started coming out here in Ky.  The little ole church ladies here being all up in arms over them, demanding them to be pulled from the school library for being against Christianity.

My son really wanted to read them, so I bought the first one and read it. I was so surprised about the uproar over these books, because they were NOTHING like I expected them to be. I was fine with them, no Satanism in them far as I could see. So, I bought them. All.

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Release Date: 1993-06-01

Discovered in the attic in which she spent the last years of her life, Anne Frank’s remarkable diary has since become a world classic—a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit. In 1942, with Nazis occupying Holland, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family fled their home in Amsterdam and went into hiding. For the next two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed to the Gestapo, they and another family lived cloistered in the “Secret Annex” of an old office building. Cut off from the outside world, they faced hunger, boredom, the constant cruelties of living in confined quarters, and the ever-present threat of discovery and death. In her diary Anne Frank recorded vivid impressions of her experiences during this period. By turns thoughtful, moving, and amusing, her account offers a fascinating commentary on human courage and frailty and a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman whose promise was tragically cut short.

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Challenged because of anatomical descriptions in the book.

Really? You think they don’t SEE that on TV or the internet on a DAILY basis?  The things this child went through, and you want to remove her story from shelves because it mentions sex organs?!  You can’t hide history from our children and expect them to have any kind of appreciation for the world they live in or the others around them.

Neverwhere: A Novel by Neil Gaiman

Release Date: 2003-09-02

Richard Mayhew is a young man with a good heart and an ordinary life, which is changed forever when he stops to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk. His small act of kindness propels him into a world he never dreamed existed. There are people who fall through the cracks, and Richard has become one of them. And he must learn to survive in this city of shadows and darkness, monsters and saints, murderers and angels, if he is ever to return to the London that he knew.”A fantastic story that is both the stuff of dreams and nightmares” (San Diego Union-Tribune), Neil Gaiman’s first solo novel has become a touchstone of urban fantasy, and a perennial favorite of readers everywhere.

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Temporarily removed  because of  “inappropriate content.”

Son (Giver Quartet) by Lois Lowry

Release Date: 2014-05-28

They called her Water Claire. When she washed up on their shore, no one knew that she came from a society where emotions and colors didn’t exist. That she had become a Vessel at age thirteen. That she had carried a Product at age fourteen. That it had been stolen from her body. Claire had a son. But what became of him she never knew. What was his name? Was he even alive? She was supposed to forget him, but that was impossible. Now Claire will stop at nothing to find her child, even if it means making an unimaginable sacrifice. Son thrusts readers once again into the chilling world of the Newbery Medal winning book, The Giver,　as well as Gathering Blue and Messenger where a new hero emerges. In this thrilling series finale, the startling and long-awaited conclusion to Lois Lowry’s epic tale culminates in a final clash between good and evil.

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Challenged for themes of murder, suicide, and “the degradation of motherhood and adolescence.”

The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby by George Beard

Release Date: 2002-03-01

The first epic novel by George and Harold, the co-stars of Dav Pilkey’s mega-bestselling Captain Underpants series. Now with super-cool foil covers! Shiny! Fun!Oh, no! It’s not enough that George and Harold have invented Captain Underpants, the greatest superhero of all time, and that they’ve also saved the world FIVE times! They defeated Dr. Diaper! They punished Professor Poopypants! And they whacked the wicked Wedgie Woman! What task could be worse?!!? This one: As punishment, the boys have to write a 100-page report on “good citizenship,” and they have been specifically ordered NOT to write another comic about Captain Underpants. So what do they do? Aha! Meet Super Diaper Baby–the most powerful peewee to pack a punch. With Pilkey’s typical over-the-edge humor, Super Diaper Baby will have kids laughing until soda comes out their noses.

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Banned in Texas because it contained the phrase “poo poo head.”
*smh*

 There you have it.  5 Books I can’t believe are on the Top 100 Banned Books List. I swear I could’ve listed out 50 of them. It is easy to, when you actually read the reasoning behind the “Challenges”.

Do you own any banned books?  Have you read any?  Comment down below, and tell me which of the banned books you think EVERY PERSON should read!

*Just as a side note – I absolutely LOVE the TOP TEN TUESDAY blogs, hosted by the Broke and Bookish. LOVE THEM.  But for me – TEN things is a lot, and I almost always already have a post lined up on Tuesdays!  I also love the FRIDAY FAVORITES videos my favorite Beauty Gurus do over on Youtube! (Friday Favorites and Fudgeroos is probably my fav!)  Anyway, I thought I would kind of fun to combine the two memes, and post a random Favorite or Five on the weeks when my #FridayReads is the same as the week before!  Not trying to rip off anyone’s meme idea, just trying to incorporate them into my blog in a such a way that works for me. So…