Banned Books Week ~ reasons for banning

How many of these banned characters can you name?

Cross-posted on my Banned Books blog.

Day Two ~ banned classics

According to the Office for Intellectual Freedom, at least 46 of the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century have been the target of ban attempts.  For more information about this list, read this ALA post.

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
11. Lolita, by Vladmir Nabokov
12. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
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
23. Their Eyes Were 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
33. The Call of the Wild, by Jack London
36. Go Tell it on the Mountain, by James Baldwin
38. All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren
40. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
45. The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
48. Lady Chatterley's Lover, by D.H. Lawrence
49. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
50. The Awakening, by Kate Chopin
53. In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
55. The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie
57. Sophie's Choice, by William Styron
64. Sons and Lovers, by D.H. Lawrence
66. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
67. A Separate Peace, by John Knowles
73. Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs
74. Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh
75. Women in Love, by D.H. Lawrence
80. The Naked and the Dead, by Norman Mailer
84. Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller
88. An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser
97. Rabbit, Run, by John Updike

Cross-posted on my Banned Books blog.

Banned Books Week ~ Sept 27 to Oct 3

It's Banned Books Week, so what are you reading?
Cross-posted on my Banned Books blog.

TWOsday ~ banned books week

Thanks, Bookfool, for reminding me it's Banned Books Week.  Here are TWO books that have been banned that I really enjoyed reading.  Click on the titles to see what I've said about these books in other years.

Little Black Sambo ~ by Helen Bannerman, 1899

Banned in Japan (1988–2005) to quell "political

threats to boycott Japanese cultural exports."

The Lorax ~ by Dr. Seuss (Theodor Suess Geisel), 1971

Banned in the Laytonville, California School District on

the grounds that this book "criminalizes the forestry industry."

A Day No Pigs Would Die ~ BBW #5

Review #5 for Banned Books Week (BBW)

A Day No Pigs Would Die ~ by Robert Newton Peck, 1972, YA fiction (Vermont)

I've had a hard time trying to decide how to tell you about this book.  It's been challenged and banned because of its graphic violence and sexual content.  It has both.  It starts with the boy, Robert, nearly getting killed saving a calf when the cow had trouble giving birth.  The novel has a scene where a boar is thrown in with a pig who hasn't gone into heat and basically rapes the pig who is screaming the whole time.  And there's one heartbreaking day when the pig raised by a 12-year-old boy must be slaughtered to provide food for the family.  The boy, who "becomes a man" that day, had already learned how getting his chores done felt good, and he is aware of the beauty of the world around him.  There was a lot of violence, but it depicted what life was like on a Shaker farm.

One complaint given by those who challenge this book is that the novel condones animal cruelty.  And this is the scene that bothered me the most.  The boy's father, Haven, invites his neighbor to let his dog learn weasel-killing skills on a weasel Haven has captured in the chicken coop.  The two animals are thrown in together.  When it's over, the weasel is dead, but the dog is so badly injured that she must be put to sleep.  However, the father realizes he can't ever let that happen again, no matter how many chickens he loses.  Nobody enjoyed what happened, and it wasn't done out of callousness.  The father is trying to teach his son about "doing what's got to be done."

"I swear," Papa said.  "I swear by the Book of Shaker and all that's holy.  I will never again weasel a dog.  Even if  I lose every chicken I own."

His father told Robert he would not live much longer, and the boy would have to be a man at thirteen.  We see how tender-hearted Robert is by what he does afterwards.

"I sat watching the red cinders turn gray.  I stayed there until the fire died.  So it would not have to die alone."

Haven, the father, was a butcher.  He's the one who had to slaughter his son's pig.  That's the most memorable scene in the book -- and the one shown on the cover above.  The boy/young man said,

"Oh, Papa.  My heart's broke."
"So is mine" said Papa.

And the son forgave what his father had to do.  Robert was given the piglet, named it Pinky, raised it, fattened it up, and won a prize showing her.  The pig was barren, and the family didn't have enough meat for the winter or enough feed to keep the pig as a pet.  Slaughtering it was necessary.  The son knew...

"He did it. Because he had to. Hated to and had to. And he knew he’d never have to say to me that he was sorry."

When Haven the butcher died, his co-workers came to his funeral, making that "a day no pigs would die."  Because of Haven’s death, the pigs would live an additional day.

I rate this book 8 of 10, a very good book.

Also posted on my Banned Books blog.

A banned cat named Cher ~ Caturday

Cat named Cher

I've been reading about banned books this week, and it appears to me that cat books don't get banned -- unless you count that book about a Cat named Cher in the Rye.  I can't imagine why Cat Cher is in the Rye, but each cat to her own, I guess.

And why is there a carousel horse on the cover, if it's about a cat?










Kiki Cat, just wondering

Beginning ~ with an essay (BBW #4)

Review #4 for Banned Books Week (BBW)

The Face on the Milk Carton ~ by Caroline B. Cooney, 1990, YA fiction (Connecticut), 9/10

Summary:  A photograph of a missing girl on a milk carton leads 15-year-old Janie to think she was kidnapped a decade ago.  So she goes on a search for her real identity.

"Janie finished her essay.  She never knew what grade she would get in Mr. Brylowe's English class.  Whenever she joked, he wanted the essay serious.  Whenever she was serious, he had intended the essay to be light-hearted."

I was curious enough to keep reading after those opening lines, but more because of the mystery of that face on a milk carton.  Writing an essay?  That's what I do when I review a book.  On the other hand, when I was her age, I also had to learn about writing and (as I read on the next page or so) thought about names.  She thinks "Jane" is too plain, so she considers "Jayne."  I, on the other hand, was the only Bonnie I knew, besides the aunt I was named for, so I longed for a more usual kind of name.  I guess all kids feel weird about something.

I kept reading this book, but I wasn't imagining how it would feel if I'd been taken from my mom and dad, as I think most teens would, but as the mom wondering where her daughter was.  For example, this section really got to me.  All I could think was that her mother had missed all of these life events.

"Janie climbed the stairs to her room, passing by the ascending wall of photographs.  Her parents disliked albums: they immortalized Janie on the stairs.  Janie at the beach, on skis, in a Scout uniform, in her first dancing dress.  Janie on their trip to the Grand Canyon.  Janie in gymnastics.  Janie at the Middle School Awards Ceremony.  Janie on the runway for the fashion show the hospital sponsored as a benefit" (p. 26).

Why was this book banned?  I can't imagine, since there's nothing in it that seems objectionable.  Janie and a boy had an opportunity for sex, but didn't.  Yet in 2002-2003, it was challenged in Texas Public Schools for "sexual content and challenge to authority."  Ignore them and read the book, which kept me turning the pages.  When I learned there are three more books in the series, I got online tonight and put them on hold at my library so I can read.....

Whatever happened to Janie? (1993)
The Voice on the Radio (1996)
What Janie Found (2000)

I rate this one 9 of 10, an excellent book.  Also posted on my Banned Books blog.

  If you want to play along, this meme is hosted by Katy at A Few More Pages. Share the first sentence or two of the book you are reading. (Sometimes it takes several sentences to get the full thought.) Then, share your impressions of that beginning.  Click this link to see what others say about the books they are reading this week.

More reviews from the Banned Books blog

Natalie's review:  What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonja Sones

 Bookfool's review:  The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

Bonnie's review:  Falling Up by Shel Silverstein

 Bookfool's review:  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's [Philosopher's] Stone by J. K. Rowling

Bonnie's review:  Epaminondas and His Auntie by Sara Cone Bryant

Natalie's review:  Lush by Natasha Friend (a second review)

Bookfool's review:  Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

List of books reviewed earlier in the week on the Banned Books blog.

Epaminondas and His Auntie ~ BBW #3

Review #3 for Banned Books Week (BBW)

Epaminondas and His Auntie ~ by Sara Cone Bryant, 1907, children's, 10/10

A child can feel good about knowing (or understanding) something when the child in the story just doesn't get it.  Every time Auntie gives Epaminondas something to take home, he messes up.  The cake she sent with him arrives in crumbs, and Mammy tells him he should have brought it home under his cap.  Next time, it's butter and it's a hot day, but Epaminondas remembers and puts it under his cap.  See the buttery yellow cover?  That's butter melting all down his face and neck.  Mammy says he should have dipped the butter in the water to cool it, but the next thing he brings home from Auntie's is a puppy-dog, almost drowned (more than "almost" in the original).  Should have tied a string around its neck and come along home, says Mammy.  So imagine the loaf of bread he brings next.  Mammy gives up and says to him,

"O Epaminondas, Epaminondas, you ain't got the sense you was born with; you never did have the sense you was born with, you never will have the sense you was born with!  Now I ain't gwine tell you any more ways to bring truck home."

Should the language be changed to make the mother sound more educated?  No, of course not.  The language is colorful, and changing it makes the book lose its appeal, in my opinion, though many have tried.  "You ain't got the sense you was born with" sounds more like something his mama would say than "You don't have the sense you were born with."  This is especially true at the end of the book where the instructions to Epaminondas must be phrased in a way that leaves the kind of ambiguity that "allows" him to step on the six mince pies left to cool off while Mammy goes to visit Auntie herself.  I wasn't happy with the original version, back in my childhood days:

"Well, now, you hear me, Epaminondas, you be careful how you step on those pies."

I never, ever thought that sounded like anything an adult would say to me. It was that word "how" that didn't work for me. And this is "how" Epaminondas did it:

This book has been rewritten many times, including this version where, to eliminate the charge of racism, the main character becomes a possum.

Epossumondas ~ by Coleen Salley, 2002, children's, 7/10

This is a retelling of the Epanimondas story. That same section of the book goes like this:

"Ooooooh!  Epossumondas!   Epossumondas!  You DON'T have the sense you were born with!  You never DID have the sense you were born with!  You never WILL have the sense you were born with!  Now I'm not telling you any more ways of bringing truck home..."

That word "truck" in the mouth of a modern woman talking to a diapered possum just "ain't" right. But the 21st-century author did phrase the final instructions in a way that's more logical to our ears:

"Well, Epossumondas, you be careful about stepping on those pies!"

Yes, we realize immediately what going to happen, even with these bland words.  Being careful "about stepping on those pies" works better for me than being careful "how you step on those pies."  But still, this one doesn't grab me like the original, which has more character.  I don't relate to the silly little possum, but I could imagine myself responding to instructions from my own mother, just as the little boy Epaminondas did.

The boy's struggles to do the right thing endeared him to me, in a way holding an opposum does not.  When I was a child, I thought like a child.  Would I have misunderstood the way Epaminondas did?  No! ... so I could feel good about myself.  Would I have known what my mother meant?  Yes! ... so I could feel good that I was a big girl who could understand instructions.  I wouldn't have related to a possum wearing a diaper.  No, I was too big for that.

Back to Epaminondas and His Auntie:

According to Intellectual Freedom in Libraries: Then and Now, access to library materials was restricted in response to an objection by the San Jose, California branch of the NAACP claiming that this book depicts a black child as “completely idiotic and stupid.”

Epaminondas isn't stupid.  He isn't an idiot.  He's a little boy trying very hard to get it right.  It's the adults who aren't thinking clearly.  His Auntie could have been more specific, if only she had known how badly the poor guy was struggling to do the right thing ... just as I did, when I was a child.  He was doing exactly as he was told, poor fellow.

Best comment I found online was written by Jan Zehr in 2003.

I credit "Epaminondas and His Auntie" with my ability to think critically. I am an entrepreneur have employed many people. The single, biggest problem in today's work force is the lack of ability to think critically. When given an instruction, if it is remembered(!), that instruction is construed to mean applicable in EVERY instance. Epaminondas is the condition of too many people today.

One example, true story, comes to mind of an airplane crash, the accident site was flooded with jet fuel and one of the survivors, on fire, was told to roll on the ground. Yes, that is the normal survival routine that we are all taught....it just doesn't apply if the ground is flooded with jet fuel!  Life is flooded with jet fuel. We have think beyond the instructions we've been given. We have to analyze the conditions and THEN think of the solution.

I compare "Epaminondas and His Auntie" with Aesops Fables. I do NOT think that because a character is black it is bad. Does everyone need to be white? Let's rewrite "Epaminondas" in every color and every language. It was a definitive book in my childhood.  Jan Zehr

Yes! Thanks, Jan, I love it!

I still love the book, having re-read it for the ten millionth time before writing this post.  I rate it 10 of 10, because I still can't put it down.

Also posted on my Banned Books blog.

Falling Up ~ BBW #2

Review #2 for Banned Books Week (BBW)

Falling Up: Poems and Drawings ~ by Shel Silverstein, 1996, children's, 8/10

A good part of the humor of Shel Silverstein's poetry is the play on words, often by one who is taking something literally.  Here's an example from page 75:

They Say I Have

They say I have my father's nose,
My grandpa's eyes,
My mother's hair.
Could it be that my behind's
The only thing that's really mine?

The drawing that accompanies this poem shows a child with arm outstretched to three relatives:  dad without a nose, mom without hair, and poor ole grandpa without any eyes.  We must study the child to imagine THOSE eyes for grandpa, THAT curly hair for his (her?) mother, and an appropriately adult-sized nose for like THAT for dear ole dad.

I can relate to this poem, because I remember a time when I was a very small child that I was quite perturbed when my mother said, "Keep an eye on your baby brother."  I was so perturbed and so anxious that, to this day, I can vividly recall the feelings I felt.  I wrote a post about it for my Words from a Wordsmith blog, with the words I threw back at my mother that day, "How can I keep an eye on him?  Do I take out my eye and put it on him?"

Some of the humor of these poems comes from their evocation of the questions most children ponder.  Did you ever wonder about God?  The kid on page 78 did:

Description

George said, "God is short and fat."
Nick said, "No, He's tall and lean."
Len said, "With a long white beard."
"No," said John, "He's shaven clean."
Will said, "He's black," Bob said, "He's white."
Rhonda Rose said, "He's a She."
I smiled but never showed 'em all
The autographed photograph God sent to me.

Ah, the last line throws us for a loop!  It's so unexpected.  Well, it was for me, anyway, 'cause God never sent me a photograph, autographed or otherwise.  I liked the poem about God in yesterday's book, too, but didn't find a way to fit it into the review.

Here it is, from page 152 of A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein:

God's Wheel

God says to me with kind of a smile,
"Hey how would you like to be God awhile
And steer the world?"
"Okay," says I, "I'll give it a try.
Where do I set?
How much do I get?
What time is lunch?
When can I quit?"
"Gimme back that wheel," says God,
"I don't think you're quite ready yet."

The wheel sticks up above one of the world's oceans, and that tiny boy would have a hard time turning it.  Have I learned anything about Shel's theology?  Nah, don't think so.

If you would like to hear a poem or three animated and spoken by the author/artist, click here.  After the intro, click on "Shel's Books."  Then click on "Falling Up" to watch an animation from page 77: "The Toy Eater."

Falling Up is fun, and funny, and playful, and I rate it 8 of 10, a very good book.

Also posted on my Banned Books blog.

Saturday's reviews on the Banned Books Blog

Helen's Review:  Ironman by Chris Crutcher

Paul's Review: Lush by Natasha Friend

Sheila's Review: Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Bonnie's review: A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein

 Sheila's Review: Night by Elie Wiesel

A Light in the Attic ~ BBW #1

Review #1 for Banned Books Week (BBW)

A Light in the Attic: Poems and Drawings ~ by Shel Silverstein, 1981, children's, 8/10

Why was this book banned?  Because it allegedly "promotes disrespect, horror, and violence."  Oh, my!  What about hilarious nonsense, made-up-words, and giggles?  It has also been banned because of "suggestive illustrations."  One library also claimed that the book "glorified Satan, suicide and cannibalism, and also encouraged children to be disobedient."  Oh, come on!  I think we need to give children more credit. They are smarter than some parents apparently think.  Okay, on to the book.

I love playing with words, as in this one from page 110:

Bored

I can't afford
A skateboard.
I can't afford
An outboard.
I can't afford
A surfboard.
All I can afford
Is a board.

The drawing shows a child with a board across his shoulder that spreads across both pages.

The best way for me to praise this book is by quoting from it, words and drawings.  I'll "quote" this drawing from pages 140-141, because it's one I could find online:

click to enlarge

The poem on page 22 made me think it could have been his life's philosophy:

Put Something In

Draw a crazy picture,
Write a nutty poem,
Sing a mumble-gumble song,
Whistle through your comb.
Do a loony-goony dance
'Cross the kitchen floor,
Put something silly in the world
That ain't been there before.

Thank you, Shel Silverstein, for putting some silliness into this world that wasn't been there before.

If you would like to hear a poem or three animated and spoken by the author/artist, click here.  After the intro, click on "Shel's Books."  Then click on "A Light in the Attic," and choose one of the three (or all three) poems, read by their creator.  "Eight Balloons" is my favorite.

In a sign drawn on a flower, Shel dedicated this book to his daughter Shanna — Shoshanna means "lily" or "rose" in Hebrew — who turned eleven the year it was published. She died the following year, not yet twelve.

I rate this book 8 of 10, a very good book.

Also posted on my Banned Books blog.

Banned Book Week ~ Sept 24 to Oct. 1

Check my Banned Books blog for reviews of some books that have been banned or challenged over the years.  If you want to join us and post a book review there, send an email to me at emerging DOT paradigm AT yahoo DOT com.  You'll also find links to lists of banned books — see the sidebar.  See if you can find one to read during Banned Book Week.

Jumping on the "banned wagon"

First edition cover

Mark Twain once said of his detractors: "Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it."

Twain knew about censorship.  His Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the most challenged and banned books ever.  Most object to the language, though the original detractors weren't bothered by the racial slur that people today find offensive.

Banned Books Week, sponsored annually by the American Library Association since 1982, starts today.  The title for this post comes from Sheila, who used it on her Book Journey blog this morning.

On the eve of Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week starts tomorrow. Click here for a list of books I suggest for this week's reading.  Or check out my Banned Books blog, where we've have 242 visitors today.  Have you read any books that were ever challenged or banned somewhere in the world?

Speak ~ by Laurie Halse Anderson ~ is NOT pornography

Laurie Halse Anderson wrote on her blog:  This guy thinks SPEAK is pornography.  It caused a ruckus!  Today, Laurie posted The Power of Speaking Loudly.  Here's where I reviewed Speak.  Why don't you "speak up" during Banned Books Week, starting this Saturday?

Banned Book Week is Sept 25 - Oct 2

September 25−October 2, 2010

Why don't you line up a good book to read next week?
Here are some I recommend:

And Tango Makes Three
The Color Purple
Doctor Zhivago
East of Eden
Flowers for Algernon
Freedom Writers Diary
The Giver
The Good Earth
The Grapes of Wrath
The Higher Power of Lucky
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
The Kite Runner
Little Black Sambo
The Lorax
Of Mice and Men
On My Honor
A Prayer for Owen Meany
Speak
To Kill a Mockingbird
A Wrinkle in Time

Wintergirls ~ a teaser

I love the way Laurie Halse Anderson puts words together, so I am delighted to share these teasers from Wintergirls (2009).

"When school started, she looked right through me in the halls, her new friends draped around her neck like Mardi Gras necklaces.  She wiped me off the face of her existence" (p. 11).

"Cassie's at the morgue, I guess.  Last night she slept there in a silver drawer, eyes getting used to the dark" (p. 15).

Let's censor the censors

I promised an article about Laurie Halse Anderson after hearing her at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga last night. She recounted wonderful stories about her books and her writing life. The two she discussed in most detail were Speak, which I have already reviewed, and Fever 1793, which I bought and got signed after her presentation (review to come).

She mentioned that her YA novel Speak had been challenged, so I went looking for information and found this in her February 4th post:

What a way to start the month. First, John Green's Looking for Alaska is under fire for being "pornographic."

And now, some parents are going after Speak. The teacher involved has asked me not to name the school because she wants the process and policies of the district to unfold away from the glare of any spotlights. I respect that. I am allowed to say that it's a middle school in suburban Detroit. For the record, this has also happened in New Hampshire, Florida, Ohio, Washington, New York, Maine, and California. (As a result of the challenges, the book was embraced, not banned. Which does make an author feel good and a teacher feel even better.)

I sent her a note with teen sexual assault statistics and shared the feedback I've had from readers and their parents, who are grateful for a story that allows them to broach a difficult subject.

This teacher could use some professional support. If you teach Speak, can you please leave a note in the comments section for her? Tell her why you use the book. Tell her about your classroom experiences and your professional opinion about the place of the book in the curriculum. Or just give her a pat on the back. If you are a teen, tell her what the book meant to you.

Thank you very much and spread the word.

Note to Laurie Halse Anderson: I'm spreading the word just as far as I can shout it, not only here, but also on my Banned Books project blog.

100 notable books of 2007

The New York Times has released its 100 Notable Books of the Year, which will appear in the print edition of the Book Review on December 2. How many of them have you read?

There's an Edith Wharton biography on the list that may be even more interesting if you also read the article Wharton Letter Reopens a Mystery by Charles McGrath. It's about a letter written by Wharton that was found in a copy of The House of Mirth. Want to know what the mystery is all about? Well, for that you'd better read the article.