There have been books banned in the US for quite some time. In fact, here is a link to a post I wrote ten years ago and that was the 30th anniversary of Banned Books Week. That was the year I got my book clubbers to celebrate it.
https://suebursztynski.blogspot.com/2012/09/banned-books-week-2012-september-30-to.html
This year there are quite a few bans in the school system in Florida, where there were even bans of some mathematics textbooks!
Here are some of the Florida school book bans I found on Twitter.
I have heard of nearly all of these books and have read eleven(17 if you count the Harry Potter series as seven books, which it is). I have taught several of those.
You might notice that the books are generally classics and have been on school text lists.
I have read The Handmaid’s Tale, The Catcher In The Rye, Of Mice And Men, Huckleberry Finn, To Kill A Mockingbird, Harry Potter 1 to 7, The Hate U Give, The Grapes Of Wrath, The Lord Of The Flies, 1984 and The Lord Of The Rings. I studied The Catcher In The Rye and taught Of Mice And Men and The Grapes Of Wrath.
The Handmaid’s Tale has been much talked about recently and the red Handmaid’s costume worn in protests, and has been considered especially important with the overturn of Roe Vs Wade.
The Catcher In The Rye, which I studied in both Year 11 and 12 at school, has been considered the first YA novel. Kids used to read it in bed, using a flashlight. These days, admittedly, the fact that it is taught at school has meant that kids don’t enjoy it as much any more, in fact complain about having to study it. It was written in the 1940s, so it doesn’t mean as much to this generation with their phones and Internet. Still - this doesn’t mean it should be banned, and I doubt it was banned for being boring and out of date!
Of Mice And Men, by John Steinbeck, is very sad reading, but I think kids today, who have a lot more knowledge about mental illness, would get more out of it than when it first came out, but hey, it’s banned in schools!
Huckleberry Finn has been banned for a long time as a racist book, which it absolutely isn’t. It’s a powerful piece of writing in which the hero starts off as a regular racist because that’s how it was in the American South of the time when the novel was written and, after travelling with escaped slave Jim comes to see him as a friend and decide that if helping him means he is going to hell, fine, he will go! There is a lot more than that, of course. If Mark Twain was around today he would be considered a left winger. I have read some of his other books and that’s what I concluded.
I have no idea what the ban is for this time. At some stage I will visit the ALA web site to see if it has been updated.
The Harry Potter series has been banned, in the past, for supposedly promoting witchcraft. These days, there are former fans who have gone as far as to burn their Harry Potter books because they have been angry with the author. You have probably read about this, so I won’t go into detail. I don’t know why the Florida ban is happening, but probably the same reasons as before.
I read The Lord Of The Flies in Year 9, on a friend’s recommendation. I remember discussing a section of it with my own class, and boys protesting they would never do that. I asked them if they wouldn’t do whatever they could get away with and, thinking about it, they admitted they probably would. Interestingly, there was a true story of a bunch of boys marooned for a while in the 1960s, and, far from killing each other, they looked after each other.
I taught The Grapes Of Wrath to a Year 12 class in my first year out. It is a very powerful story of a poor family on the way to California during the Depression, in hopes of getting work picking fruit. It’s not going to happen, as all the families whose farms have been destroyed and taken over by the banks find out. Again - why is this banned now? It is a great classic.
The Hate U Give is the most recent of the books I have read. I reviewed it here.
https://suebursztynski.blogspot.com/2018/01/just-finished-readingthe-hate-u-give-by.html
The heroine has to watch her childhood friend, Khalil, be murdered by a police officer and find the courage to bring his death to the public eye. Again - very powerful stuff and, for once, worth the hype. The film was strong too, and is available on streaming - Disney +, I think.
And now it’s banned in Florida schools. Why?
Finally, Lord Of The Rings? That classic novel? It’s not only an amazing fantasy, it was written as a mythology for England. It also has Catholic elements. Here is what I wrote about it.
https://suebursztynski.blogspot.com/2016/03/of-march-25-and-tolkien.html
I think I am going to have to visit the ALA website to find out why these books have been snatched from Florida schools, but one thing I know for sure: the sales will go up, as they did for Holocaust graphic novel Maus by Art Spigelman when that was banned in Tennessee recently.
Maybe kids will even willingly read The Catcher In The Rye again?
So, have you read any of the books on this list? What did you think?
13 comments:
Was there a specific reason given for the authorities banning the books eg sexism, racism or anti-Semitism? Certainly not for bad writing; in high school I read The Grapes Of Wrath, The Lord Of The Flies, 1984 etc and even when I didn't enjoy a particular book, it wasn't because of the quality of the writing. The only book I would not have read a second time was Huckleberry Finn.
You didn't mention my all-time favourite novels in high school eg Anne of Green Gables, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Little Women etc so I assume they weren't banned in Florida schools.
I've read 10 of the books on that particular list (some of them more than once because they are so good) -- The Catcher in the Rye, Of Mice and Men, Huckleberry Finn, The Kite Runner, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Grapes of Wrath, The Color Purple, 1984, The Call of the Wild, The Lord of the Rings. I can see why extremist right-wingers and/or white supremacists would object to most of them, but The Call of the Wild? The Lord of the Rings? Sheesh.
Hi Hels! No idea, but it will be somewhere on the web site of the American Library Association, which has a long list of banned and challenged books and reasons given for banning them.
Hi Debra! It is weird, isn’t it? You’d be surprised at some of the reasons given, often by people who haven’t read them. Banned Books week is coming up, so if you want to give a reading from a favourite book online, go for it! I have done a few readings, though not recently, and hardly anyone watched them.
My goodness this explains a lot about the thought processes of Floridians . How sad . These children wont challenge the dominant paradigm which is what I suspect is the aim here .
Hi Mem! Not only Florida, I’m afraid. A Tennessee county recently banned from schools the graphic novel MAUS by Art Spigelman, which was about his parents’ experiences in concentration camp, because of “nudity, rough language and violence”. Well, duh! Holocaust stuff. What do they expect? And it was being taught at Year 8 level! My Melbourne school taught it to Year 12.
Truly sad!
I never understand banned books. I've read quite a few of these - some for my own reading pleasure, some because they were assigned reading at school. It's a very odd mix and I fear many have been banned because they portray social dynamics that wouldn't be accepted now - but that's how we learn, and books are so important in that.
I've been thinking about those books all week. It occurs to me that the "objection" to "The Lord of the Rings" might be the same as those right-wing Christian Fundamentalists' objection to the "Harry Potter" series -- MAGIC! and WIZARDS! Poor old Gandalf. The only think I can think of regarding "The Call of the Wild" is that the author Jack London was a noted socialist in his day and perhaps some of that analysis is found in the book? Or perhaps it's just objectionable because of the author. Either way, puh-leeze! Get a grip, people!
Hi Anita! Who knows? There is a Banned Books page on the ALA web site which gives details on the objections to various books. Most of those left me saying, “What? But..but..” A friend of mine, Natalie Jane Prior, found her picture storybook The Paw, banned in some schools because the heroine was a cat burglar. It was “the book suggests that crime pays.” But the girl in the story was just a kid who went around in a cat costume and robbed the rich to give to the poor. I suppose with that idea Robin Hood stories would be banned, but I haven’t seen it.
Hi Debra! I haven’t read Call Of The Wild. The bans are usually for something in the book. Like magic, yes. And wizards. And, in the case of LOTR, also smoking! 😂😂😂 oddly, Gandalf doesn’t do a lot of magic. He does probably use it for fireworks(I suspect he is a fire bring) and occasionally make a light so they can see their way in Moria, but not much else except fighting the Balrog.
Popped over via Andrew "Highriser". This list is shocking! Several of my favourites are on it and I plan on reading those to my two newest grandchildren as soon as they are old enough. I am SO glad I live in Australia.
I stop in from High Riser and I'm from a start of Idaho, who also push for book ban
Coffee is on and stay safe
Hi River! I’m also glad to live in Australia, though there are schools banning books here. Mostly private ones. But nothing like in the US where entire regions or states do it.
Hi Dora! Do you know which books your state is banning? Enjoy your coffee!
Hi Sue - late, but here! Interesting to read about ... I've read most of the books - and probably need to read a few again ... I expect the kids who are curious will in due course find the books and read them. I expect we ban books over here too - in the education system ... but I don't know, as no kids. Interesting comments too - cheers Hilary
Hi Hilary! Not sure about how it goes where you live, but here in Oz, there are certainly individual schools that do bans, but not entire regions or states.
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