Banned Books Week day 7!

Okay, here we go, the bulk of books challenged/banned are for children or to "protect" them from harm, so these are just a couple that drew my attention.

Belpre, Pura. Perez and Martina. Warne. Challenged at the Multnomah County Library in Portland, Oreg. (1988) because the death of a mouse in the story would upset children.

Blank, Joan. Laugh Lines. Grapetree Prods.; Putnam. Removed from the McKinleyville, Calif. Elementary School library (1990) for its “demeaning manner” toward individuals who read the riddles and cannot figure out the answers, rather than for its political or sexual content.

Bogart, Bonnie. Ewoks Join the Fight. Random. Challenged at the La Costa, Calif. Public Library (1987) because “every page except for three has some sort of violence - somebody gets knocked down or the Death Star is destroyed.”

Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Ace; Bantam; Crown; Dealcorte; Dover; NAL; Norton; Penguin; Random; St. Martin. Banned in China (1931) on the ground that “Animals should not use human language, and that it was disasterous to put animals and human being on the same level.

Carroll, Jim. The Basketball Diaries. Penguin. Challenged, but retained, at he Gwinnett County, Ga. Library (1998) after the county solicitor declined to give a legal opinion on whether the book is harmful to minors. The library board had voted 2-1 to ban the book if the solicitor found the book meets the state’s legal definition of harmful to minors.

Dramer, Dan. Monsters. Jamestown Pub. Challenged at the Jefferson County school libraries in Lakewood, Colo (1986). The book is a junior high text of monster stories including several Greek myths on the Cyclops, the Minotaur, and Medusa, as well as stories of several modern monsters such as King Kong, Dracula, and Frankenstein’s monster. The Jefferson County School Board refused to ban the book

Hinton, S.E. Rumble Fish. Delacorte; Dell. Challenged at the Poca Middle School in Charleston, W. Va. (1991) because the book is “too frank.”

Miller, Jim, ed. The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll. Random. Challenged in Jefferson County, Ky. (1982) because it “will cause children to become immoral and indecent.”

Okay, so most of these were just bloody ridiculous...the mouse and riddles, please, don't waste a tree on such rubbish. I was saddened by the monster book challenge. A child's imagination is something that shouldn't be wasted and taking that book away would have allowed some kids to miss out on discovering these characters and taking them somewhere in their own thoughts.

Tomorrow is the last day of Banned Books Week and we'll look at a few different things - including a few ideas to ensure your local libraries shelves aren't being emptied book-by-book.