My All Time Favorite Banned Book

Every year I reread the same book, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, which has gone through many many challenges that seem to change over the decades.

In the 70's the complaints were to the words "damned" and "whore lady".  The 80's saw the most progression with challengers claiming it was a "filthy, trashy novel" to the book doing "psychological damage to the positive integration process" to finally the use of the word "nigger".  The latter issue is the one that has carried the most weight ever since.

This is a book I remember reading in high school and, probably because it was "required", I didn't take all that much away from it - not like I did the movie.  It was because I reread this book as an adult that I took so much more away from it and thoroughly appreciate Harper Lee's claim that she doesn't need to write another book because she said it all in the first one.

I like going back and reading those books we were told to read in school, under a timeline and with a test at the end, and discover all that I missed the first time around.

Visit the ALA to find out more about Banned Books Week.