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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Celebrate Freedom- Read a Banned Book

Wanna know more? Check this out!

Here are just a few titles that have been banned in the US at some point:

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
A Wrinkle in Time
by Madeleine L'Engle
Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Blubber by Judy Blume
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
Carrie by Stephen King
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Christine by Stephen King
Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Cujo by Stephen King
Curses, Hexes, and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Decameron by Boccaccio
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Fallen Angels by Walter Myers
Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure) by John Cleland
Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Forever by Judy Blume
Grendel by John Champlin Gardner
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Have to Go by Robert Munsch
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Impressions edited by Jack Booth
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
It's Okay if You Don't Love Me by Norma Klein
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
Little Red Riding Hood by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Love is One of the Choices by Norma Klein
Lysistrata by Aristophanes
More Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
My House by Nikki Giovanni
My Friend Flicka by Mary O'Hara
Night Chills by Dean Koontz
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
One Day in The Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
Our Bodies, Ourselves by Boston Women's Health Collective
Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl
Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones by Alvin Schwartz
Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
Separate Peace by John Knowles
Silas Marner by George Eliot
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Bastard by John Jakes
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Devil's Alternative by Frederick Forsyth
The Figure in the Shadows by John Bellairs
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Snyder
The Learning Tree by Gordon Parks
The Living Bible by William C. Bower
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
The New Teenage Body Book by Kathy McCoy and Charles Wibbelsman
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
The Seduction of Peter S. by Lawrence Sanders
The Shining by Stephen King
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Snyder
Then Again, Maybe I Won't by Judy Blume
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary by the Merriam-Webster Editorial Staff
Witches, Pumpkins, and Grinning Ghosts: The Story of the Halloween Symbols by Edna Barth



11 comments:

Kelly G. said...

Amazing - the titles on this list, yet I can think of ONE particular violent, bloody book that's pushed on children as soon as they come into this world. ;)

Maggie said...

Kelly G- I know- this list appalls me and I've read so very many of them and I make sure I teach as many as I can!

And im wracking my brain- what's the book we push on our kids as soon as they're born???

And I am SO glad you commented! And thanks for reading!

Hecate said...

I'm thinking the book she's talking about is the Bible.

And seriously a dictionary? LOL

Maggie said...

Hecate- okay, the Bible. I never thought of that one. Gee i wonder why? LOL!

And I think it's the dictionary because it has "bad words" and their "bad meanings" in it.

Honey said...

What a list of great works!!! Too bad 'some' people can't see past their own noses but seriously, the dictionary????

Who knew?

Hecate said...

I'm shocked I thought of the Bible too. LOL

And why in the world would we want people to learn words and their meanings. For SHAME! LOL

I've never understand why some people think they have the right to tell others what to read/think/do, ect.

Maggie said...

Honey- I know! I've never understood book banning. 'Some' people are idiots!

Hecate- I was gonna write that I was surprised you came up with the Bible but I thought that sounded sort of snotty but I didn't mean it that way- lol!

I think everyone should read a banned book.

I think everyone should celebrate the First Amendment as well...!

Kelly G. said...

Yes, I was referring to the Bible. If I had kids, I would encourage them to read it on their own - mainly for the cultural significance. I would never want them reading it, however, while they were young enough to still be extremely impressionable. The subject material is WAY too heavy and easily misinterpreted. Why on EARTH are the books on this list considered so much more controversial?!

As for the First Ammendment...I agree, but I find it funny how the people who seem to be so afraid of those pesky little ammendments are usually the same people who claim to be the biggest patriots in this country.

I'm keeping this list so I can start revisiting some of these. Thanks for posting this, Maggie!

Maggie said...

Kelly- I think you have an excellent point. As you know since we both have the same "religious" view...ie: atheists... that you know my view on religion then. BUT I do think it's very important for kids as well as adults to read the Bible. Personally, I think of it as pretty good work of fiction.

I also think those who are "supporters" of the First Amendment need to remember that the reason they can oppose what ever they want and try to shut up other is because of said amendment. For example, I HATE Rush Limbergercheeseball but I will fully support his right to pollute the air with his right wing, ultra conservative lying bullshit. See, the beauty of the 1st A!

This list blows me away. And to think, it's not anywhere near complete! I can think of at least 10 more United States banned books that aren't on here!

What a world...

(And thanks for the good conversation starter! You ROCK!)

Kelly G. said...

Y'know, after posting that comment, I realized that I almost sounded as if I was putting the Bible on a list all by itself as the only book I see worthy of being banned. That would certainly be hypocritical, wouldn't it? ;)

I do agree with you that it's an important book to become familiar with. It's the only book I can think of that indirectly and significantly affects almost every person's life to some degree. I don't necessarily see the harm in very young children reading it, but I'm much more comfortable with them being exposed to it in a VERY objective environment.

Okay, I'm shutting up now. =)

Maggie said...

Kelly- I didn't take it that way at all, about putting it on a list alone to be banned.

And I think the Bible is one of those things, like you said, affects everyone a certain way. Christains obviously have a very different view than I do and i respect that completely.

I've also come to the realization that when it comes to the Bible, most of the time objectivity is thrown right out the window.

And you don't have to shut up- first amendment, ya know! :)