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This is "Banned Books Week"


FlorenceHamilton

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To celebrate banned books week I always try to read at least one of the most frequently challenged books of the past decade, often getting them from the library. Amazing books are often the most frequently banned, and I've discovered a lot of new ones that way. Some of the books that have been frequently challenged do seem like something only a fundie would challenge.

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There's nothing to ban from Twilight except bad writing and misogyny. Instead it should be held up as a model on how NOT to write. IMO

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I think that this is a really important topic because the current political climate which is fueled in part by the fundies upon which we snark actually want to control what people read. If you click on the link and read the history of books that have been challenged in the United States (some of it recently) was due to religious, mostly Christian objections. Unless the populace is free to read material, even (and especially) material that raises challenges to fixed ideas, then we are not free at all. This is why, as much as the Tea Party carries on about freedom, they are not at all about freedom. They are about control. They want the freedom to control the minds and actions of everyone else.

It is also the reason why artistic expression that challenges the validity of god, of Jesus, of Mohammed is not hate speech. It is simply an exercise in thinking about something in a different way.

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I'm reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. It's been banned/challenged many times. If something is banned or challenged, it automatically goes on my list to read sometime in the future. Take that, fundies!

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Almost all my most treasured childhood reads are on this list, and some of my favorite books to this day.

The Giver, A Wrinkle in Time, His Dark Materials, Bridge to Terabithia! Lord of the Flies and Catcher in the Rye! Jeez! Plus things like The Lovely Bones, one of the most beautiful books I've read in the past few years. And I can't believe anything by Gary Paulsen would be a challenged book, I mean what the hell is so bad about Harris and Me? I don't remember it containing anything particularly racy.

Also, Goosebumps? Is that series even still in print? It seem irrelevant for the modern day... I was reading those in the early nineties.

God forbid we present children and young adults with literature that challenges them in any moral, intellectual or cultural way. We wouldn't want them to actually grow from reading, after all! Mental growth should be taught by the parents! -_-

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Last year we got a copy of "King and King" for my son. About a prince who just doesn't dig Princesses. :D I will make sure to read it to him today!!

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Last year we got a copy of "King and King" for my son. About a prince who just doesn't dig Princesses. :D I will make sure to read it to him today!!

Have you seen King and King and family? It's a sequel to King and King where the two kings adopt a child to raise her as a princess :) It is equally wonderful, you should get that one to read to your son too.

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Have you seen King and King and family? It's a sequel to King and King where the two kings adopt a child to raise her as a princess :) It is equally wonderful, you should get that one to read to your son too.

I must have these books for my kids collection.

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Some books I wasn't surprised at, especially anything that dealt with sexuality or religion. You know, Heaven forbid we don't want to put ideas into the youngun's heads :roll:

Others....'Nickel and Dimed'? WHAT.

'Twilight'? LOL.....you'd think the fundies would be happy with that one since there's no sex until the final book really...and it's only after the MCS get married. And that Bella can't do anything without Sparkles McGee.

and then I find that I've owned and read a lot of banned books throughout the years. In what universe does The Diary of Anne Frank have homosexuality in it because I sure don't remember anything like that in the version I read in school...of course, that was also 20 years ago so I don't remember much.

Actually, a lot of those books are books that I remember reading in high school, college or on my own years ago. People are seriously getting more and more uptight nowadays and the day that anyone tells me what I can read or what my hypothetical children can read is the day I seriously leave the states for good.

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In what universe does The Diary of Anne Frank have homosexuality in it because I sure don't remember anything like that in the version I read in school...of course, that was also 20 years ago so I don't remember much.

I don't think there's homosexuality in the diary itself, but supposedly before her family went into hiding, Anne had a female friend from school that she had intense feelings for. As far as I'm aware there wasn't any confirmed physical relationship, but it seemed to be one of those early friendships that dances the border between platonic and romantic.

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I'm surprised that the fundies don't consider banning the Bible (not that I would ban it, but they're the ones complaining that America is losing its morality). After all, it has sex and violence. Hypocrites, much? :roll:

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My children are grown. I never limited their reading. I never put controls on their internet. They knew that if there was content in any medium that they did not understand or that they wanted to talk about, that I was open and honest and non-judgemental with them. This was a time that kids were being sent porn to their emails. My children did see it. We talked about it on many levels...the mechanical, sexual content, variety of proclivities, self respect, respecting others, morality and religion.

My son did not like to read. I bought him "The Catcher in the Rye". He loved it and it gave him motivation to read more. Many of the books I chose had been challenged in the past, but my motivation was to show him that reading really fine books opens up a whole world to him. It worked.

My children are very thoughtful, educated (both formally and self) and hardworking young adults. They have minds of their own. They are comfortable with their sexuality and other people's sexualiy. They respect themselves and the world around them. They went to college, drank too much, had drama, laughed and cried. I do not understand why parents would want to rob their children of living a genuine life.

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I'm surprised that the fundies don't consider banning the Bible (not that I would ban it, but they're the ones complaining that America is losing its morality). After all, it has sex and violence. Hypocrites, much? :roll:

Seriously... I mean, not just sex and violence! Incest, regicide, patricide, fratricide, infanticide, and torture. Also, giants, mentions of dragons and unicorns, 'magi' and references to witches. Things that, even just MENTIONED in any other book, would instantly have them calling for schools to ban.

ETA: Also, plural marriage and animal sacrifice.

ETA 2: Also, slavery and selling ones siblings into slavery. Notably Joseph, who also had dreams that showed him the future, which would probably also rile up fundamentalists if a character in a novel displayed such a thing.

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Thanks for the timely reminder, FlorenceHamilton! I feel compelled to post a few quotes about book censorship, just 'cause I'm in the mood to share:

"If your library is not 'unsafe,' it probably isn't doing its job."

-- John Berry, III, Library Journal, October 1999

"Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas. The source of better ideas is wisdom. The surest path to wisdom is a liberal education."

-- Alfred Whitney Griswold, Essays on Education

"Censorship of anything, at any time, in any place, on whatever pretense, has always been and always be the last resort of the boob and the bigot."

-- Eugene Gladstone O'Neill, American playwright (1888-1953)

"Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it."

-- Mark Twain

"The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame."

-- Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891

"All these people talk so eloquently about getting back to good old-fashioned values. Well, as an old poop I can remember back to when we had those old-fashioned values, and I say let's get back to the good old-fashioned First Amendment of the good old-fashioned Constitution of the United States -- and to hell with the censors! Give me knowledge or give me death!"

-- Kurt Vonnegut, author

Happy Banned Books Week, everyone!

:P

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MY oldest son takes pride in the fact he has read almost all the banned books. :) He wanted to order a pin he saw that said "I read banned books". I think he said he :dance: is getting "The Color Purple" out of the library this week.

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Some books I wasn't surprised at, especially anything that dealt with sexuality or religion. You know, Heaven forbid we don't want to put ideas into the youngun's heads :roll:

Others....'Nickel and Dimed'? WHAT.

'Twilight'? LOL.....you'd think the fundies would be happy with that one since there's no sex until the final book really...and it's only after the MCS get married. And that Bella can't do anything without Sparkles McGee.

and then I find that I've owned and read a lot of banned books throughout the years. In what universe does The Diary of Anne Frank have homosexuality in it because I sure don't remember anything like that in the version I read in school...of course, that was also 20 years ago so I don't remember much.

Actually, a lot of those books are books that I remember reading in high school, college or on my own years ago. People are seriously getting more and more uptight nowadays and the day that anyone tells me what I can read or what my hypothetical children can read is the day I seriously leave the states for good.

Books like Nickel and Dimed or The Jungle are frequently challenged in the United States because they go against our myth of rugged individualism and instead might give kids ideas that a social safety net is necessary and that might lead to socialism or communism. Any portrayal of people suffering without "deserving" it by being lazy or non-Christian or whatever won't promote the idea that poor people deserve to be poor.

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My school used to celebrate Banned Books Week. We got much of our reading from that list. I'm often surprised what gets banned or challenged. I have admittedly a more plebeian taste in reading material. Most of it would be considered "popular" and fluff, probably nothing to ban. Regardless, I detest anyone who try to prevent me from reading anything for "my own good". I would love for my kids to enjoy reading books that people fear so much. They should understand books are powerful tools in this world against closed thinking and tyranny.

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Thanks for the timely reminder, FlorenceHamilton! I feel compelled to post a few quotes about book censorship, just 'cause I'm in the mood to share:

"If your library is not 'unsafe,' it probably isn't doing its job."

-- John Berry, III, Library Journal, October 1999

"Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas. The source of better ideas is wisdom. The surest path to wisdom is a liberal education."

-- Alfred Whitney Griswold, Essays on Education

"Censorship of anything, at any time, in any place, on whatever pretense, has always been and always be the last resort of the boob and the bigot."

-- Eugene Gladstone O'Neill, American playwright (1888-1953)

"Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it."

-- Mark Twain

"The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame."

-- Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891

"All these people talk so eloquently about getting back to good old-fashioned values. Well, as an old poop I can remember back to when we had those old-fashioned values, and I say let's get back to the good old-fashioned First Amendment of the good old-fashioned Constitution of the United States -- and to hell with the censors! Give me knowledge or give me death!"

-- Kurt Vonnegut, author

Happy Banned Books Week, everyone!

:P

These are wonderful! Thanks for sharing them! :D

I must look for the 2 kings books for my daughter. She's all about royalty, so those would be great for her. And I'll have to find one I haven't read to spend some time with this week.

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Thanks for the timely reminder, FlorenceHamilton! I feel compelled to post a few quotes about book censorship, just 'cause I'm in the mood to share:

"If your library is not 'unsafe,' it probably isn't doing its job."

-- John Berry, III, Library Journal, October 1999

"Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas. The source of better ideas is wisdom. The surest path to wisdom is a liberal education."

-- Alfred Whitney Griswold, Essays on Education

"Censorship of anything, at any time, in any place, on whatever pretense, has always been and always be the last resort of the boob and the bigot."

-- Eugene Gladstone O'Neill, American playwright (1888-1953)

"Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it."

-- Mark Twain

"The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame."

-- Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891

"All these people talk so eloquently about getting back to good old-fashioned values. Well, as an old poop I can remember back to when we had those old-fashioned values, and I say let's get back to the good old-fashioned First Amendment of the good old-fashioned Constitution of the United States -- and to hell with the censors! Give me knowledge or give me death!"

-- Kurt Vonnegut, author

Happy Banned Books Week, everyone!

:P

Thanks for the great quotes. I've stolen a couple, along with the link and threw them on my FB wall. I looked up my bedroom bookshelf and Lolita was calling my name, but with my current workload, I'd flunk out of grad school if I didn't manage my time properly and read that rather than the mountain of texts and journals I have to pore through every week.

Everyone else: Enjoy your reading and :orcs-buttshake: to anyone who tries to restrict our implicit rights to free speech. IOW, :obscene-birdiered: fundies.

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I love "The Giver" and both sequels. I'm thinking of assigning a "Captain Underpants" book to M just on principle. That seems like a book a reluctant reader may enjoy.

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