Banned Books Week

[Lola]

Actually, I read Lord of the Flies when I was about 13. It was, in a word, emotionally scarring. While it was perhaps an important book to read, I can understand why someone would want to ban it - Not that I would agree with them.

I read the Lord of the Flies when I was about that age. I remember being bored to tears. Oh, and I was irked that the violence everyone had fits about was *laaame-o! But then again, I vividly remember reading "The Tommyknockers" on the bus at about that age. Some people seem to think kids are these precious angels that are tainted by the touch of pop culture. Of course, I agree with Djeta that not everything is appropriate for public school libraries, but most of the things that are challenged are books designed to make people think. [sarcasm]Which, everyone knows, kids shouldn't do by themselves, they might get hurt.[/sarcasm]

*goes to print out list for next trip to library, wh00t!*

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

Sex by Madonna

But...but...where are kids going to find out about leather slaves? On the playground?

If you think what they do to library books is bad, you should see what they do to classroom textbooks. In an effort to keep any minority (racial or otherwise) from ever possibly being offended, they have removed vaginas and penises from anatomy texts, downplayed slavery because it might make African-American children feel inferior, and a Texas textbook committee in the 60s stipulated that no textbook could mention any person on the House Un-American Activities blacklist.

Here's more info:
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/18/topten.html

 

[Czhorat]

I'm firmly with Djeta on this one. I cringe whenever someone suggests restricting access to a book to protect innocent children from the content therein. If kids are old enough to be reading something, they should be able to make judgements on how much of the message to believe or disbelieve. To protect them from controversial messages makes it unlikely that they'll be able to read critically when they become adults and suddenly have access to all sorts of information. We should worry more about having our children learn how to read critically, how to be discriminating, and how to integrate new ideas into their value system than we do about protecting them from hearing or reading "bad" things.

 

[Macbeth]

My thoughts on the issue: *
So, thats about it, my feelings on the whole book banning.



*Read as Djeta's post from above.

 

[heirodule]

D&D

How come D&D is never on these lists. Surely parent groups have mounted challenges to school D&D clobs enough times for D&D to rate somewhere.

Its it because the D&D rules are rareely found in libraries?

C'mon WOTC: get you books "challanged" so you get some more free advertisisg.

I'm really suproised nobody mentioned D&D in the context before

Oh: and on Judy Blume, this essay is interesting reading....

http://www.nationalreview.com/weekend/books/books-lopez093000.shtml

 

[Crothian]

How come D&D is never on these lists. Surely parent groups have mounted challenges to school D&D clobs enough times for D&D to rate somewhere.

Well, I've never heard of them being on a school's reading list. While my public library has a copy of the book (maybe as many as 3 copies in the whole metro columbus system) I've never seen nor heard of them in a school library.

 

[barsoomcore]

The most interesting thing about that list is that for every book where I say to myself, "Wow, that's a total classic! How could anyone want to make that book go away?" there's another that makes me go, "Ew. Why would anybody want to read that? Who would care if that was never seen again?"

Which just goes to show how no one person's taste is fit to be forced on anyone else.

 

[WayneLigon]

Well, I've never heard of them being on a school's reading list. While my public library has a copy of the book (maybe as many as 3 copies in the whole metro columbus system) I've never seen nor heard of them in a school library.

Same thing with me. Admittedly, I'm in Montgomery, AL, but I've never come across a single D&D book anywhere in any library I've been in, and neither has anyone I've asked. I keep hearing on the boards how 'Oh, I'll just pop down to the library and borrow the Player's Handbook'. or how they donated their books to the local library, but it's not something I've ever seen around here. Not in the main library, nor any of the branches. Certainly not in any school library I've been in.

 

[Elf Witch]

Same thing with me. Admittedly, I'm in Montgomery, AL, but I've never come across a single D&D book anywhere in any library I've been in, and neither has anyone I've asked. I keep hearing on the boards how 'Oh, I'll just pop down to the library and borrow the Player's Handbook'. or how they donated their books to the local library, but it's not something I've ever seen around here. Not in the main library, nor any of the branches. Certainly not in any school library I've been in.

I used to work at a public library and we carried Ad&D books for awhile. But they kept walking out so they stopped replacing them.

We had several incidences of people wanting books removed from the shelves. This used to drive me crazy if you don't like a book don't read it, don't tell someone else not to read it.

One time a minster came in with a pair of sissors and starting cutting books up. We had to call the police and then had a backlash from the parishioners of his church that their pastor was arrested for destroying public property.

It's like the people who burned the Harry Potter books out in Arizona I liked what the author had to say about it. "at least they are buying my books"

 

[madriel]

Our local branch of the public library had a guy who used a black marker to cross out all the swear words. He corrected the grammar and spelling, too. It took them forever to catch the him. They finally caught him when they realized the sanitized books were all ones that this one elderly patron kept trying to get removed from circulation.