Banned Books

Did you know? This is Banned Book Week.

Before a book is banned it’s challenged. What's the difference between a challenge and a banning?

A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group.  A banning is the removal of those materials.  Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others.  Due to the commitment of librarians, teachers, parents, students and other concerned citizens, most challenges are unsuccessful and most materials are retained in the school curriculum or library collection. (source)

The top five challenged books from 2020 were:

1) Melissa (previously titled George) by Alex Gino

When people look at George, they think they see a boy. But she knows she's not a boy. She knows she's a girl. (source)

2) Stamped (For Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi

…this book takes readers on a journey from present to past and back again. Kids will discover where racist ideas came from, identify how they impact America today, and meet those who have fought racism with antiracism. (source)

3) All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

Rashad Butler and Quinn Collins are two young men, one black and one white, whose lives are forever changed by an act of extreme police brutality. Rashad wakes up in a hospital. Quinn saw how he got there. And so did the video camera that taped the cop beating Rashad senseless into the pavement. Thus begins ALL AMERICAN BOYS… (source)

4) Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Melinda Sordino begins her freshman year at Merryweather High School in Syracuse, New York, with a heavy secret weighing on her. Over the summer, she and her friends went to a party and Melinda ended up calling the police, causing her friends and everyone at the party to socially reject her. (source)

Why did she call the cops? Think Beer Kavanaugh.

5) The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

…a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. (source)

What do the five books have in common? They’re young adult books where the kids are experiencing and learning how to deal with this hard world in which we live.

The top ten of all time banned books?

1. 1984—George Orwell
2. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—Mark Twain
3. The Catcher in the Rye—J.D. Salinger
4. The Color Purple—Alice Walker
5. The Great Gatsby—F. Scott Fitzgerald
6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings—Maya Angelou
7. Lord of the Flies—William Golding
8. Of Mice and Men—John Steinbeck
9. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest—Ken Kesey
10. To Kill a Mockingbird—Harper Lee

Obviously the pro-book ban crowd is scared shitless that kids will understand that they can think for themselves and be who they are. 

Bast forbid the youth grow up to accept all their fellow humans as equals.

Elysium forfend the kiddles learn to treat others, who might be different from themselves, with kindness. 

Saints preserve us, we can’t have our children consorting with THOSE kinds. We can't let OUR kids be like that!

Classic CiNO (christian in name only) mindset.