21 Comments
May 26, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

Ya' know, there was a time that I hung out on a website where a bunch of people thought they were cool because they were the first to post a comment in a post. The website decided to play, so when someone typed the words "first post" into a comment, it would automatically change it to boobies. So, boobies.

That being said, I would mirror your choices but add a sprinkling of Catcher in the Rye. I have fond memories of discussing this book in English class (junior year/public school in CT). Has Elie Wiesel's "Night" made the cut? It wouldn't surprise me if it did. We read that my sophomore year (Catholic school in FL), and again, there some some good discussions. Thanks to both Mr. Schaeffer and Mr. Lester for keeping things interesting.

Expand full comment
May 26, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

Too many to list, but here's a few: Catcher In The Rye, To Kill A Mockingbird and books by Judy Blume. We need to support librarians who resist these efforts. Enough!

Expand full comment
author

Amen. Support your local librarians. They're the vanguard.

Expand full comment
May 26, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

To Kill a Mockingbird

Expand full comment
May 26, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

Not necessarily my favorite, but worthy of note BECAUSE it's been banned. https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/why-the-bible-is-getting-pulled-off-school-bookshelves/2022/12

Expand full comment
author

Amazing, yes?

Expand full comment

I did have a student's mother demand that I remove the copy of the King James version of the Bible I had on the shelf (along with probably a hundred books on religions of the world since religion is inextricably involved in history and is included in social studies curricula). She was not worried about separation of church and state: she was extremely upset by the Song of Songs. Resolution: She sent a note so that her child could not check out the book, which is of course her right. It remained available to everyone else to check out.

Expand full comment

Fahrenheit 451 because of the, you know, irony.

Expand full comment
May 26, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

To Kill A Mockingbird; it pains me to see this and other meaningful books banned due to the MAGAs’ political agenda.

Expand full comment
May 26, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

Definitely agree with your choices and also To Kill a Mockingbird. These are books I can read over and over again.

So hard to chose as I see so many great books on banned lists.

Expand full comment
May 26, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

Because of a previous post I have to mention “The Learning Tree” but for this I’ll go with “Catcher in the Rye” although it wasn’t banned when I read it. It was actually an assignment in an American literature class in high school. The fact that it had been banned was part of the deal. Mrs. Mulaney, a brilliant teacher, led a pack of adolescents through a discussion that was enlightening and reassuring. For a while Holden Caulfield was like a cross between an imaginary friend and emotional guardrails.

Expand full comment
author

What a great description of that character.

Expand full comment
founding
May 26, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

I'll go with Laurie Halse Anderson's "Speak" and her follow-up, "Shout".

https://www.inquirer.com/news/laurie-halse-anderson-central-bucks-school-board-book-policy-20230315.html

Expand full comment
May 26, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

Several, including The Handmaid's Tale, but probably top of the list would be Lolita. I just love Nabokov's writing, and the story is compelling!!!!

https://bannedbooks.indiana.edu/items/show/36

Expand full comment
author

I had never read “Lolita” until Sting (of The Police) mentioned it in a song.

Expand full comment

What a great list of books! I've missed some along the way, so I will add them to my summer reading list!

My all-time favorite banned book is The Bluest Eye. I have to say, as a fast reader, it took me a very long time to read such a short book. It covers all the topics that parents should be discussing with their children - gender, race, love, abuse, what/when is adulthood... I re-read it as an adult years ago and immediately recommended it to my children. But, then, I'm the type of parent that wants children to grow into independent thinking, informed adults.

My son had "speak" on his summer required reading list when he was in middle school. Based on that book alone, he became a staunch ally/advocate/accomplice for the prevention and reporting of sexual assault.

Of all the tyrannies being proposed across the country, limiting what we can read is one of the harshest. It is the one most guaranteed to prevent free thought, and eventually, dissention.

#SayNoToGroupThink

Expand full comment
founding

Your son's response after reading "Speak" - very cool!

Expand full comment

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn & To Kill a Mockingbird. I remember being crushed as a teen when reading the ending of Of Mice and Men. But better to have a group discussion than ban it.

Expand full comment

To Kill a Mockingbird, since I first read it when I was 12. I told my mom I was going to be a Southern writer one day. Just like being a linebacker for the NY Giants, my mom had to explain that it would not happen. The beauty of that book was that different parts hit me every time I read it through my teenage years.

Expand full comment

I'm gonna say "To Kill A Mockingbird", because that is the book I remember as being banned when I read it shortly after its publication. Of others, we read "Silas Marner" in 7th grade English class; at that point, my impression was "this is boring!" rather than of anything controversial or — good heavens! — salacious. In 8th grade English, we read "Catcher in the Rye", and Holden Caulfield became something of a folk hero for the class. (I particularly remember the phrase "vomity-looking chair" as a highlight.) Other than hearing grown-ups grousing at the anti-establishment attitudes portrayed, there seemed nothing memorable about the cultural response to Salinger.

There are numerous books I've read since, drawn by the question "why was this banned?" (translated as: what in this book seemed threatening to someone's precarious sense of security in their world). "Banned" = "controversy" = "interesting"; it's rather disappointing when a book on the list turns out to be thoroughly pedestrian, except for what it may have activated in someone's hyperactive imagination.

Now I need to track down some of the books I've missed through the years...

Expand full comment

My list is too long. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Wrinkle in Time. Speak. Beloved. It's Perfectly Normal. And Tango Makes Three .............and about a hundred more.

Favorite semi-hilarious banning: Silas Marner. Yes indeedy it has been banned in some places by those deeply concerned about what happened between Silas and Eppie in the time after Part the First and before Part the Second: in other words, nothing in the book - just their ugly imaginations.

Expand full comment