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 Post subject: Banned Books
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2004 4:28 am 
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Lady Scryer
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American Library Organization Banned Books

Banned Books Week will be Sept. 25 - Oct. 2, 2004 this year...

According to the website, here are the 100 most frequently challenged books in American public libraries for the years 1990-2000. Some of the titles are very recognizable...

Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
Forever by Judy Blume
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Giver by Lois Lowry
It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
A Day No Pigs Would Dieby Robert Newton Peck
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Sex by Madonna
Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
The Goats by Brock Cole
Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
Blubber by Judy Blume
Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
Final Exit by Derek Humphry
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
Deenie by Judy Blume
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
Cujo by Stephen King
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
Fade by Robert Cormier
Guess What? by Mem Fox
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Native Son by Richard Wright
Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday
Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Jack by A.M. Homes
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
Carrie by Stephen King
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
Family Secrets by Norma Klein
Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
Private Parts by Howard Stern
Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
Sex Education by Jenny Davis
The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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 Post subject: Re: Banned Books
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2004 5:41 am 
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Wow! I was required to read 11 of these! *****
Before, you are wise; after, you are wise. In between you are otherwise.
Fravashi saying (from the formularies of Osho the Fool) <i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: Banned Books
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2004 7:07 am 
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Duchess, you're a goddess. What an appropriate thread, OMG.

A few comments, Mark Twain is put on many banned lists because of his personal beliefs. AFAIK, he was an atheist and liked to tweak the noses of believers, and that puts him on their bad list. Of course, he had an irrevent attitude to the status quo in general, and that will always get someones nose out of joint. Judy Blume, what a tragedy for her to go on the list, when I was starting college about 30 or so yrs. ago. I had a younger cousin, she was like in 6 grade or so at the time, and about the only books she would read would be those. There is something about her books that appeals to a certain crowd. Banning TKaMB by Harper Lee, yeah lets ban a book that shows someone who stands for a principle and which advocates the fair treatment of all citizens regardless of their origin. And Madeleine L'Engle, well must be the folks wanting to ban this do not know Ms. L'Engle wrote christian works, too. (something I did not know until I saw an essay about Ms. L'Engle in one of my mother's Christian magazines, Charisma, I think)

Everywhere, there is someone who always challenge a book about 'sex' or has the word sex in the title. Americans were so puritan and victorian. taraswizard
Allan Rosewarne N9SQT/WDX6HQV
Chicago area
W/T forever, always
Plan C - http://planc.bravepages.com/main.html<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: Banned Books
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2004 3:33 pm 
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Quote:Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford

Okay, but dang it, this kind of filth needs to be banned!!! ******************

To seek the sacred river Alph, to walk the caves of ice ...<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: Banned Books
PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2004 4:46 pm 
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Just wait. If the Bush camp succeeds in reelection and gets the Patriot Act II signed you'll see many more books banned and our freedom of speech seriously compromised! *****
Before, you are wise; after, you are wise. In between you are otherwise.
Fravashi saying (from the formularies of Osho the Fool) <i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: Banned Books
PostPosted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 5:32 pm 
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This might be a dumb question, BUT...why DO people object to Where's Waldo?
I think for banned book week this fall I will read the Steinbeck book...have read and enjoyed East of Eden, but have never read Of Mice and Men...I might also treat myself to some Mark Twain. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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 Post subject: Re: Banned Books
PostPosted: Wed Mar 10, 2004 4:15 am 
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A whacky question, but not a dumb one! I looked around on the web - consensus seems to be that there is a topless sunbather to be found in one of the beach scenes.

But that's just what people are saying on message boards. I couldn't find any official news on the subject, so who knows. ******************

To seek the sacred river Alph, to walk the caves of ice ...<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: Banned Books
PostPosted: Wed Mar 10, 2004 4:47 am 
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Lady Scryer
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I wonder if people spend as much time looking for the topless person (male or female? ) as they spend looking for Waldo? ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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 Post subject: Re: Banned Books and other book issues
PostPosted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 11:40 pm 
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The Manifold used to have a thread on childern's lit and maybe this message belongs there more!

Rebecca Hagelin (VP Heritage Foundation recent author Home Invasion - Protecting your family...) wrote the following regarding the ALA's reading lists.Quote:Reading isn’t always good for our kids.

How’s that for an opening sentence to stir a little controversy among the educational elites?

We’ve been bombarded by so many messages about how reading expands the mind, excites the imagination and enhances the vocabulary (all of which are true) that many parents have forgotten that the benefit of reading for our children very much depends on what they’re reading. And, I’m afraid that many children spend hours reading what often turns out to be pure rot.

With school starting all over the country between last week and just after Labor Day, it’s time for a reading warning: Parents, beware.

In many cases the very liberal American Library Association exerts great influence over what reading materials teachers assign their students. But that material may be highly inappropriate for your child. Don’t let the following scenario unfold in your home:

Mrs. Jones hands out a book report assignment that includes several books for her class to choose from. Mom dutifully drives Suzi to the local library and browses while Suzi selects her book. Within half an hour, book in hand, everyone is feeling rather satisfied that they have been so responsible in starting on the project early. Mom and Suzi arrive home, and while mom begins making dinner, the conscientious and responsible Suzi heads to her room and begins to consume what turns out to be highly sexualized, vulgar garbage, filled with four-letter words and enough verbal porn to embarrass even an ole’ salt.

Mom doesn’t have a clue that her daughter’s innocence has just been molested in the privacy of her own bedroom. She won’t ever know because Suzi, a bit stymied by the fact that Mom took her to get a book that her teacher assigned, will be too embarrassed and confused to ever tell. Yet, she’s just had sexuality, relationships and acceptable behavior defined for her by some perverted author most folks have never heard of. And the kid was simply trying to get her homework done.

While researching my book, Home Invasion: Protecting Your Family in a Culture That’s Gone Stark Raving Mad, I took an ALA-recommended reading list for 13- and 14-year-olds to my local library and headed to the “Young Adult” section (code for “pre-teen” and “teen”). I found some books from the list; others were already checked out. One book, the librarian told me, had just been returned but hadn’t been re-shelved, so I patiently waited while she went into the back room to retrieve it.

With several items in hand, I headed back to the Young Adult section, where I couldn’t help but notice pre-teen and teen girls and guys in various stages of development and maturity, dutifully searching the shelves for assigned books. I sat down on a reading bench and began flipping through the pages of the book that had just been returned.

There’s something very moving about holding a book in your hand that a child has just finished reading. But the warmth in my heart soon turned into a sickening feeling in my gut when I began to read passages so cheap and trashy that I could scarcely believe my eyes. I only had to get to page four before the first of many uses of the term “motherf-----” showed up. Several scenes described, in graphic detail, sexual acts between teenagers.

In the interest of decency, there’s no way I can give you word-for-word examples. And I refuse to give the trashy book and its loser author free publicity in a column that often gets forwarded around the World Wide Web. I’d rather parents and other adults who care about our children and their education -- and whether or educational elites indoctrinate them in immorality -- actually go to their local library and research the reading lists themselves.

Lest you think the first book was put on the list in error, the next recommended teen item I thumbed through was equally as nauseating. A sexual act between fourth-graders was a “highlight,” as well as graphic details of sex between teens, including a homosexual encounter. And this is the garbage that today’s educators pass off as great literature for our children? The great classics, meanwhile, are all but missing. One list I reviewed for eight-graders contained about 20 authors -- none recognizable save the lone great Mark Twain. And they call this education?

The lesson here is simple. Moms and Dads, don’t just naively drive your kids to the library -- you must be careful to help them choose books that reflect your values. Even if your kids are in private school, you’re hardly safe -- many of the best schools blindly use ALA lists. Of course, if you home school your kids, you’re probably already aware of the moral problems of many ALA decisions, but even if you’re using a good curriculum guide, it’s always best to preview the books first.

The ALA is quick to call anyone who questions its decisions a “censor.”

taraswizard
Allan Rosewarne N9SQT/WDX6HQV
Chicago area
W/T forever, always
Plan C - http://planc.bravepages.com/main.html<i></i>


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 Post subject: banned books
PostPosted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 11:54 pm 
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Lady Scryer
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Unfortunately, I cannot take that person seriously at all, as she refuses to identify any of the books she finds objectionable.

I certainly have not seen anything like that in any of the books my children have had recommended to them by school. Its mostly been such fare as Lord of the Flies, Huckleberry Finn, The Scarlett Letter, and The Great Gatsby for the older one. The younger one has read such oversexed books as Lord of the Rings.

Either she lives in a wildly different school district than we do, or she has a real (and possibly nonexistent) axe to grind. <i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: banned books
PostPosted: Sat Aug 20, 2005 2:03 am 
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Man, that's worse than your typical "Are teachers exposing your child to sexual material? Tune in at 11 to find out" Seems to be nothing more than an attempt to cause hysteria. ________________
I wanna feel the metamorphosis and cleansing I've endured within my shadow. Change is coming. Now is my time. Listen to my muscle memory. Contemplate what I've been clinging to. -Tool, "Forty-Six & Two" <i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: banned books
PostPosted: Sun Aug 21, 2005 2:05 am 
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This kind of @#%$ is what Bradbury was talking about in Fahrenheit 451 : Minorities complaining about, banning, and censoring books, until there are none at all left. -----------------
"If we lived in a State where virtue was profitable, common sense would make us good, and greed would make us saintly. And we'd live like animals or angels in the happy land that needs no heroes. But since in fact we see that avarice, anger, envy, pride, sloth, lust, and stupidity commonly profit far beyond humility, chastity, fortitude, justice and thought, and have to choose, to be human at all...why then perhaps we must stand fast a little - even at the risk of being heroes." - Sir Thomas More, "A Man For All Seasons," by Robert Bolt<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: banned books
PostPosted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 5:44 pm 
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Answering Duchess's concerns, her conccern about Ms Hagelin's reluctance to name a book or author has generated a lot of commentary from on-line commentators. The on-line commentators have speculated that one of the books Ms Hagelin is refering to is Rainbow Party by Paul Ruditis; however, that book is not a title on ALA's recommended lists.

Yes, Sylvanus the article does seem to be hysteria inciting and maybe does invite ignoring from contempt, but Ms Hagelin's views, opinions and comments are taken very seriously by an element in social conservative circles. As a result of her recent book coming out she has made the conservative radio talk circuit (Praeger, Hewitt, Medved, etc). taraswizard
Allan Rosewarne N9SQT/WDX6HQV
Chicago area
W/T forever, always
Plan C - http://planc.bravepages.com/main.html<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: banned books
PostPosted: Tue Aug 23, 2005 6:12 am 
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Lady Scryer
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I guess it doesn't say much for the hosts that would have her on their shows then, if she uses the same hysterical tone and still refuses to name the books she finds so offensive.

She makes it sound like the schools are pushing hard core porn down her kids' throats. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: banned books
PostPosted: Wed Aug 24, 2005 9:49 pm 
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Duchess wrote Quote:She makes it sound like the schools are pushing hard core porn down her kids' throats. Duchess that's exactly Rebecca Hagelin's point. FWIW, I think I heard some of Hagelin's childern are home schooled, but not all. taraswizard
Allan Rosewarne N9SQT/WDX6HQV
Chicago area
W/T forever, always
Plan C - http://planc.bravepages.com/main.html<i>Edited by: taraswizard at: 8/24/05 2:51 pm
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