Don't you hate it when one person ruins it for everyone? By that i mean, banning a book they haven't even read! i heard about someone who tried to ban a book, based on ONE PARAGRAPH about sex. What? do they think that by not exposing us to this, it'll go away? i also heard about a parent who tried to ban ROMEO AND JULIET because they thought it promoted suicide!! i mean, c'mon, do you honestly think that someone's going to read that and think, "hmmm, i'm gonna kill myself now." does anyone agree with me?

"Books show us what asses and fools we are" that's from Farenheit 451, which was ironically banned for mocking book banning. That's so true, and that's why so many people are so eager to ban them.
I can't stand it when parents try to remove a book from the reading list because it curses or mentions sex and drugs. As if their kids have no idea what any of that stuff is. Books help people think. Banning them is much more harmful then a few curse words or a passing reference to sex.

Book banners are so stupid. To Kill A Mockingbird and Huckleberry Finn are banned for using the "n" word. If you actually read those books you'd see that they are promoting tolerance and extremely anti racist. And they banned The Giver for being "too deep" Come on!

quote:

#88 wheres waldo by Martin Hanford
did the book banners have a hard time finding waldo?

There's a supposed topless woman in one of the pictures.

one that made me laugh
#88 wheres waldo by Martin Hanford
did the book banners have a hard time finding waldo?

quote:

Originally posted by Meagan87:
I wrote a paper about the harmful effects of banning books, with particular note to the Harry Potter series. It was bloody brilliant...

*high five* Gotta love college papers.

I wrote a paper about the harmful effects of banning books, with particular note to the Harry Potter series. It was bloody brilliant...

Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
why was that one even considered for being banned because of its refrence to drugs and sex during racialy tneious times of the vietnam war?
its a good book and letzbloud whats the name of your series so i can keep an eye out for them

I'm a writer trying to get my first book (in a series) finished. It is of the horror genre & it is very graphic. I know that there will be people who wish to have it banned. I say bring it on, my fans will outnumber the naysayers.

Well, I think every book that exists can be challenged. Give me any book you have and I'll tell you some of the "bad influence" that comes out of it. Since these books happen to stand out more due to being required in schools, and considering the parents apparently have nothing else to do in their lives, the books will be subject to criticism.

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William Shakespeare was emo .

Lol no-one seems to know wat "emo" means these days but I like you so I won't tell you off

The funniest thing is when people say a book like Harry Potter will promote witchcraft. I don't see a bunch of kids running around turning people into cats but there's some people who just enjoy the 15 minutes of fame they get so live and let live, I guess. But why was To Kill a Mockingbird challenged? It's so good, there's nothing wrong with this book...

wow, bridge to terabithia was on there? I remember reading that book but I don't recall anything controversial in it. I don't recall anything controversial in "The Giver" either. Do you know why the books are on that list?

Haha... Honestly, I don't care much for which books my school decides to ban or keep, considering I never find school books to be fun reading material. I have to admit though that it's funny when Romeo and Juliet may be banned for "encouraging kids to become suicidal." I guess the secret is out; William Shakespeare was emo .

Heee, I gave a speech on this topic in class this week.

Aside from violating the First Amendment, book-banning burns my chaps pretty hard because it makes it clear that people don't trust kids (child, teen, or in between) to understand what we're reading. Like your "Blubber," Madpuffin. That book's been challenged because certain people believe that unless the mean characters were punished, we readers would think that their behavior was just fine.

I'll bet most of you know about all that Harry Potter bad/Chronicles of Narnia good stuff, how Harry Potter books will surely lead us down the road to Satanism, Wicca, and the occult (because those are all totally the same thing) but Narnia's fine because it teaches Christian values. The thing about that is, you still have to make the connection in the case of Narnia. You have to think about the story and its message. When someone challenges Harry Potter because the characters use magic, they're not looking as deep into the story, which contains wholesome messages as well- that readers can see.

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I can see why some of these were banned, though.

The New Joy of Gay Sex?

What's that doing in schools to begin with?

I'm willing to bet that it wasn't. Books are targeted in public libraries as well.

That is so sad. I'm happy my teachers have encouraged me to read many of these books.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
I read this for my English class. You have to understand it in it's historical and time context.

Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
I read the first one on my own. Didn't really like it. The whole occult thing is perposterous. It's a friggin' fantasy book.

The Giver by Lois Lowry
Why is this one even on here? Do people not like thinking books? Maybe they were upset because they didn't undestand the ending. This is probably my fourth favorite book.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Read this in elementary school. My school is pretty conservative. I dont get it.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
This is my second favorite book of all time. It's extremely important and everyone should read it. I refer to it constantly because it so plainly explains human nature.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Most of my friends read Kurt for english. They are all obsessed with him now.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding
I read this for a high school english class. I don't think my teacher explained it well enough. Now I understand that the book is completely metaphorical. Like BNW, great example of human nature.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Read this in middle school. At the time I just thought it was a really fun book.

Many of these books have been crucial in helping me understand myself and others. You want an offensive or hard to swallow book, try A Clockwork Orange. I love that book too.

Here's a list of the most frequently challenged books of the last decade (1990-2000), according to the ALA:

http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.htm


The first ones I'd have removed from the list:

quote:

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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

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Blubber by Judy Blume

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Pigman by Paul Zindel

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

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I can see why some of these were banned, though.

The New Joy of Gay Sex?

What's that doing in schools to begin with?

I'd say parents should only be able to control what their own children read. But even that doesn't always make sense.

My mom has hated scary movies ever since she saw the exorcist. She wouldn't let me see any for the longest time. Luckily I;m able to deal with horror much better than she is. I laughed through the ring and rubbed my then boyfriend's back because he was scared. She still gets mad when i rent horror movies, mainly because she can;t watch them.

Banning books is sick. If I want to read a book I will damnit and no one is going to stop me. Books are jewels for our vault of knowledge. I truly believe that. To ban a book just because someone is uncomfortable with it is violating our rights. This is a free country, we are free to read what we want even if the material is of an ify subject.

I SO agree with you. My parents ban me from reading Harry Potter books. They asid it'll give me "nightmares." Yeah whatever.

The funny thing I find about banning of various mediums of expression is that effectively most of these organizations are hurting themselves. Almost ALL major cd's that had national controversy raised their sales by almost 200%. Body Counts cd that contained the song "cop killer" is a prime example of this. Al Franken�s book after receiving major criticism from Fox news rose dramatically in sales. Also the prime reason many of these organizations want to ban these books are due to extremely bad interpretations of the book. But I guess the old saying is correct here, if you look hard enough you�ll find something wrong with everything.