20 banned books that may surprise you

[cali]

1. 'Harriet the Spy,' by Louise Fitzhugh

Louise Fitzhugh's well-loved tale of a girl who spies on her friends and has to face the consequences was banned because it was said to set a bad example for children, supposedly encouraging them to spy, lie, and swear.

2. 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,' by L. Frank Baum

Frank L. Baum's classic story about a girl and her friends traveling through the mystical land of Oz came under fire in Detroit, where it was banned from the libraries for having "no value" for children and supporting "negativism."

3. The dictionary

The dictionary as banned book – really? Yes. The dictionary has been banned from libraries in California because it includes sexual definitions.

<snip>

6. 'Little House on the Prairie,' by Laura Ingalls Wilder

This installment in the wildly popular frontier series by real-life pioneer Wilder was banned from a South Dakota classroom because of comments the characters in the book made about Native Americans.

<snip>

http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2012/1003/20-banned-books-that-may-surprise-you/Harriet-the-Spy-by-Louise-Fitzhugh?google_editors_picks=true

[etherealtruth]

1. Mix abject stupidity with a little power

7. 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See,' by Bill Martin Jr.
The classic children's book was banned by the State Board of Education in Texas in 2010 due to a simple mistake. A board member mixed up Martin with another author named Bill Martin who had written a book for adults titled "Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation."

Edited to add: Sadly, the stupidity associated with banning books never surprises me

[HappyMe]

2. Good grief!

I can't believe they still do this! Sickening.

[MadHound]

3. The PC and morality police teaming up to deprive children of great literature.

Sad, sad and scary.

[TheManInTheMac]

18. Exactly...

Reading the list it seems like extremists of every stripe imaginable are trying to one-up each other with no consideration whatsoever for common sense or the importance of learning.

[Cirque du So-What]

4. A library in my locale

has a prominent display of 'banned books' to lend. Makes me proud that my local library board sees fit to thumb their nose at censorship.

[Brother Buzz]

13. Ours did too.

Prominently display with crime scene tape crossed over the shelves. I took notice and realized I'd read close to half of them.

[Odin2005]

16. Ours does that during "Banned Book Month".

Which I believe is this month.

[ChazII]

26. Our library

does this as well.

[ananda]

5. Jeebs!

Some of the greatest books of all time are on that list.

Sigh

[no_hypocrisy]

6. Don't know why they're griping over Laura Ingalls Wilder

Her daughter, Rose, adored Ayn Rand and was a founder of libertarianism with her.

http://www.libertarianrepublican.net/2011/04/besides-ayn-rand-there-was-rose-wilder.html

[cali]

7. first of all, it's likely NOT to be the right who are upset about her

depiction of Native Americans. Secondly, how many people do you think know that her daughter admired Ayn Rand and was a libertarian? Thirdly, what does that have to do with anything. That was her daughter not her.

[no_hypocrisy]

8. All valid points.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. Rose was a nut

She had what has been described as a 'difficult' relationship with her mother. But she probably wrote most of Laura's books.

[TheManInTheMac]

19. I doubt libertarians believe in banning ANY books. Banning public libraries, yes, but not books.

[Posteritatis]

21. The correct response is to "gripe" over *any* book bans. (nt)

[ButterflyBlood]

23. So she's responsible for all of her daughter's actions?

That makes as much sense as holding Ron Reagan Jr. and his sister Patti as responsible for the actions of their father.

[XemaSab]

27. Her daughter wrote most of the books

n/t

[hobbit709]

9. They banned Uncle Shelby?

The people that ban things amaze me.
"This you cannot read because it may cause you to think"

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. I had a parent complain years ago about Little House on the Prairie

She thought it was old-fashioned. I wanted to ask her if she thought teaching history was also old-fashioned.

[no_hypocrisy]

12. Excellent rebuttal

[AnnieBW]

25. Did they know that Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter was a buddy of Ayn Rand?

Maybe the people who want to ban the "Little House" books would think twice if they knew that cute little Laura raised a daughter who was a Libertarian and a good buddy of Ayn Rand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Wilder_Lane

[TheMightyFavog]

14. I am working on a banned book display for work.

I was reading about how the John Birch Society tried to have the book Animal Farm banned from a library in Wisconsin because they thought it promoted communism.

And these are the people that inspired today's teabaggers.

[TheManInTheMac]

20. Animal Farm? Promoting communism? Holy hell, now I've heard it all!

[Odin2005]

15. Number 7 just kills me

7. 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See,' by Bill Martin Jr.

The classic children's book was banned by the State Board of Education in Texas in 2010 due to a simple mistake. A board member mixed up Martin with another author named Bill Martin who had written a book for adults titled "Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation."

[kiva]

17. The Diary of Anne Frank

"was a real downer."

[Scootaloo]

29. Yeah, that's a head-slapper.

It strikes me that most of these were banned for questioning authority... that kinda tells you all you need to know about the people who are doing the banning. Yes, how dare children learn that saying "no" is okay?

[bvar22]

22. DURec.

The Christian Science Monitor is one of the very few domestic sources of information I still trust.

[smackd]

24. H the S???

that was and is my all time favorite childhood book! wtf?

altho...it did prompt me to create my own spy route one summer, so hmmm...lol

I still read it every few years, and it STILL makes me lol in spots!

[SheilaT]

28. The comments made by Ma in the Little House Books

are exactly what a lot of people thought then. I'm not defending those comments, but they must be taken in context.

There is also an African American doctor in one of the later books, a Dr. Tan, I think he's called, and he helps the family through some major illness.

[Scootaloo]

30. The only one that surprises me is Canturbury Tales

And the only reason that it surprises me is because, if any book on this list is worth a ban (and none of them are) then it's the one. At least on the basis of "disrespectfulness" and "poor philosophy of life" and the other crap behind the other books being banned... I mean one of its major claims to fame was being the first use of the word "cunt" in English literature.

It also introduced the writer's device of dying before you finish your damn book.

[xfundy]

31. I would think "Harriet the Spy" would be required reading for cancervatives.

Teaches them to lie, CHECK! Rmoney, Bush getting us into wars, Cheney, every word, etc.

Spy? Well, Bush started spying on Americans, and that was GOOD. Obama apparently keeps it up, and that's BAD. (yes, it is.)

Swear? What else is the pledge of allegiance, especially with the God crap in it? Oh, they mean dirty words? Like "doo doo" and "Romney?"