Banned Books Week: Spotlight on: THE CHILDREN!!! (or, "what's going on, Wisconsin?")

"But the children! Think of the children!"

Can't you just hear book-banning crazies yelling that over the tops of their signs and their burning torches?

Some of the most frequently banned and challenged books are childrens books, the books that many of us read, loved and can't wait to read with our own kids.
The idea of banning kids books is so foreign to me, because by and large, something is not going to be published for kids if it's truly inappropriate. Even it it looks like a kids book and acts like a kids book, it will be published as adult, if at all (take the classic hilarious book of no-nos, Shes Silverstein's Uncle Shleby's ABZ: A Primer for Adults Only).
But every year, parents, teachers and librarians across the country find fault with some kids' books and feel the need to challenge them, ban them or remove them from circulation. Often, the reasons are surprisingly (or not) ridiculous.
For example:

Shel Silverstein

Two of Silverstein's other books, A Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends have both been banned and challenged.
A Light in the Attic was one of the most banned books of the 90s, for reasons such as, the book "encourages children to break dishes so they won't have to dry them"(Cunningham Elementary School in Beloit, Wis., 1985); it contrains "suggestive illustrations" (Minot, N.D. public schools); and it "glorified Satan, suicide and cannibalism, and also encouraged children to be disobedient" (Big Bend Elementary School, Mukwonago, Wis., 1986). Really? Because I don't so much remember all that.
Where the Sidewalk Ends was challenged in Pennsylvania because of the poem "Dreadful," which talks about how "someone ate the baby" (Central Columbia SD, Bloomburg, Pa., 1986) and it apparently "suggests drug use, the occult, suicide, death, violence, disrespect for truth, disrespect for legitimate authority, [and] rebellion against parents" (West Allis-West Milwaukee, Wis. school libraries, 1993).


ROALD DAHL:


Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Roald Dahl classic we all know and love, was placed in a locked reference collection at the Boulder, Colorado, Public Library in 1988 because it "espoused a poor philosophy of life." It was later removed, but really, Boulder? James and the Giant Peach, one of my favorite books as a kid, is "not appropriate reading material for children" (Deep Creek E.S., Charlotte Harbor, Fl., 1991), perhaps because it contains the "ass" and "promotes the use of drugs )tobacco, snuff) and whiskey" (Pederson E.S., Altoona, Wis. 1991, and Morton E.S., Brooksville, Fl., 1992). And of course, that capital od childrens books sins, is "contains crude language and encourages children to disobey their parents" (Stafford County, Va. schools, 1995).

C.S. LEWIS

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, along with the Chronicles of Narnia series in general takes a lot of flack. For some, it's too Christian, but for Christians... well, some seem to miss the (obvious) Christian allegory, and denounce it for its "graphic violence, mysticism, and gore" (Howard County, Md. school system, 1990).


DR. SEUSS Yep, that Dr. Seuss. My all-time favorite book by the beloved Doctor, The Lorax was challenged by the Laytonville, California Unified School District in 1989 because it "criminalizes the foresting industry." Yep.


LAURA INGALLS WILDER

The Little House books, especially Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Prairie are challenged fairly frequently. Little House in the Big Woods was removed from third-grade classrooms in Lincoln Unified School District in Stockton, Ca., in 1996, and from the libraries of the same community after complaints that the book "promotes racial epithets and is fueling the fire of racism." Little House on the Prairie was challenged for "being offensive to Indians" (Lafourche Parish, Thibodoux, La., 1993, and Sturgis, SD). Rather than being, you know, a memoir where things are represented as they were, not sugar-coated for the ultra-PC 90s.

and lastly:

Where's Waldo by Martin Hanford was challenged in the Saginaw, Mi. Public Library System, reason unknown (oh, Michigan, my beloved state, I did not want to include you in this list of ridiculousness, but this is not the only time you've banned. Shame.). It was removed from circulation in the Springs Public School System in East Hampton, NY in 1993 because of a drawing of a woman on a beach wearing a bikini with no top. (which I believe you can only tell from the back)

So there's your list of absurdity for the day. I think we can all ask ourselves one question. What's going on Wisconsin? Most of these are from you.

As a parting gift to you:
Here is the ALA list of Most Frequently Banned and Challenged books of the 90s, many of them childrens books:

1. Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
2. Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
4. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
8. Forever by Judy Blume
9. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
10. Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
11. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
12. My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
14. The Giver by Lois Lowry
15. It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
16. Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
17. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
18. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
19. Sex by Madonna
20. Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
21. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
23. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
24. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
25. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
26. The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
27. The Witches by Roald Dahl
28. The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
29. Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
30. The Goats by Brock Cole
31. Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
32. Blubber by Judy Blume
33. Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
34. Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
35. We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
36. Final Exit by Derek Humphry
37. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
38. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
39. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
40. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
42. Beloved by Toni Morrison
43. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
44. The Pigman by Paul Zindel
45. Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
46. Deenie by Judy Blume
47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
48. Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
49. The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
50. Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
53. Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
54. Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
55. Cujo by Stephen King
56. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
57. The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
58. Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
59. Ordinary People by Judith Guest
60. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
61. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
62. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
63. Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
64. Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
65. Fade by Robert Cormier
66. Guess What? by Mem Fox
67. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
68. The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
69. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
70. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
71. Native Son by Richard Wright
72. Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday
73. Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
74. Jack by A.M. Homes
75. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
76. Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
77. Carrie by Stephen King
78. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
79. On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
80. Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
81. Family Secrets by Norma Klein
82. Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
83. The Dead Zone by Stephen King
84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
85. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
86. Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
87. Private Parts by Howard Stern
88. Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford
89. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
90. Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
91. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
92. Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
93. Sex Education by Jenny Davis
94. The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
95. Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
96. How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
97. View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
98. The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
99. The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
100. Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier