Banned Books Awareness: James and the Giant Peach

Many know of the childhood story about a boy who tragically lost his parents to a rhinoceros attack and had to live with his evil aunts and then perceives through the hardship and joins a magical world of creatures and friends. This story is James and the Giant Peach what I am sure many of your do not know is that James and the Giant Peach has been banned many times. 

As shocking as it may seem this timeless tale has been banned for: being too scary for the targeted age group, mysticism, sexual inferences, profanity, racism, references to tobacco and alcohol, and claims that it promotes disobedience, drugs and communism. 

It has been challenge by such places as Indian River County, Florida, Altoona, Wisconsin and Hernando County, Florida. 

Read the rest of this article to find why it is banned in these cities, background on the author of this beloved book and much more. http://bannedbooks.world.edu/2011/05/22/banned-books-awareness-james-giant-peach/

The Diary of Anne Frank: Too Explicit?

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

In Michigan, Gail Horalek, a mother of a 7th-grade girl at Meads Mill Middle School, has some issues with the district's curriculum. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl was a part of her daughter's language arts class, and Gail thinks there's something quite wrong with that. She states, "It's pretty graphic, and it's pretty pornographic for seventh-grade boys and girls to be reading." Furthermore, she insists, "It's inappropriate for a teacher to be giving this material out to the kids when its really the parents' job to give the students this information." In response to her anger, Gail Horalek filed a complaint with the school district, and she proposes that the diary is an inappropriate version of Jewish families hiding from the Nazis during the Holocaust. 

The Diary of Anne Frank has been a frequent visitor in classrooms all over the United State since it was first published in 1947. Does this mean that Gail Horalek's attempt to protect her child is too extreme? Or, should America's middle school classroom's reconsider what they use for their curriculum? 

Watch Gail Horalek's interview with her local news station here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/29/anne-frank-diary-pornographic-7th-grade-michigan-parent_n_3180134.html

Shocking Banned Books

Both the Merriam Webster and the American Heritage Dictionaries have been banned in various schools. The Merriam Webster was banned in a California elementary school in January 2010 for its definition of oral sex. Districts representatives said it was just not appropriate. 

The Illinois Police Association, along with 11 other states, tried to get libraries to remove this book in 1977 because it portrays policemen as pigs. I suppose we shouldn't have children's books with animals anymore. 

One of my all time favorite children's book, 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?', was banned in January 2010 by the Texas Board of Education because the author has the same name as an obscure Marxist theorist. The only problem with this is that no one checked to see if it was the same person..

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Banned Books That Shaped America

Banned Books That Shaped America 

1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain

2. The Autobiography of Malcom X, Malcom X and Alex Haley

3. Beloved, Toni Morrison

4. The Call of the Wind, Jack London

5. Catch-22, Joseph Heller

6. The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger

7. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury

8. For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway

9. Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell

10. The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck

11. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

12. Howl, Allen Ginsberg

13. In Cold Blood, Truman Capote

14. Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison

15. The Jungle, Upton Sinclair

Many of these books have been taught in the school systems and are obviously banned now. What is your opinion of these "America-shaping" books? This is just a short list - there are many more books on the following webite: http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/censorship/bannedbooksthatshapedamerica. Check it out and make your own opinion! Should these be banned for the reasons the website say? Are these books detrimental to the education of America? Let us know what you think!

And Tango Makes Three

And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson and illustrated by Henry Cole, has topped the Banned Book list since 2006, according to the American Library Association. It is the 4th highest banned book of the decade (ALA); Harry Potter, Alice, and The Chocolate War take spots 1, 2, and 3. 

The children's book tells the story of two penguins, Roy and Silo, whom live in Central Park Zoo. Roy and Silo are both males, which leaves them unable to have children of their own. Their zookeeper finds an egg and wants Roy and Silo to take care of it, so he places it in their nest. Through the egg's development, Roy and Silo take care of the egg together- making sure it keeps warm until it's ready to hatch. Once the egg hatches, a baby penguin is born. Roy and Silo decide to name him Tango. 

Seems rather harmless, right? A children's book about penguins... What's so wrong there? Well, according to the American Library Association, the top cited reasons for banning And Tango Makes Three are: "homosexuality, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to age group." Various school districts across the country have found the book's message to be alarming; a school district in Utah voted to keep the book off its shelves stating, "It didn't align with district curriculum standards."

So, what do you think? Does And Tango Makes Three promote homosexuality? Does it inflict upon religious views in school districts or communities? 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/and-tango-makes-three

A Site To See

This website, http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/banned-books.html, gives a great synopsis of books that have been banned and why they have been banned, giving you a chance as a reader to explore and decide for yourself whether or not you believed they should be banned and if they were banned for fair  reasons.

Some of the books included are Moll Flanders, Frankenstein, Black Beauty, certain Shakespeare stories and some fairy tales that we all know and love. Please read on to find out more and become informed on banned books!

Debate: which side are you on?

Upon researching banned and challenged books, 3Teachers1Blog has found two websites that speak out on both sides of the debate: 1. "Freedom to Read Statement" and 2. "Parents Against Bad Books In Schools."

 Both of these websites provide information regarding banned and challenged books, and why they believe theirs is correct. Our job isn't to tell you which side is better; we want you to decide for yourselves.

Check 'em out here:

ALA: Freedom to Read Statement
http://www.ala.org/offices/oif/statementspols/ftrstatement/freedomreadstatement

Parents Against Bad Books in Schools: Home page
http://www.pabbis.com/

So... What do you think?