Banned Books Week
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Banning a book is when a
person or group decides that a
book is so inappropriate in some
way that NO ONE should read
the book. Then the person or
group has the book removed
from the shelves of libraries.
What does it mean to ban a
book?
How does a book get
banned?
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An individual or group files a formal challenge
with a school or library, requesting that a book
or material be removed
The school or library forms a committee to
review the material
The committee votes on if the material should
be removed or retained
If the material is kept on the shelf, the person
filing the complaint may file another complaint
with the court system, which then will review
the case
How often are books
banned?
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In 2009, there were 460 REPORTED
challenges. “A challenge is defined as a
formal, written complaint, filed with a
library or school requesting that materials
be removed because of content or
appropriateness.”
A book is challenged if someone requests
that it be removed from library shelves.
A book is banned if the library or school
agrees to remove it from circulation.
Why are books challenged
or banned?
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Books usually are challenged to protect others,
frequently children, from difficult ideas and
information.
Most librarians see challenges as grounded in good
intention and pure in conviction, but they are
ultimately illegal and restrictive.
Why are books challenged?
Why are books challenged
or banned?—The ISSUES
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Family values
Political values
Intellectual freedom
(think Iran and
President
Ahmadinejad’s
comments that the
Holocaust did not
happen—or at least
not to the extent
others believe)
Why not ban books?
1st Amendment rights-
Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof; or abridging the
freedom of speech, or of the press; or the
right of the people peaceably to assemble,
and to petition the government for a
redress of grievances.
What’s wrong with Banning Books?
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Books provide education on a wide variety of
subjects and the opportunity to have an
experience vicariously
Without a wide variety of views, change cannot
occur within a society
It is not possible to experience events such as
the Holocaust or life in Puritan society but these
events helped shape the world we live in today
and it is important to have knowledge of those
events.
Effects of Banning Books
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Without examples such as Maya Angelou’s
experiences in her childhood (I know why the
Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou), how would
people who have not experienced racism learn
about racism?
Without The Scarlet Letter, how would we
understand Puritan society and how it operated?
Without Fahrenheit 451, how would you
understand what effect burning books could
have on a person and how the desire for banned
items increases their interest and mystery?
In other words, reading is
an opportunity to
experience an event
without actually living
through it.
Should other people decide
what YOU read?
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Parents and teachers are responsible for
helping you select reading materials while
they are still responsible for you. But as
an adult, you have the freedom to read
books of your choice and to decide what
your children may or may not be allowed
to read.
According to the
Library Bill of Rights…..
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Parents—have the right and the
responsibility to restrict the access of their
children—and only their children—to
library resources.” Censorship by librarians
of constitutionally protected speech,
whether for protection or for any other
reason, violates the First Amendment.
What books have been banned?
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Banned for depictions of
sex, racism, and violence
What books have been banned?
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Offensive language
What books have been banned?
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Ordered BURNED in
East St. Louis for
indecency and
obscenity—it
actually was
restricted to adults
only instead of being
burned
What books have been banned?
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Banned in a number
of places over the
years because of
objections to the
language used and
the perception that
the book promotes
racism
What books have been banned?
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Fahrenheit 451 is
about book burning
and the effect that
banning or censoring
books has on a
society
What books have been banned?
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Many have objected
to the “magical
content” in this book,
claiming it promotes
witchcraft and evil
content. (It was
written by the
daughter of Christian
missionaries.)
What books have been banned?
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Many have objected
to the “magical
content” in this book,
and the other Harry
Potter books, claiming
it promotes witchcraft
and evil content.
What books have been banned?
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This book was
banned because there
is a wine bottle in the
basket on the cover
of the book. Some
people felt it
promoted drinking
alcoholic beverages
What books have been banned?
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This book was
banned for
encouraging
inappropriate
behavior
What books have been banned?
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Banned for
inappropriate
content,
promotion of
cannibalism
What books have been banned?
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Banned in some
schools and libraries
because
‘inappropriate
pictures’
What books have been banned?
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Banned in some
schools and libraries
because of content
about the logging
industry—
”criminalizes the
forestry industry”
2009 Top Ten
(We have all these in our library)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
TTYL, TTFN, L8R G8R / Myracle (sexually
explicit, language, nudity, unsuited to age
group)
And Tango Makes 3 / Parnell & Richardson
(homosexuality)
The Perks of Being a Wallflower / Chbosky
(homosexuality)
To Kill a Mockingbird / Lee (racism, offensive
language, unsuited to age group)
Twilight Series / Meyer (sexually explicit,
religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group)
6. Catcher in the Rye / Salinger (sexually explicit,
offensive language, unsuited to age group)
7. My Sister’s Keeper / Picoult (sexism,
homosexuality, sexually explicit, offensive
language, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age
group, drugs, suicide, violence)
8. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round
Things / Mackler (sexually explicit, offensive
language, unsuited to age group)
9. The Color Purple / Walker (sexually explicit,
offensive language, unsuited to age group)
10. The Chocolate War / Cormier (nudity, sexually
explicit, unsuited to age group, offensive
language)
Other books challenged-
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The Giver / Lois Lowry
A Day No Pigs Would Die / Peck
A Wrinkle in Time / L’Engle
Fallen Angels / Walter Dean Meyers
More books challenged-
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Blubber, Deenie / Judy Blume
Whale Talk / Chris Crutcher
The Outsiders / S.E. Hinton
James and the Giant Peach / Raold Dahl
Cujo / Stephen King
The Face on the Milk Carton / Caroline Cooney
Other books challenged-
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Black Beauty / Anna Sewell
The Bible
Animal Farm / George Orwell
Catcher in the Rye / J. D. Salinger
Goosebumps books / R. L. Stine
Scary Stories / Alvin Schwartz
--and many more…..
Court Cases
The Right to Read Freely
Evans v. Selma Union High School District of Fresno
County, 222 P. 801 (Ca. 1924)
(Foundations of Free Speech)
The California State Supreme Court held that the
King James version of the Bible was not a
"publication of a sectarian, partisan, or
denominational character" that a State statute
required a public high school library to
exclude from its collections. The "fact that the
King James version is commonly used by
Protestant Churches and not by Catholics"
does not "make its character sectarian," the
court stated. "The mere act of purchasing a
book to be added to the school library does
not carry with it any implication of the
adoption of the theory or dogma contained
therein, or any approval of the book itself,
except as a work of literature fit to be
included in a reference library."
Rosenberg v. Board of Education of City of New
York, 92 N.Y.S.2d 344 (Sup. Ct. Kings County 1949)
(Foundations of Free Speech)
After considering the charge that Oliver Twist and the
Merchant of Venice are "objectionable because they tend
to engender hatred of the Jew as a person and as a
race," the Supreme Court, Kings County, New York,
decided that these two works cannot be banned from
the New York City schools, libraries, or classrooms,
declaring that the Board of Education "acted in good
faith without malice or prejudice and in the best
interests of the school system entrusted to their care
and control, and, therefore, that no substantial reason
exists which compels the suppression of the two books
under consideration."
Minarcini v. Strongsville (Ohio) City School District,
541 F.2d 577 (6th Cir. 1976)
(Foundations of Free Speech)
The Strongsville City Board of Education rejected faculty
recommendations to purchase Joseph Heller's Catch-22
and Kurt Vonnegut's God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater and
ordered the removal of Catch-22 and Vonnegut's Cat's
Cradle from the library. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Sixth Circuit ruled against the School Board, upholding
the students' First Amendment right to receive
information and the librarian's right to disseminate it.
"The removal of books from a school library is a much
more serious burden upon the freedom of classroom
discussion than the action found unconstitutional in
Tinker v. Des Moines School District."
Zykan v. Warsaw (Indiana) Community School
Corporation and Warsaw School Board of Trustees,
631 F.2d 1300 (7th Cir. 1980)
(Freedom of Expression in Schools)
A student brought suit seeking to reverse school officials'
decision to "limit or prohibit the use of certain textbooks,
to remove a certain book from the school library, and to
delete certain courses from the curriculum." The district
court dismissed the suit. On appeal, the Court of Appeals
for the Seventh Circuit ruled that the school board has
the right to establish a curriculum on the basis of its own
discretion, but it is forbidden to impose a "pall of
orthodoxy." The right of students to file complaints was
recognized, but the court held that the students' claims
"must cross a relatively high threshold before entering
upon the field of a constitutional claim suitable for
federal court litigation."
What to do about banning books?
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Exercise your rights! Read a banned book
today
Talk to your neighbors about why
everyone should be allowed to choose for
themselves and their families what they
read
If you want to know more, visit the ALA
website on challenged and banned books
Sources:
•Poster Images from: American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression,
• http://www.abffe.org/bbw-posters.htm
•Book Cover Images from: Alibris www.alibris.com
•Court Case citations from The American Library Association, Notable First
Amendment Court Cases website:
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/firstamendment/courtcases/courtcases.htm
•Other images: Microsoft ClipArt