pixiedude

http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedboo...frequently.htm

I can understand why some of the books might be controversial, but I am puzzled at the sight of such high school English class chestnuts as "Of Mice and Men" and "To Kill a Mockingbird". What can be objectionable about "Where's Waldo"?

n e r b l e

for schools some i can understand but at libraries that's just dumb.

22 Umbrellas

I have never been a fan of banned books anywhere, whether at libraries or schools. It just seems ridiculous to me. And a lot of those books -- The Giver, Bridge to Teribithia, Anastasia Krupnik, Blubber -- some of my favorites, most of which I see nothing wrong with.

I'm surprised Fahrenheit 451 (by Ray Bradbury) isn't on there.

the laziest little sidekick

It's interesting that "What's Happening to my Body?" for girls is 21 places higher than the boys' version.

Dolphin-girl

Ok, i can understand books about sexual positions Ect being banned as if a child picked it up there could be a lot of questions. But 'where's Waldo' that's ridiculus(SP). I also noticed Of mice and men on this list i had to read that at school and found nothing in it to be ban worthey, and while i'll admit it had racism ect in the book it's also apart of every day life and without books bringing issues into light we would still suffer more from these issues. Sorry if you didn't understand all that.

Soz

I've heard that the reason Where's Waldo has been challenged is that some people thought there was a naked person in one of the pictures or something similar.

I don't agree with banning books anywhere because it shouldn't be up to other people's parents to do decide what I or my future children will read.

StellaSlight

Tom Sawyer ???
Why would they ban Tom Sawyer? Out of the two books Mark Twain wrote about the theme, Huckleberry Finn was the one destined to adults, so I really don't understand it.

Ha. And one might think that American Psycho is a more dangerous book than Harry Potter, but looks like it's not really the case...

Crossbow

I've heard that the thinking is that Tom Sawyer is bad because it depicts slavery without really condemning it. As if it would have been possible to write a book in that era without depicting slavery.

To Kill a Mockingbird??? I've never read that, but I thought that it was all about having strong moral values and stuff. I saw the movie a couple of times.

A.Film.By.Tiff

Where's Waldo is banned because supposedly you can see an image of a breast in one of the pictures

Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn are banned/challenged because of "the n-word."

I was still forced to read Huck Finn though, and I hated it.

~*Echo*~

It surprises me how many of the books on the list are for 5th-6th graders. I read many of them, and didn't notice anything offensive.

But Where's Waldo I can totally understand. I mean, clearly, nothing good can come of a children's book where you're trying to find a kindly cartoon man. I'm sure it will take away the innocence of children everywhere.

I'm not big on banning books in general, but what really annoys me is that many of the books on the list offend almost no one except for a select sensitive few. Why waste time and energy being offended by things like Harry Potter and Anastasia Krupnik?

Candice L.

How many of the banned books have you read? I've read Of Mice and Men, My Brother Sam is Dead, The Giver, The Catcher in the Rye, some Goosebumps books, The Great Gilly Hopkins, A Wrinkle in Time, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Outsiders, The Pigman, James and the Giant Peach, The Face on the Milk Carton, Lord of the Flies, On My Honor, Tom Sawyer, Summer of My Germain Soldier, and How to Eat Fried Worms.

I can think of why some of them have been challenged, but To Kill a Mockingbird? It's classic! More than half of those books I read for school assignments, and half of those that I read for school were assigned when I was in Catholic school... I remember reading James and the Giant Peach and the word "ass" was in there. This was a big deal when I was in second grade. I went to a semi-lenient Catholic school, I guess.

iluvjesslotz

I've read a lot of the books on that list, and, for the most part, I didn't find anything controversial about them. I mean, books like Flowers for Algernon and Harry Potter could be considered controversial, but Where's Waldo is a bit of a head scratcher.

StellaSlight

Geez. The more I read about that list, the more I'm disgusted by the way books and freedom of thought is censored, even nowadays.

I'm really dismayed to see that books like the Earth's Children series by Jean M Auel, which are truly treasures of historical researches on pre-historic cultures and beliefs, added to a marvelous story and smooth writing, are listed in the challenged list, along with classics like To Kill a Mockingbird and Tom Swayer, while pieces of garbage like Hitler's Mein Kampf don't even appear in the list. Shame, shame.

imajica

I will never understand the concept of shielding our children from knowing about the things that we don't want them to become. How do you develop your own moral compass if you are never exposed to the adverse things in the world and allowed to develop your own ideals and opinions in relation to them. Many of the books on this list helped to shape my view of the world and the person that I have become and nobody will ever convince me that that is a bad thing.

Of the people I know now its is the ones who were well read in their childhood and teens who have a much more balanced view of the world.

Sunnyolaf

This is jut sad. I've read most of the books on that list and do not see anything wrong with them. I mean The Giver was a great book and Lord of the Flies come on. That's the book that got my brother to start reading books for school.

The next thing you know these books will not even be allowed in bookstores. I respect that some people do not want their kids to read certain things but at what point do we draw the line.