Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
With the increase in frequency and scope of book bans in US schools in the past couple of years, I thought it a good idea to revive this infographic we first posted in 2015 highlighting some of the notable books banned over the years.
In the context of school book bans, I thought this quote from Pen America was insightful.
It is important to recognize that books available in schools, whether in a school or classroom library, or as part of a curriculum, were selected by librarians and educators as part of the educational offerings to students. Book bans occur when those choices are overridden by school boards, administrators, teachers, or even politicians, on the basis of a particular book’s content.
Banning in bulk
One new wrinkle seems to be the broad strokes taken in these modern bans, including 97 books being pulled at once in October 2022 in South Carolina and the stark images of the empty shelves in Florida schools as teachers pulled hundreds of books off the shelves.
Of course, the fevered pitch of book banning carries a multitude of titles in its sway that defy understanding — Charlotte’s Web, for example. And The Dictionary. Check out “Five More Children’s Books You Didn’t Know Were Banned” from Reading Partners and “The 11 Most Banned Books Of The Start Of The 2022-2023 School Year” from Pen America to just scratch the surface.
Fragile systems
But on to the infographic. Many of these are titles you’ll recognize as having been banned over the ages, though I, for one, didn’t remember Green Eggs and Ham being on the list (banned in China for 26 years for its portrayal of Marxism). Reminds me of a line in Catching Fire (book two of The Hunger Games) — “It must be a fragile system if it can be brought down by just a few berries” — or some green eggs and ham.
On a personal note, there are books on this list that I’ve tried to read, but couldn’t quite warm up to. Lolita is a book I decided to explore, years ago. I wanted to see for myself what the soul of the story really was. Alas, I abandoned it early on. Nabokov’s prose aside, the story was not one I wanted to plumb. Countless scholars and book lovers disagree, and that’s the way it ought to be. Let the readers decide for themselves.
Revel in truth
And then there’s The Satanic Verses. Another writer who tells his stories in such creamy, elegant language. I remember closing the book after having finished the tale more perplexed than when I started it as to the reason for the furor. That Rushdie has lived with a fatwa calling for his assassination, causing him to live in hiding for a decade only to be brutally attacked and stabbed last year as he addressed a crowd during a lecture in New York… madness. His writing is beautiful.
So remember this, fellow writers. Our job is to expose truth, to find truth, to revel in truth. To speak beauty and brutality. To sing simple stories and concoct complex realities. And, when necessary, to oppose the forces that seek to suppress the voices of those who have done the same. Books should be read!
Thanks to the folks at PrinterInks for putting this infographic together.
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The point here is that these books are not banned. They are only restricted due to age. Part of the reason this has become an issue is the intransigence of those school officials themselves. Time and again they have refused to allow parents to determine what is appropriate for their children.
I am in the editing phase of a book set on a biblical story. It includes some fairly graphic sex and violence. I would not have approved this for my daughter as a young child. Upon growing through puberty I was rather straight forward about sex with my daughter.
The reason for parents and lawmakers to become involved is that pushing a specific sexual agenda and hiding it from the parents undercuts our ability to teach moral behaviors to our children.
No book should be banned for adults. (except maybe instructions for posion gas etc). But many groups of people have widely varying views on sexual morality. The approach that it is our way or the highway instead of sharing with parents has led us to this point.
All that being said I do recognize that laws are often too broad.
Judging by the links and your complaints about “empty shelves” in Florida (which I doubt is true anyway), I guess you are OK with children reading about graphic sexual situations. Sorry — parents do (and should) have some say in what their children read, and some of us want our kids to enjoy their childhood without having to think about adult things such as sex. If you are a parent and you are OK with your kids reading that, then fine — buy these books for your kids yourself.
You diminish your argument when you fail to address that there is a difference between “Charlotte’s Web” and something called “Gender Queer.”
I’m sure you’re OK with biographies about Trump and Clarence Thomas on library shelves, right?
Side note: I have unsubscribed to everything BookBaby.