I drew this comic to celebrate Banned Books Week! This great op-ed by James Klise shows one author's experience with a challenge to intellectual freedom. The American Library Association has compiled a list of frequently banned and challenged books. Here are few of my favorite books from the list:
The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle
A Light in the Attic, by Shel Silverstein
The Giver, by Lois Lowry
In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice SendakHarry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling
Scary Stories series, by Alvin Schwartz
I have most of the books listed above on my bookshelf, but my copy of Sendak's In the Night Kitchen is the most unique. I had the book as a child, but recently bought it at a used bookstore. When I got home and opened the book, I found that the previous owner had circled the main character's genitalia and every other possible sexual reference found in the illustrations.
You can order a poster of this comic here.
An easy list to protect. The real question these days is where one stands on the banning or bleeping of Huckleberry Finn.
ReplyDeleteWell?
Do. Not. Touch. Huckleberry. Finn.
ReplyDeleteHuckleberry Finn is definitely a more complex issue, but I agree with Nauplion.
ReplyDeleteI read The Giver by Lois Lowry when I was in 5th grade. It isn't badly written, but it's the overall creepy factor that got me.
ReplyDeleteHow odd! I just bought a secondhand "A Wrinkle in Time" yesterday and the sci-fi con :D i really don't remember anything in it being ban-worthy. Must reread promptly.
ReplyDeletep.s. A light in the Attic? Seriously? Why?
Is this available as a poster?
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous: Yes, just follow the instructions on the Poster Shop page.
ReplyDeleteYes, lets ban the books that kids actually enjoy reading.
ReplyDeleteWhy really? banning inceases the allure and attencion a book gets and there is nothing wrong on those books.... well, other that the fact they make you think and enjoy it.
For the first 6 panels, I thought it was about the Bible...
ReplyDelete"There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written. That is all." Oscar Wilde
ReplyDeleteI especially like the little dog, tagging along just to have fun. :)
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of In the Night Kitchen . . . When I found it in our school library, the boy had black underwear on him throughout the whole book. It was so well done, I did not know it was not original. I later found out that a previous library staff member had carefully covered all the boys' private parts with a marker. I now have the unadulterated book as well to do comparisons with!
ReplyDeleteI love this, but I need to censor the 'unrealistic sex' panel. Is that okay?
ReplyDeleteBwahahahahaha
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ReplyDelete"Scary stories" is banned or challenged? (As in those scary story books with various false tales that are nevertheless bone-chilling with unnerving imagery added to the pages).
ReplyDeleteI wonder why? Did the challenger or offender ACTUALLY think something titled SCARY is NOT scary? (Well if it's Scary Movie that makes sense but this is a BOOK).
That's like watching say "Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas" intentionally, as an adult, and apparently not seeing the terms "Tim Burton", "Nightmare", or "Christmas" in the title. You might as well be blind or lobotomized if you're that senseless. -.- (The lobotomy thing is obviously a hyperbole but still...unless you're born 'retarded', how can you be that DAFT and STUPID?)
A book I really enjoy myself, "Of Mice And Men" was challenged once, but NOT for the depiction of blacks, not for guns or lustful situations, but for "Jesus Christ" and the n-word being involved....I guess the parent forgot to get the point it was set and written around the time of the Great Depression...you know before the world started becoming a planet full of spoiled, whiny brats in grown bodies craving attention. Such dialogue choices are to help immerse the reader in the time era and make them believe it's truly historical, realistic fiction. What? Would you like Shakespearean dialogue in your Star Wars? Or perhaps a lightsaber in your Lord of the Rings, cause THAT will DEFINITELY immerse the viewer into the world. ugh.