Page 1 of Sad state of society - revised
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Sad state of society - revised
According to the American Library Association, here are the top 100 books that are frequently challenged in schools and schools library in the USA.
This is taken from the ALA
Quote:
Between 1990 and 2000, of the 6,364 challenges reported to or recorded by the Office for Intellectual Freedom:
1,607 were challenges to "sexually explicit" material (up 161 since 1999);
1,427 to material considered to use "offensive language"; (up 165 since 1999)
1,256 to material considered "unsuited to age group"; (up 89 since 1999)
842 to material with an "occult theme or promoting the occult or Satanism,"; (up 69 since 1999)
737 to material considered to be "violent"; (up 107 since 1999)
515 to material with a homosexual theme or "promoting homosexuality," (up 18 since 1999) and
419 to material "promoting a religious viewpoint." (up 22 since 1999)
Other reasons for challenges included "nudity" (317 challenges, up 20 since 1999), "racism" (267 challenges, up 22 since 1999), "sex education" (224 challenges, up 7 since 1999), and "anti-family" (202 challenges, up 9 since 1999).
Please note that the number of challenges and the number of reasons for those challenges do not match, because works are often challenged on more than one ground.
Seventy-one percent of the challenges were to material in schools or school libraries.
Another twenty-four percent were to material in public libraries (down two percent since 1999). Sixty percent of the challenges were brought by parents, fifteen percent by patrons, and nine percent by administrators, both down one percent since 1999).
1 The Office for Intellectual Freedom does not claim comprehensiveness in recording challenges.
2 Sometimes works are challenged in a school and school library.
Here are the books that are causing the offence.
Quote:
Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
Daddy`s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
Forever by Judy Blume
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Giver by Lois Lowry
It`s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Sex by Madonna
Earth`s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L`Engle
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
The Goats by Brock Cole
Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
Blubber by Judy Blume
Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
Final Exit by Derek Humphry
The Handmaid`s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
What`s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents &
Daughters by Lynda Madaras
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
Deenie by Judy Blume
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
Cujo by Stephen King
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
What`s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons
by Lynda Madaras
Are You There, God? It`s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
Fade by Robert Cormier
Guess What? by Mem Fox
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Native Son by Richard Wright
Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women`s Fantasies by Nancy Friday
Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Jack by A.M. Homes
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
Carrie by Stephen King
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
Family Secrets by Norma Klein
Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
Private Parts by Howard Stern
Where`s Waldo? by Martin Hanford
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
Sex Education by Jenny Davis
The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
Now our school system is totally different to the US, for example, our school leaving age is 16, whilst over in America, there leaving age is 18, so a lot of the books that maybe unsuitable for children would be okay for younger adults.
I know that the majority won't want to rush in to their library and hunt these or any books, but for those who do want to read classic novels are being denied by these God fearing radicals who are hell bent on trying to protect their sweet and innocent children from reading challenging or entertaining books.
Now the following books are banned in schools and the school library so no 16 or 18 year olds are able to read any of the following or are allowed to be taught in their English classes.
Quote:
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
1984
George Orwell
Catcher in the Rye
J.D. Salinger
The Lord of the Flies
William Golding
The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck
Beloved
Toni Morrison
The Color Purple
Alice Walker
Ulysses
James Joyce
Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck
Catch-22
Joseph Heller
Brave New World
Aldous Huxley
The Sun Also Rises
Ernest Hemingway
As I Lay Dying
William Faulkner
Song of Solomon
Toni Morrison
Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad
Their Eyes were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston
A Clockwork Orange
Anthony Burgess
A Farewell to Arms
Ernest Hemingway
Gone with the Wind
Margaret Mitchell
One Flew Over the Cuckoo`s Nest
Ken Kesey
Slaughterhouse Five
Kurt Vonnegut
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Ernest Hemingway
The Call of the Wild
Jack London
All the King`s Men
Robert Penn Warren
The Jungle
Upton Sinclair
Lady Chatterley`s Lover
DH Lawrence
Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison
In Cold Blood
Truman Capote
Satanic Verses
Salman Rushdie
Sons and Lovers
DH Lawrence
Naked Lunch
William S. Burroughs
A Separate Peace
John Knowles
Cat`s Cradle
Kurt Vonnegut
Women in Love
DH Lawrence
The Naked and the Dead
Norman Mailer
An American Tragedy
Theodore Dreiser
Rabbit, Run
John Updike
Tropic of Cancer
Henry Miller
Native Son
Richard Wright
For a country that proclaims to be the land of the free, and stand by their freedom of speech, I can`t believe that there are people who want to ban books for the simple reason that it might expand the childrens and young adults minds, about the world about people, about themselves, which are outside their parents Christian values.
Could this wave of insanity influence the moral guardians over here and try and ban books in our schools that don`t fit the Christian or politically correct criteria?
floyd
This item was edited on Friday, 29th September 2006, 15:42
RE: Sad Americans Part II
Banning books is one thing.
If they start burning them, run for the hills!
===========================
Jitendar Canth
Quote:
"I thought what I`d do was, I`d pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes."
My Top 20 movies at YMDB
Site Reviewer at DVD Reviewer
RE: Sad Americans Part II
There are a lot of people who live here who think we live in a democracy too (we are a republic), but I am sure that crowd is the same one supporting the notion that knowledge is the path to corruption. They have probably felt that way eversince a woman named Eve followed the instructions of a particular serpent.
It is rather scary living here in these times, but I can`t really think of any other place where I can earn a very moderate income and enjoy all the mod-cons money can buy. I don`t maintain a credit card and save for my treats and conveniences and live very happily. I have recently paid off my mortgage too so I suppose I am sitting pretty at this point.
....and you thought life was tough
RE: Sad Americans Part II
Quote:
Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck
...regularly on the syllabus for GCSE English in this country, i.e. being read and studied by 14-16 year-olds.
This book was banned from schools and school library for using offensive language, racism, violence and being unsuited to age group.
floyd
What`s also interesting is that you can actually get at these statistics in the United States. Can we get the same level of freedom of information over in the U.K.? I don`t think so!
Let`s not forget that in this country we had the equally ridiculous banning of material that promoted homosexuality (clause 28?); has that been repealed yet? So perhaps this thread should really be titled "Sad People" and acknowledge that intolerance exists everywhere?
Quote:
banning of material that promoted homosexuality (clause 28?); has that been repealed yet?
Section (Clause) 28, has still not been repealed though, and according to Wikipedia, still has support from The Christian Institute, the African and Caribbean Evangelical Association, the Christian Action Research and Education, the Muslim Council of Britain, and groups within the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England.
The Labour governement did try and get the clause repealed but it was overturned in the House of Lords by the 73 year old conservative politician Baroness Janet Young.
floyd
Quote:
1984
George Orwell
Oh the irony!
Couldn`t agree more, but of course, Americans haven`t quite grasped the concept of irony yet!