Banned Books Week 2022 - Some challenged favorites

The National Council of Teachers of English has compiled an eight page list of the works it has defended from 2002 - 2018. The sheer number of works...books, comics, films...on this list is astounding!

You can check out the link here.

Below is a list of some of my favorite books and the reason(s) they were banned/challenged.

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

• Burned in Alamagordo, NM (2001) outside Christ Community Church along with other Tolkien novels as satanic.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

• Challenged in Eden Valley, MN (1977) and temporarily banned due to words "damn" and "whore lady" used in the novel.
• Challenged in the Vernon Verona Sherill, NY School District (1980) as a "filthy, trashy novel."
• Challenged at the Warren, IN Township schools (1981) because the book does "psychological damage to the positive integration process" and "represents institutionalized racism under the guise of good literature." After unsuccessfully trying to ban Lee's novel, three black parents resigned from the township human relations advisory council.
• Challenged in the Waukegan, IL School District (1984) because the novel uses the word "nigger."
• Challenged in the Kansas City, MO junior high schools (1985). Challenged at the Park Hill, MO Junior High School (1985) because the novel "contains profanity and racial slurs." Retained on a supplemental eighth grade reading list in the Casa Grande, AZ Elementary School District (1985), despite the protests by black parents and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People who charged the book was unfit for junior high use.
• Challenged at the Santa Cruz, CA Schools (1995) because of its racial themes. Removed from the Southwood High School Library in Caddo Parish, LA (1995) because the book's language and content were objectionable.
• Challenged at the Moss Point, MS School District (1996) because the novel contains a racial epithet.
• Banned from the Lindale, TX advanced placement English reading list (1996) because the book "conflicted with the values of the community."
• Challenged by a Glynn County, GA (2001) School Board member because of profanity. The novel was retained. Returned to the freshman reading list at Muskogee, OK High School (2001) despite complaints over the years from black students and parents about racial slurs in the text.
• Challenged in the Normal, IL Community High School's sophomore literature class (2003) as being degrading to African Americans.
• Challenged at the Stanford Middle School in Durham, NC (2004) because the 1961 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel uses the word "nigger."
• Challenged at the Brentwood, TN Middle School (2006) because the book contains “profanity” and “contains adult themes such as sexual intercourse, rape, and incest.” The complainants also contend that the book’s use of racial slurs promotes “racial hatred, racial division, racial separation, and promotes white supremacy.”
• Retained in the English curriculum by the Cherry Hill, NJ Board of Education (2007). A resident had objected to the novel’s depiction of how blacks are treated by members of a racist white community in an Alabama town during the Depression. The resident feared the book would upset black children reading it.
• Removed (2009) from the St. Edmund Campion Secondary School classrooms in Brampton Ontario, Canada because a parent objected to language used in the novel, including the word “nigger."

The Stand by Stephen King

• Reason: "sexual language, casual sex, and violence"2002-2003 
• The Brookeland ISD reported that all Stephen King books were banned in all district schools.

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

• Cleburne High School - Parents say novel pornographic

Earth's Children series, The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel

• Most common reason: Banned for sexual references, which were described vividly.
• A specific instance: Challenged, but retained from the Moorpark High School recommended reading list in Simi Valley, Calif. (1993) despite objections that it contains "hardcore graphic sexual content." Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, Mar. 1994, p. 70; May 1994, p. 99.

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

• Challenged at the Arrowhead High School in Merton, Wis. (2004) as an elective reading list assignment by a parent because the book contains “sexually explicit and inappropriate material.”

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Banned Books Week 2011: The Pillars of the Earth

Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., in Texas v. Johnson , said most eloquently:

"If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable."

BBW HISTORICAL FICTION TITLE OF THE DAY

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett


A top ten favorite of mine, I find it hard to believe that a book such as this has been challenged.

For this book to be banned/challenged due to its accurate descriptions of life in medieval times is a travesty.  History is dark and gritty and violent.  It's a reality.  Should young adults be shielded from the realities of life, especially the realities of history?  I think not.  The Pillars of the Earth is one of those historical fiction novels that does its job well...inspiring an interest in history that a person might not otherwise have had, spurring the desire to investigate further the subject.


The Pillars of the Earth is on the ALA list of most frequently challenged books of 1990-2000 (#91).


Specific Instances:
Parents say novel pornographic

By Pete Kendall/reporter@trcle.com


Dr. Ted and Maureen Benke say it was never their intention to try to have the Ken Follett book, “Pillars of the Earth,” banned from the Cleburne High School library.

But they did want it eliminated from a reading list of a CHS senior English class of which their son is a member. And they’re gratified that Cleburne Superintendent Dr. Ronny Beard granted that desire.

“He said an alternate choice [of books] would be made,” Ted Benke told Times-Review editor Dale Gosser on Thursday. “That was this Tuesday.”

“We’re thrilled with the superintendent’s decision to remove the book,” Maureen Benke told Gosser. “We feel he made the right decision for all future students of Cleburne High School and that it was indeed worth the effort to have this kind of outcome.”

Members of Concerned Parents and Citizens, whose membership includes the Benkes, are expected to request time to speak in the public forum segment of Monday’s school board meeting. Likewise, citizens in favor of the book’s inclusion on the reading list. CPAC was formed in early October, when the Benkes filed a grievance against use of the book.

“We started out with four members,” Maureen Benke said. “I can provide you with a list of 900 names now.”

The issue began last summer when English IV dual/AP students were directed to read the Follett book.

“You will be asked to read your novel during the summer and participate in an online discussion with a small group of your peers,” a three-page typed directive from English department chairman Sherri Bell said in part. “There is no definitive timeline concerning the online discussions since everyone reads at different rates, and everyone will have different schedules through the summer. However, I expect everyone to post one entry for each assignment that is at least 7-10 sentences (more if you are so inclined) in length and to respond to two other members of the group (more if you wish).”

The directive also included a statement reading, “Alternate assignment is Edward Rutherford’s “London” if you find reading occasional sex, violence and language unacceptable.”

The Benkes say they didn’t become aware of the sexual content in Follett’s book until their son began reading it.

“We read the book and found it to be pornographic,” Maureen Benke said. “We made an appointment to meet with Mrs. Bell, and Mrs. Bell asked [Prinicipal] Monte Pritchett to be at the meeting, which was fine with nus. At the time of the meeting, we told Mrs. Bell and Mr. Pritchett that we thought the book was inappropriate for curriculum use. We asked them to please remove it from the curriculum. We gave them the reasons we thought the pornographic nature of the book made it unacceptable.”

“The key points we made were that the American Library Association did not recommend the book for anyone under the age of 18,” Ted Benke added, “that the book had no special merit and had not won any awards. It wasn’t on any special list except for Oprah’s Book Club. We checked with approximately 15 school districts in this area including Keller, Southlake and Highland Park, and none of them had the book on their summer reading lists.”

The Benkes said the reading list directive did not include space for parents to voice their objections to the books.

“There is a general belief system in place that parents are ignorant of many things that their children read because of trust,” Maureen Benke said. “We trusted [Bell] to choose reasonable material. Without our knowledge or permission, she was assigning this book to our son.”

Bell did not return a phone call from the Times-Review seeking comment. Pritchett referred all questions to school district spokesperson Lisa Magers.

The Benkes said they also objected to the directive for students to chat about the book in an online format.

“No parental control is too loose for us to be comfortable,” Maureen Benke said.

They said their meeting with Bell and Pritchett culminated “with Mr. Pritchett saying he would read the book,” Maureen Benke said. “We had sent him a list of references for pages to read if he didn’t have time to read the whole book. We understood that. It’s 1,200 pages. I don’t believe we ever got a direct answer whether he had read all the excerpts.”

“He said he had read some reviews,” Ted Benke said, “that maybe there were some racy parts. However, he thought it was okay. He said if we wanted to take it further, we would need to fill out an Exhibit A to go to the curriculum committee to appeal his decision. We started that process around October. We got the material to Dr. [Darlene] Callender [assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction] and asked her to review our grievance.”

The Benkes said Callender initially told them a curriculum committee had ruled in 1998 that the book was acceptable as reading list curriculum.

“She said the school district attorney told her the district would never have to convene on that book again because it had already done so,” Maureen Benke said. “Then we got another call from Dr. Callender’s office, telling us that it had been over 10 years, so the district had consented to form a new committee. They were in the process of forming that committee when the superintendent made his executive decision to excuse the book from the curriculum.”  (Source: Cleburne Times-Review)

The Pillars of the Earth...movie news!

I knew that The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett was being made into a movie.  However, I just found out last night that it is going to be a television mini-series produced by an award winning production company owned by Ridley and Tony Scott.  Ridley Scott is the award winning director of Gladiator and other films.  The cast line-up is stellar! If they do it right, it's going to be awesome...I can't wait!

Starring:

Ian McShane, Donald Sutherland, Hayley Atwell, Rufus Sewell, Eddie Redmayne, Matthew Macfadyen, Alison Pill, Tony Curran, Gordon Pinsent 

Here is the movie site where you can watch videos of the making of the movie and a site visit by the author, Ken Follett, plus full cast bios, characters, etc.  The Pillars of the Earth movie site.

WOOT...bring it on!