Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Banned Books in the Darling Library



Robin kicked off Banned Books Week (Sept. 25 - Oct. 2) here on the Darling Library blog with her informational post, Banned Books Week. Just to make it more personal, here are some books in the Darling Library that have been banned or challenged at one time or another:
  • 1984 by George Orwell, 1949. ("pro-communist")
  • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, 1884. ("coarse language")
  • As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, 1932. ("references to God or abortion and use of curse words")
  • Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, 1932. ("themes of sexuality, drugs and suicide")
  • Candide by Voltaire, 1759. ("lampoons all things sacred")
  • Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, 1961. ("references to women as 'whores'")
  • Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, 1951. ("anti-white"; "excess vulgar language, sexual scenes, things concerning moral issues, excessive violence, and anything dealing with the occult")
  • Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, 1997-2007. ("violence, witchcraft and devil worship")
  • I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, 1969. ("graphic depiction of racism and sex")
  • Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, 1955. ("obscene")
  • Lord of the Flies by William Golding, 1954. ("racist")
  • To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, 1960. ("profanity, racial slurs, discusses rape")
To read more about Banned Books Week, go to the Banned Books Week page on the American Library Association website.

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