Today, we're going to tackle book banning.
During the 2021-2022 school session, bans occurred in 138 school districts in 32 states. These districts represent 5,049 schools with a combined enrollment of nearly 4 million students.
The vast majority of the books targeted by various groups for removal feature LGBTQ+ characters or characters of color, and/or cover race and racism in American history, LGBTQ+ identities, or sex education.
The list of banned books is long and growing longer. Just google "banned books" and you'll see. Florida in particular right now is banning books of all kinds, mostly the ones that feature a Black person on the cover or address LGBTQ issues.
These are 13 that I have read that have been banned at some point.
1. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
2. 1984, by George Orwell
3. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood
4. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
5. The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton
6. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
7. The Da Vinci Code, by Robert Langdon
8. As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
9. Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
10. The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls
11. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
12. The Giver, by Lois Lowry
13. Anne Frank, Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank
Please read a banned book today. You'll be glad you did.
I've read five of them. It's hard to believe To Kill a Mockingbird, 1984, Huckleberry Finn, Of Mice and Men (I'm a big fan of John Steinbeck), and The Glass Castle... one of my favorites... would be banned.
ReplyDeleteI've read six of them and saw the rest in film. The Faulkner one is the only one I'm not familiar with. It's ridiculous and scary that they are being banned. I read Of Mice and Men in school. How things have changed.
ReplyDeleteI am not a fan of banning any type of book. These are all such wonderful pieces of literature. I haven't read The Glass Castle, though. Will have to look into that one.
ReplyDeleteOf your list, I've read To Kill a Mockingbird, The Outsiders, and The Da Vinci Code. I've read parts of Of Mice and Men and The Giver, but only in various classes I've covered (so not in order). And the 8th graders do the play version of Anne Frank every spring, so I've hit all of that (I think), so that's kind of the diary adjacent. It's sad that book banning is on the rise again. No good ever comes of it.
ReplyDeleteThat is so sad. I have read several of those books. I remember having an advanced class called Psychological Literature. I know Catcher In the Rye was one of the books we read. Yes, there were parts I did not like. But it was a good book to discuss. There was a hole display of Anne Frank when we went to the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, 2020. The Hiding Place is a really good book too.
ReplyDeleteThis list is so sad. Not surprising, but soul crushing all the same.
ReplyDeleteA very smart political operative recently reminded me that our fascination with Presidential politics is understandable, but misplaced. Local officials have far greater impact on our daily lives. This list reminds me of that. I was very proud that, when the Florida governor made a fundraising appearance in one of Illinois’ redder and richer town, our governor and most of the Chicago mayoral candidates fell over one another to say Ron DeSantis isn’t welcome here. We have problems here. LOTS of problems here. But totalitarianism isn’t among them