Books written for children, teens, and young adults are the most frequently challenged books in the United States. Parents are understandable concerned about the television programs, video games, movies, and books being marketed for children.

Concerns over excessive violence, profanity, or sexual content that is age inappropriate can be valid reasons for removing a book from an elementary or middle school library or reshelving it in an area of the library specifically designated for older children.

While I was looking for banned or challenged children’s book, I found the website listed at the end of this article about “surprisingly banned books” in the United States. We selected ten books to recommend this month.How many of these books have you or your children read? Have you read any of these books to your children?

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? by Bill Martin, Jr. – In January 2010, this book was placed on the Banned Books List in Texas by the Texas Board of Education after officials flagged the author’s name. It seems Bill Martin Jr. shares his name with a Marxist theorist. School board officials failed to do their due diligence to check to see if the author and the Marxist were the same person. Just one of the best arguments against censorship ever!

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll was banned in the Hunan Province of China in 1931 because the animals in the book used human language because it puts humans and animals on the same level.

Little Red Riding Hood by Trina Schart Hyman – In 1990, school officials in Culver City, California were fine with her retelling of the classic tale about the dangers of talking to strangers and walking alone in the forest, but objected to the illustrations in the book. “Red” seemed to have a bottle of wine in her basket for grandma. Another illustration shows grandma enjoying drinking the wine. Their take – children should not be shown carrying alcoholic beverages and the grandmother should not be shown enjoying the drink because it will send a message to kids that “Alcohol is Yummy.”

 Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh was banned from many library shelves because the main character is a spy. In the 1960’s many parents and school board members believed Harriet’s penchant for peeping in windows, eavesdropping, following people and writing down her brutally honest observations would encourage other children to “spy” on their friends and neighbors. It was considered a question of encouraging bad behavior by example.

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Stieg became the subject of protests in 1977 by police associations in twelve states because the police officers in Stieg’s book featuring anthropomorphic animals were represented by pigs.

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss delivers a strong environmental message in 1971; however some parents objected to the inclusion of the word “stupid” in a children’s book. In 1989, the logging industry strongly objected to the anti-deforesting message of the story.

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White has been a favorite of adults and children since it was published in 1952. In 2006, a parent’s group in Kansas called for its removal because of the depiction of animals talking to each other. They considered it blasphemous and highly disrespectful to God to portray animals communicating verbally like “Man,” God’s highest creation.

The Giver by Lois Lowry has been controversial since it was published in 1993. The dystopian YA novel depicts a twelve-year-old boy’s revelation that the perfect society he is being raised in is nothing but a dangerous lie.. It has been challenged for age-inappropriate content, sexually explicit scenes, violence, euthanasia, and drug use.

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank has been challenged many times since it was published in1947. The most common objection is age inappropriate sexually explicit passages. In 1983, the Alabama State Textbook Committee called for removing the book from school libraries because it was  a real “downer.”  

Ban This Book by Alan Gratz – This book about a fourth-grade girl who starts a banned books library after books are unfairly banned at her school library incensed members of the Indian River County School Board in Florida. Board members felt it encouraged students to disregard the authority of their local school boards. They also did not like that the names of other banned books were contained in this book. Gatz’s response was perfect, “Banning a book about book banning makes it feel like "they know exactly what they're doing, and they're somewhat ashamed of what they're doing, and they don't want a book on the shelves that calls them out."

Source for this article:

https://theweek.com/articles/459795/america-surprising-banned-books