Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish. This week’s theme is:
Ten Books That Feature Characters ____________: Examples: Ten books that feature black main characters, characters who hold interesting jobs, characters who have a mental illness, characters that are adopted, characters that play sports, etc, etc. Can’t wait to see what you all come up with!
Instead of doing this theme, I thought, to commemorate the celebration of Banned Books Week, I’ll list the top ten best banned/challenged books that everyone should read. Reading is such an amazing privilege. Let us not tarnish it by censoring our freedom to read:
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Reason why it was banned/challenged: In 2010, Wesley Scroggins, an associate professor at Missouri State University, refer to book as “soft porn” and should be removed from the school curriculum.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Reason why it was banned/challenged: accused for being anti-Christian
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Reason why it was banned/challenged: For language and sexual references in the book.
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Reason why it was banned/challenged: You think it would be about the Nazi death camps, but no. This was taken off the shelves for the brief moment Anne talked about her body maturing.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Reason why it was banned/challenged: Is one of the most challenged and banned classical books. Banned constantly for its use of racial slurs and profanity. It wasn’t recently pulled off the shelves in the Accomack School District in Virginia.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Reason why it was banned/challenged: According to the ALA, in 1997, a parent objected to the novel’s language and sexual explicitness.
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Reason why it was banned/challenged: For its use of inappropriate sexual content, graphic language and violence.
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Reason why it was banned/challenged: When it was first published, the book was criticized for being immoral and scandalous. Because of this criticism, Chopin stopped writing altogether.
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Reason why it was banned/challenged: It was banned from various countries, including the United States, for its “anti-Stalinist and totalitarianistic views that could inspire new communist rebellions”
Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
Reason why it was banned/challenged: No list can be complete without any Harry Potter title. It is a long list of why this beloved series was banned. Here are some of them:
- Christian leaders disapproved of the “magical world” and thought it promoted Satanism
- Harry and his friends set bad examples because they “lie[d], [broke] rules, and disobey[ed] authority figures, including the professors at Hogwarts.”
- Too dark and scary for children
- J.K. Rowling has been slamming Trump on Twitter lately and some of his supporters are calling for her books to be burned.
Unsure if your favorite book made it on the banned? Check out ALA’s lists of Frequently Challenged Books through the years.
Discover more from cup of tea with that book, please
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With the exception of Harry Potter, I’ve read these books. I’m glad you’ve commemorated the week, which I haven’t seen in blogs thus far. Good job.
Nice choices! I’ve read most of the books on here – in fact, I remember reading Animal Farm and The Great Gatsby in high school. A couple other of my “challenged” favorites are The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Hunger Games, and The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Nighttime. (Although it doesn’t look like The Hunger Games made the most recent list… but I know it’s been challenged for its content before.)
It has for being too violent and potentially giving children nightmares
I have never understood why people see it necessary to ban books!
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/26/top-ten-tuesday-126/
I read Animal Farm and To Kill a Mocking Bird in high school. Both left a strong impression on me (seeing as I read them like 30 years ago). My school district was really progressive, because I read a ton of banned books in high school.