It's FRIDAY, so it's time for Fast Five Fiction. All this week at the library we've been celebrating Banned Book Week so today I've got five of my favorite banned books.
Banned Book Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. It spotlights current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools. It brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.
The books featured during Banned Books Week have all been targeted for removal or restriction in libraries and schools. By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship.
Banned book lists can be a great resource for parents looking for books that teach kids about the world and themselves. When your children read books that have been challenged or banned, you have a double opportunity as a parent; you can discuss the books themselves, and the information they provide, and you can also talk about why people might find them troubling. Here are a few books that are often challenged, yet present great opportunities for children to learn.
Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss
When you read this book title as a directive, rather than as an innocent and undeniably catchy rhyme, it’s easy to see why a Toronto father challenged it at the Toronto Public Library in 2014 for inciting violence. The complainant also wanted an apology from the librarians to all fathers in the Toronto area and for the library to “pay for damages resulting from the book,” the letter stated. Members of the review committee decided to retain the books, saying that it was designed to engage children and that the story actually advises children against hopping on their fathers.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Four English schoolchildren find their way through the back of a wardrobe into the magic land of Narnia and assist Aslan, the golden lion, to triumph over the White Witch, who has cursed the land with eternal winter. The first book in this popular series was first banned in 1990 because adults were concerned by its “graphic violence, mysticism and gore.” Then in 2005, a group focused on the separation of church and state tried banning the book from Florida’s public schools after then Governor, Jeb Bush, promoted it in a statewide reading contest.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Out of this wild night, a strange visitor comes to the Murry house and beckons Meg, her brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin O'Keefe on a most dangerous and extraordinary adventure—one that will threaten their lives and our universe. This Newbery Award winner’s been challenged a few times for undermining religious beliefs, and in 1985 it was challenged at a Florida elementary school for promoting witchcraft, crystal balls and demons. A Wrinkle in Time,” by Madeleine L’Engle, has been challenged as both overly and insufficiently religious.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series has been translated into 68 different languages, distributed in over 200 different territories worldwide, and has sold over 450 million copies at last count. And the number of challenges and bans on this series, usually for depicting witchcraft and wizardry and promoting anti-family themes, is also impressive. By 2000, it had been challenged about 650 different times. 
Alice Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
This book tells the story of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit-hole into a fantasy realm populated by grotesque figures like talking playing cards and anthropomorphic creatures. The Wonderland described in the tale plays with logic in ways that have made the story of lasting popularity with adults as well as children. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was originally banned in China and other parts of the world because some people objected to the animal characters being able to use human language. They felt this put animals on the same level as humans.Happy Friday, and happy reading!
*To learn more about how censorship is a dead end, visit these websites:
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