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Recently banned book8/7/2023 Thankfully, banning books usually makes reading them more appealing. Lawsuits like the ones for Noir Canada (Canada), and Roberto Carlos em Detalhes (Brazil) are another common tool for removing books from circulation where outright censorship is not possible. Public pressure often leads to book banning in schools and libraries due to content deemed inappropriate for children-including picture books, such as Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni (Italy). Books are still being censored today.įrom Animal Farm (United Arab Emirates) to The Satanic Verses (too many countries to list) to all works by the Nobel Peace Prize-winning author Liu Xiaobo (China), classic books are off-limits in certain countries around the world.Įven in countries with laws protecting the freedom of speech and press, books are being effectively banned. Think that book banning has been consigned to history? Sigh. And Pope Paul IV published one of the first book ban lists with his Index of Prohibited Books in 1559, a list that was updated until 1948. The contents of the famed library in Alexandria were used as fuel for the public baths in 640 AD. In 35 AD, Homer’s The Odyssey was banned by the Roman emperor Caligula because it contained dangerous ideas about freedom. But if you're going to introduce to your students- and let's say we're in high school - you know, a narrative of enslaved life, you wouldn't want to give them, I don't believe, a narrative by a white Southern writer.For almost as long we’ve been writing, governments and religious groups have attempted to censor what we read. And in class where maybe you are talking about like, who gets to write what stories, fine. to parse a white writer's attempt at writing the story of enslavement. First of all, it's certainly interesting at maybe a college-level class. He imagined the journey of the enslaved Nat Turner's rebellion in Virginia. Hardymon considers William Styron's novel The Confessions of Nat Turner, the winner of the 1968 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, to be one of those books. The publicity around banned books lists can provide an opportunity to rethink which books should receive a place of privilege in classrooms. KendiĪuthor William Styron with his wife Rose Styron at Trinity College in 1968, directly after learning Styron won the 1968 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel The Confessions of Nat Turner. Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You - Jason Reynolds, Ibram X.All American Boys - Brendan Kiely and Jason Reynolds.Calvin - JR Ford and Vanessa Ford, illustrated by Kayla Harren. Heavy: An American Memoir - Kiese Laymon.Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic - Alison Bechdel.Hardymon and Thomas suggest reading these frequently banned books: And I do think that Jason Reynolds's work will last a long time for young people, but also if it doesn't, I think young people now should be reading people who are writing to young people now." Like Jason Reynolds who writes for young people, just loves young people, and he writes great stuff for young people. "I feel like there's this obsession behind teaching kids these books that are important or deemed necessary, and hard to read. Thomas wants to encourage teachers to consider teaching popular and new books to their classes, not just the books traditionally included in the literary canon. She cites Alison Bechdel's Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic as a layered but accessible achievement in the genre. Hardymon also recognizes that graphic novels are an entry point into the world of literature for young readers. Krause stated he chose these books because they "might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any form of psychological distress because of their race or sex."Īccording to Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, the books that received the most challenges in libraries and schools during 2020 were ones dealing with "racism, Black American history and diversity in the United States." Matt Krause asked schools in his state to confirm if they possessed any books from a list featuring around 850 titles. Toni Morrison's 1987 novel Beloved was a central discussion topic in the final weeks of Virginia's gubernatorial race last fall. Many banned books lists include Raina Telgemeier's Drama, Brendan Kiely and Jason Reynolds's All American Boys, Alison Bechdel's Fun Home, Benjamin Alire Sáenz's Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Ruby Bridges This is Your Time, and Toni Morrison's Beloved.īanning books from classrooms and school libraries is nothing new, but it's recently become a topic of considerable political debate.Ī Tennessee school district drew national attention after banning Maus, a graphic novel about the Holocaust.
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