s/o Name Your Favorite/Most Personally Influential Banned Book(s)

I've read several from the linked lists, but probably the ones that most "influenced" me are -

Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret.
The Awakening
The Color Purple
Gone with the Wind
To Kill a Mockingbird
A Wrinkle in Time


And, as an aside, I can totally see why Junie B. Jones would be on a banned list - she was banned in our house too! LOL!
 
Holy Cow, Captain Underpants series was banned? Sheesh.


No. That's not the book that most influenced me. I was reading a list of top 100 books banned.
 
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Of the listed books, the ones which had the most influence on my as I was growing up would have been Bridge to Terabithia, Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn and A Wrinkle in Time.

Many more on that list have been favourites of mine over the years.

They don't even have "Lady Chatterly's Lover" or "Of Human Bondage."
I take it you did not read all three lists the OP posted. Lady Chatterly's makes the last slist--the first two were for specific years only.
 
Harry Potter
Fahrenheit 451
Of Mice and Men
Flowers for Algernon
To Kill a Mockingbird
1984
Animal Farm
The Grapes of Wrath

I wonder why the Junie B Jones series was banned...
 


Harry Potter
Fahrenheit 451
Of Mice and Men
Flowers for Algernon
To Kill a Mockingbird
1984
Animal Farm
The Grapes of Wrath

I wonder why the Junie B Jones series was banned...

As I recall, Junie B has a bad attitude toward authority, and she uses "naughty" language. Some parents consider her a bad influence on their kids. :laughing: I ran into a few at our school's book fairs who wouldn't let their kids read them. (Or Captain Underpants, because they don't want to encourage toilet humour. Or the Magic Treehouse because it isn't 100% historically accurate. Or, or, or... Every book, no matter how benign, was disliked by some parent. "There are no girl characters in Winnie the Pooh!")

Also, I'm curious as to the definition of "banned and challenged". "Banned" I'm guessing means it was removed from a library shelf. "Challenged" on the other hand...? Is that just someone bringing it up at a school board meeting and saying, "I don't think this book should be in the school library!" And everyone else going, "You're crazy, dude, it's staying."?

(Caveat: I've never sat in on a school board meeting, so what follows is pure speculation on my part, loosely based on another educational organization I was part of the executive for.)

Personally, I see a big difference between the two. I would expect a school board to give due consideration to every parent's concerns, even if they're ridiculous. And, having listened, they can then say, "Yes, we hear you. And we regret to inform you that we will not be acting on your recommendations. Moving onto the next item on our agenda... Ah, Mr. Brown, you're concerned that sonnets are making your son gay?"

Banned is something to be concerned about. Challenged? I think we should all have the right to challenge anything we please, no matter how silly.
 
As I recall, Junie B has a bad attitude toward authority, and she uses "naughty" language. Some parents consider her a bad influence on their kids. :laughing: I ran into a few at our school's book fairs who wouldn't let their kids read them. (Or Captain Underpants, because they don't want to encourage toilet humour. Or the Magic Treehouse because it isn't 100% historically accurate. Or, or, or... Every book, no matter how benign, was disliked by some parent. "There are no girl characters in Winnie the Pooh!")

Also, I'm curious as to the definition of "banned and challenged". "Banned" I'm guessing means it was removed from a library shelf. "Challenged" on the other hand...? Is that just someone bringing it up at a school board meeting and saying, "I don't think this book should be in the school library!" And everyone else going, "You're crazy, dude, it's staying."?

(Caveat: I've never sat in on a school board meeting, so what follows is pure speculation on my part, loosely based on another educational organization I was part of the executive for.)

Personally, I see a big difference between the two. I would expect a school board to give due consideration to every parent's concerns, even if they're ridiculous. And, having listened, they can then say, "Yes, we hear you. And we regret to inform you that we will not be acting on your recommendations. Moving onto the next item on our agenda... Ah, Mr. Brown, you're concerned that sonnets are making your son gay?"

Banned is something to be concerned about. Challenged? I think we should all have the right to challenge anything we please, no matter how silly.

I think Caillou should be banned for being a whiney, little snot!
 


Of the listed books, the ones which had the most influence on my as I was growing up would have been Bridge to Terabithia, Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn and A Wrinkle in Time.

Many more on that list have been favourites of mine over the years.


I take it you did not read all three lists the OP posted. Lady Chatterly's makes the last slist--the first two were for specific years only.

I didn't. I read the first and honestly, I was just being silly!
 
I don't think I've ever read a banned book or at least I didn't know it was banned. I would probably say the Bible since it was/is banned in certain atheist and Muslim countries.

That is what I was going to say but you beat me to it.
 
As I recall, Junie B has a bad attitude toward authority, and she uses "naughty" language. Some parents consider her a bad influence on their kids. :laughing: I ran into a few at our school's book fairs who wouldn't let their kids read them. (Or Captain Underpants, because they don't want to encourage toilet humour. Or the Magic Treehouse because it isn't 100% historically accurate. Or, or, or... Every book, no matter how benign, was disliked by some parent. "There are no girl characters in Winnie the Pooh!")

Also, I'm curious as to the definition of "banned and challenged". "Banned" I'm guessing means it was removed from a library shelf. "Challenged" on the other hand...? Is that just someone bringing it up at a school board meeting and saying, "I don't think this book should be in the school library!" And everyone else going, "You're crazy, dude, it's staying."?

(Caveat: I've never sat in on a school board meeting, so what follows is pure speculation on my part, loosely based on another educational organization I was part of the executive for.)

Personally, I see a big difference between the two. I would expect a school board to give due consideration to every parent's concerns, even if they're ridiculous. And, having listened, they can then say, "Yes, we hear you. And we regret to inform you that we will not be acting on your recommendations. Moving onto the next item on our agenda... Ah, Mr. Brown, you're concerned that sonnets are making your son gay?"

Banned is something to be concerned about. Challenged? I think we should all have the right to challenge anything we please, no matter how silly.
I don't know what criteria these lists are using. In my past experience, "challenged" refered to a sustained, organized attempt to have the books removed from a library or from sale in an area. Not just one parent complaining, but a group of parents holding meetings and organizing a petitition and then going to the library with that and when their first attempt ailed, getting more signatures and writing letters to teh editor, etc.

When I worked as a librarian, there was a parent who wanted Junie B Jones removed from our shelves: her reasoning was that Junie's poor grammar was a bad example for young readers.
 
I don't know what criteria these lists are using. In my past experience, "challenged" refered to a sustained, organized attempt to have the books removed from a library or from sale in an area. Not just one parent complaining, but a group of parents holding meetings and organizing a petitition and then going to the library with that and when their first attempt ailed, getting more signatures and writing letters to teh editor, etc.

When I worked as a librarian, there was a parent who wanted Junie B Jones removed from our shelves: her reasoning was that Junie's poor grammar was a bad example for young readers.

That's why she was banned at our house! Haha!! They're early chapter books, & I didn't want the first books DD was reading on her own to be filled w/ bad grammar.

So we moved on to The Magic Treehouse.
 
Oh! I didn't realize there was more than one list. Well, that changes things.

I would have to add:

Gone With the Wind (my favorite book ever until JK Rowling came along),
Call of the Wild,
The Hunger Games series
Twilight series (although Twilight they can ban all they want to but should be for terrible writing!!) ,
Bridge to Terabithia,
Huck Finn,
The Great Gatsby,
To Kill a Mockingbird,
Animal Farm,
Lord of the Rings
The Bible
 
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes
Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
 
That's why she was banned at our house! Haha!! They're early chapter books, & I didn't want the first books DD was reading on her own to be filled w/ bad grammar.

So we moved on to The Magic Treehouse.
:rotfl2:I was an English teacher before I had kids, the grammar drove me nuts. I was glad only one kid liked the books and even that one moved on farily quickly to the far better written Ramona Quimby books
 
Holy Cow, Captain Underpants series was banned? Sheesh.


No. That's not the book that most influenced me. I was reading a list of top 100 books banned.

It seems to me that people who challenge books like Captain Underpants are also not people who have had young sons who struggle with/aren't interested in reading. While, as a mom, I can get really annoyed with all the "potty" talk that comes with having two little boys, I'm thrilled that this book series makes my son want to sit down and read or be read too. It was like pulling teeth for a while to even get him to listen to a short book! I will take an irreverent, potty-talk-filled book any day of the week over a book that sits closed on a shelf!
 
As for books that have most influenced me... The Lord of the Rings, A Wrinkle in Time, The Call of the Wild. These were books I read early that helped cement my love for reading. And if Captain Underpants does that for my son, then I will praise Dav Pilkey all day long, even with all the bathroom humor!
 
These are the books that I can recall reading from the lists. Honestly I don't really have any real issues with reading them as they created an awareness that I didn't necessarily have at that specific time in my life. Some of the books were read in elementary school, others junior high, the vast majority in high school. A few were more graphic than others.

Most influential in some way...
  • Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz- Who didn't enjoy reading scary stories as a child? A camping trip favorite in our family.
  • Where’s Waldo?, by Martin Hanford- Locating Waldo was a fun way to pass the time. My brother and I would put our name on the reserve list at the library for when new editions came out.
  • Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling- Made me enjoy reading again as an adult.
  • The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison- Read as a sophomore in high school. was disturbing as the sexual nature of some parts wasn't something that I was ready for at that time.
  • Beloved, by Toni Morrison- Read as a high school junior. Disturbing on so many levels, but awakened my understanding of why things were done.
  • The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair- Read as a high school sophomore. If I didn't enjoy meat I would have become a vegetarian. To this day I'm selective about what I eat.
  • What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons, by Lynda Madaras- This book was given to me as a child by my parents to understands what was going on. Torture.
  • Lord of the Flies, by William Golding- Read as a high school sophomore. Found the book frustrating as it was violent. Was right there with Animal Farm, by George Orwell. Hated both.
The rest of the list of read banned books
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
Goosebumps (series), by R.L. Stine
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
James and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl
A Light in the Attic, by Shel Silverstein
Ordinary People, by Judith Guest
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain
Little Black Sambo, by Helen Bannerman
Black Boy, by Richard Wright
Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey
The Awakening, by Kate Chopin
 
I've read pretty much all banned books and I keep up with the lists, and read those too. Even as a child, if I was told the book was controversial, I made a point of reading it. :)

Most of the "classics" were required reading though!
 

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