![]() The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, 1939-This book was burned in California (the story’s setting), New York, and Illinois, plus challenged or banned in 10 states for its obscene language, communistic leanings, and violence, to name a few.Highly ironic that a book about book burning would be banned! Furthermore, it has been banned in numerous schools for its questionable themes. In real life, without telling the author, the publisher produced sanitized versions of this book for schools (1967 – 1973). Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, 1953-In this dystopian story, books are illegal and thus burned to suppress original thought.Some schools banned it for Hawthorne’s sympathetic treatment of the adulterous Hester Prynne, told mainly from her point of view. The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1850-Conservative clergy have regularly condemned this for its theme of adultery. ![]() Consider this partial list of banned or controversial books, which include many of the classics. Oh, my word! I should have just let him read The Kite Runner.īooks are usually censored or banned when found offensive based on moral, religious, or political grounds. (I think he was the only kid who opted out-begrudgingly.) Yet unbeknownst to me, he chose instead to read The Silence of the Lambs (Thomas Harris), a story that takes you into the mind of a cannibalistic serial killer. When my son Jeff was in high school, I decided to be a “good mother” and not allow him to read The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini) along with the rest of his class, because of objectionable sexual content. Part of the rationale is that even the most reluctant of readers enjoy engaging in this series of factual-though morbid-stories. One particular middle school curriculum includes The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York (Deborah Blum). Therefore, some parents didn’t allow their children to see the film, or were angry they had. Some folks were upset that the movie abandoned the original spirit and Christian themes of Madeleine L’Engle’s book and instead perpetuated a completely different and humanistic worldview. (I’m not yet saying which side I was on.)Ī lot of clamor ensued after the movie A Wrinkle in Time hit theaters. When the first Harry Potter book came out, a friend and I went round and around about its value and/or harm to young readers, vehemently staking our claim on opposite sides. I’m probably opening a can of worms here, but today I invite your thoughts about how you choose what to read or not read, and what you allow your children to read or not read. We laugh, but how quickly do we make snap judgments like this based on our own criteria? But I know this.Īndy: That vein in your neck’s sticking out. It’s harmless.īarney: Oh yeah? How do you know how many criminals got started by reading Robin Hood? How do you know it wasn’t read by Jesse James or Dillinger or Jack the Ripper? How do you know that?Īndy: I don’t know that. How you gonna teach kids respect for the law if they’re gonna read that kind of stuff?Īndy: Barney, Robin Hood’s one of the most popular kids’ stories there is around. Aunt Bee, what was the sheriff like in Robin Hood?īee: Robin Hood was always outsmarting him.Īndy: And he had this real stupid deputy.īarney: Well, what kind of a book is that for kids to be reading? A book like that ought to be banned from the schools.īarney: I mean it, a book like that. You like that, don’t you?Īndy: No, Barney. You’re trying to rile me so you can see that vein in my neck stick out. The sheriff in Robin Hood was fat and stupid and he had this stupid deputy.īarney: Now you’re putting me on. ![]() he had the sheriff being the bad guy.Īndy: I am not. Of course, I didn’t want to say nothing, but Opie had it all wrong.Īndy: What do you mean? He’s a good reader.īarney: Well, you know how kids skip through things. Get my hands on a book, I’d read it cover to cover. If you’re not able to watch it, see how it unfolds here:Īndy: Barn, did you read Robin Hood when you was a boy?īarney: “Sure, I read all those childhood classics. Or start at 9:00 minutes when Andy asks Barney if he read Robin Hood as a boy. Note the mealtime scene beginning at 7:20 when Opie asks about Robin Hood. This is from the episode “Opie and His Merry Men” (season 4, episode 12), when Opie and his friends play Robin Hood and steal food from their parents to give to a hobo. Never mind that a few minutes earlier, Barney claimed that Robin Hood was good reading for young-uns, and that he enjoyed it as a kid.īut in the span of two minutes, Barney goes from a raving Robin Hood fan to blatant book-burning mentality. Never mind that the Sheriff of Nottingham is of questionable character. It teaches that sheriffs are the bad guys.” Whether or not you’ve seen The Andy Griffith Show, Deputy Barney Fife really knows how to lay it on the line. Nobody says it better than he does: “ Robin Hood should be banned from schools. ![]()
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