Chicagoist's Favorite Banned Books
By Jacy Wojcik in Miscellaneous on Oct 3, 2008 4:00PM
For the past 27 years, the American Library Association has sponsored Banned Book Week, to celebrate freedom of expression and remind Americans not to take this "democratic freedom for granted." The ALA also publishes it's "Top Ten Most Challenged Books" annually citing books with the most "challenges"- formal, written complaints, filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness. The number one most challenged book in 2007 was And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell for being anti-ethnic, sexist, anti-family, homosexual, having religious viewpoints and being unsuitable to intended age groups. We here at Chicagoist admit we both enjoy inappropriate content and strongly believe in the freedom to have access to all books, regardless of subjective opinions on what a book should and shouldn't contain. To celebrate, we give you the Chicagoist staff picks of our favorite banned books. Please give a shout on what your favorites are as well...
Amy: The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, A Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein, Where's Waldo and, OF COURSE, Harry Potter!
Karl: I've certainly read and re-read all the Stephen King books on the list through high school - I'm reminded of something he said during a lecture about banning books (and I'm paraphrasing): "Whenever someone tries to keep you from reading something, that's exactly what you should be reading."
Prescott: My oldest son is named Holden, so take a guess which banned book I like.
Anthony: The Giver by Lowry and Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block. Also, Radclyffe Hall's Well of Loneliness and Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin for the gay contingent.
Marcus: Tom Sawyer, Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, Slaughterhouse Five, and Are you there God? It’s Me, Margaret. Oh, and the Harry Potters, too.
Lauri: Slaughterhouse Five and Brave New World.
Rob: Ray Bradbury! It makes total sense that a novel about book burning Fahreheit 451 would itself be banned. Also: The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies.
Chuck: Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. I bought my mother Henry Miller novels for Mother's Day in response to her sending me self-help books on my birthday. She hated the Tropics, but loved the Rosy Crucifixion Trilogy and especially Crazy Cock,where Miller was just starting to find his voice.
Ali: The Witches by Roald Dahl is definitely my pick.
Kevin: American Psycho - a hilarious satire of greed and materialism in Reagan's New York. The Chocolate War - I could identify with the alienation and stubborn refusal to participate, just to challenge the order of things, when I read it in middle school. Flowers for Algernon and Forever by Judy Blume, just because they are such sweet and emotionally honest books.
Ana: The Giver was hands-down the greatest book I ever read before high school. Anything Judy Blume guarantees candid discussion of adolescent taboos, hence my approval with an A++!
Laura:I'm going to go with Harry Potter and Grapes of Wrath.
Jacy: When I was in fourth grade some crazy parents tried to ban Anastasia Krupnik and created a huge school/city controversy. I wrote an open letter opposing the ban that was published in the city newspaper. It didn't get banned. Niiiiice.