Banned Books Week is quickly approaching.
As the POP Project celebrates the freedoms that come with access to books – all books – we can’t help but wonder why anyone would prevent a child or their fellow man from reading the very same books we knew and loved growing up.
Well, now we know. Here are 10 far fetched reasons people have presented when asking for books to be banned.
1. “Encourages children to break dishes so they won’t have to dry them.” (A Light in the Attic, by Shel Silverstein)
2. “It caused a wave of rapes.” (Arabian Nights, or Thousand and One Nights, anonymous)
3. “If there is a possibility that something might be controversial, then why not eliminate it?” (Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown)
4. “Tarzan was ‘living in sin’ with Jane.” (Tarzan, by Edgar Rice Burroughs)
5. “It is a real ‘downer.’” (Diary of Anne Frank, by Anne Frank)
6. “The basket carried by Little Red Riding Hood contained a bottle of wine, which condones the use of alcohol.” (Little Red Riding Hood, by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm K. Grimm)
7. “One bunny is white and the other is black and this ‘brainwashes’ readers into accepting miscegenation.” (The Rabbit’s Wedding, by Garth Williams)
8. “It is a religious book and public funds should not be used to purchase religious books.” (Evangelical Commentary on the Bible, by Walter A. Elwell, ed.)
9. “A female dog is called a bitch.” (My Friend Flicka, by Mary O’Hara)
10. “An unofficial version of the story of Noah’s Ark will confuse children.” (Many Waters, by Madeleine C. L’Engle)
Join the POP Project on Tuesday, October 2 to stand up against censorship and “Paint the Town REaD.”