Debbie's comments

Debbie's comments from the Banned Books group.

Note: Debbie is no longer a member of this group.

I did hear about the whole "scrotum" uproar and agree that it was completely ridiculous. However, working in a school district where we are not allowed to talk about anything related to sex-ed (even as our students are getting pregnant in record numbers), I can't say I'm all that surprised.

I do believe that many of Dahl's books have appeared on banned book lists.

I think people more often raise a fuss about the best-sellers simply because more people know about them.

Absolutely. And I am proud to say that I have almost all of these books in my classroom library.

That is awesome. I am so going to steal this idea to use at my school! Thanks for sharing.

I love the idea of bringing banned book week out of the library. I plan to put flyers and suggested reading lists up all over town.

Christina:
I want more parents like you at my school. :D

My proposal didn't get approved, so I will continue to be subversive and pass out books to students as they come to me.

There's also a very simple difference between banned and challenged.

Challenged means that someone, somewhere complained about something in a particular book and requested that it be removed from a library, school, etc.

Banned means that the challenge was taken seriously and the book was actually removed.

Jenni-Lynn: Thanks for the resources.

Salma: I certainly don't have anything against Anne of Green Gables. I was just trying to give an example that was appropriately innocuous. I have plenty of classics on my bookshelves, but as I specialize in reaching reluctant readers, sometimes it takes something more cutting edge.

Lisa: I agree that reading something in a book doesn't make you go out and do it. In fact, I think it work in the opposite way. If you can experience something in a book, you don't NEED to do it. My mom told me recently that she worried about some of the stuff I read when I was a kid, but she figured she didn't have to worry about me getting into too much trouble, as I was always in my room reading!

Skip - I'm in Wisconsin. Other places in the state are wonderfully liberal, but not my district.

Salma - Oh, you know, like Anne of Green Gables and stuff like that.

Salma:

Good question. I added A Separate Peace because it was on a banned book list, but I'm not sure why it was banned. I read it years ago, but it didn't make an impression on me.

I wish I taught at a district like yours. Mine has a couple of ultra-conservative decision-makers who are on a crusade to make sure we never talk about anything real. In a district with the second highest teen pregnancy rate in the state, we are not allowed to teach anything remotely resembling sex ed. Like if we don't mention sex, the kids will simply never figure it out! Egads!

Lisa:

I am stuck on the politics angle. I am considering Fahrenheit 451 and The Handmaid's Tale.

I have a lot of ideas, but finding books that are controversial but still appropriate for middle school is a fine line. For example, I have some students who are very mature and would love a book like The Perks of Being a Wallflower, but it's not for everyone.

Here is my list of possibilities so far:

Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
Forever by Judy Blume
Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones

Books not on the list because they are already commonly taught either at MS or HS level:

THe Giver by Lois Lowry
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
1984 by George Orwell

What I'm looking to add to the list are the kind of life-changing, thought-provoking books that can rock a young person's world. Any suggestions?

I am trying to get approval to teach a class about banned books this summer at the middle school level. I have to submit a booklist along with my proposal and am looking for some controversial books that middle schoolers will enjoy.

The ALA website has given me a start, but can anyone tell me about books that caused a stir in 2007? Or banned books that you read as a teen that made a profound impression?