Controversy is a staple of literature. Wars are waged over religious texts, journalists use scandal-heaped headlines to draw readers, and parents launch fervent campaigns against the books taught in our English classes. The latter is popularly referred to as book banning.
Book banning can be found throughout history. It was a tool during the Roman-Catholic Counter Reformation and a facet of Puritan societies. By the early 1900s, there was a shift in the perpetrators and targets of book banning. Educational institutions replaced religious ones, and school librarians launched their own war against “nickel novels.” These books were short, cheap, adventure novels for children. Series like The Hardy Boys, and eventually The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, were labeled as nickel novels, and both librarians and parents criticized them for being repetitive and unrealistic. Soon they were being pulled from shelves, despite their popularity among children. Nancy Drew in particular empowered young girls, promoting qualities of curiosity and confidence. Many readers spoke out against the bans (read the newspaper clipping stories here), but these events set a precedent of adults making literary decisions for children, working against the voices and opinions of the children they represented.
As the decades have passed, librarian influence has lessened, and parents have claimed the spotlight. They raise objections to content and themes they deem too mature for their children, either in elementary, middle, or high school. The most common reasons for calling for a book’s removal are the inclusion of sexually explicit scenes and offensive language. Though, in 2022, many of the books being challenged include discussions of race and sexuality, specifically racial violence, activism, and transexuality.
Book banning isn’t just prevalent in school libraries and classrooms; it can be found in our prison system as well. The Federal Bureau of Prisons regulations state that books can be rejected when sent to a prisoner if the content poses a threat to the security of an institution or if the book can facilitate criminal activity. There are minimal guidelines for this process, nor is there a review board to oversee rejected books.
"So, what exactly are they keeping from prisoners?"
Books on “how to escape prison” or “how to make homemade weapons” are obvious staples to banned book lists, but then there are the books that only fit this description loosely. For example, the Atlas Travel book. It was banned for potentially assisting in prison breaks. Another strange addition is books on persuasion tactics for salesmen, banned because they could be used to persuade others negatively. Some books aren’t even backed with reasoning. A Guantanamo Bay prison has had Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice banned since 2013 with no listed cause.
It should be noted that most books are not banned, only challenged. Different counties have different policies in place for handling challenges, but often the book is removed from classrooms or shelves until it can be reviewed by the local school board.This process creates the issue of self-censorship. Fearing their lessons will be disrupted by a challenge, teachers avoid controversial books, even though these are the stories students need to enter a diverse and ever-changing world.
The top challenged books in 2020:
1. George Melissa, by Alex Gino
2. Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds
3. All American Boys, by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
4. Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
5. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
6. Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story About Racial Injustice, by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, and Ann Hazzard, illustrated by Jennifer Zivoin
7. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
8. Of Mice and Men. by John Steinbeck
9. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
10. The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas
The top challenged classic books:
1. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
4. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
6. Ulysses, by James Joyce
7. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
8. The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
9. 1984, by George Orwell
10. The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner
