Blubber by Judy Blume

Blubber
By Judy Blume

Bullies abound in Judy Blume's Blubber and on our top ten list of the best bullies in literature.

 

Banned

#43 on Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009

1980 - Maryland - Removed from Montgomery County elementary schools

1981 - Arizona - Banned temporarily from Sunizona

1983

Iowa - Challenged in Des Moines schools for "objectionable" subject matter

Ohio - Challenged at Xenia school libraries for undermining "authority since the word 'bitch' is used in connection with a teacher

Texas - Challenged at Smith Elementary School in Del Valle for the words "damn" and "bitch" and showed children cruelly teasing a classmate

1984

Illinois - Banned but later restricted to parental permission at Peoria School District libraries for sexual content. language, and lack of social and literary value

New Jersey - Restricted at Lindenwold elementary school libraries for language

Pennsylvania - Removed from Hanover School District elementary and secondary libraries but later placed on "restricted shelf" at middle school libraries for being "indecent and inappropriate"

Wyoming - Challenged at the Casper school libraries

1985 - Montana - Challenged as profane, immoral and offensive but retained at Bozeman school libraries

1986 - Wisconsin - Challenged at Muskego Elementary school for language and "taunting (of an overweight girl) is never punished for her cruelty"

1991 - Ohio - Challenged at the Perry Township elementry school libraries because "bad is never punished. Good never comes to the fore. Evil is triumphant"

1998 - Alabama - Banned in Clements High School in Athens for language, but was later reversed

1999 - Texas - Removed from an elementary school in Arlington because educators objected to "verbal, physical, and sexual abuse of student upon student"

Sources

Doyle, Robert P. Banned Books: Challenging Our Freedom to Read. "Blume, Judy - Blubber." 2014

Ala Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009

"Dances and Dames" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

The Catcher in the Rye
By J.D. Salinger

Advice and ghosts are in the library as well as the classic novel about a whiny jerk going out on the town and learning that life if full of hypocrisy, even himself.


Banned

1960 - Oklahoma - Teacher was fired in Tulsa from an 11th grade English position for assigning the book. Teacher appealed and was reinstated but the book was removed from the school

1963 - Ohio - Columbus parents asked the school board to ban the novel for being "anti-white" and "obscene." The school board refused.

1975 - Pennsylvania - Removed from reading list after parents complained about the language and content. The book was reinstated after the school board vote, orginally 5-4, was deemed illegal as they required a two-thirds vote in favor to remove a text.

1977 - New Jersey - Challenged and the board ruled the book could be read in an advanced placement class with parental permission.

1978 - Washington - Issaquah school removed it from their optional reading list

1979 - Michigan - Removed from the required reading list at Middleville.

1980 - Ohio - Removed from Jackson Milton school libraries in North Jackson

1982

Alabama - Removed from Anniston High School libraries and later reinstated

Manitoba, Canada - Removed from school libraries in Morris along with two other books as they violate committee's guidelines covering "excess vulgar language, sexual scenes, things  concerning moral issues, excessive violence, and anything dealing with the occult."

1983 - Montana - Challenged at Libby High School due to the book's contents

1985 - Florida - Banned from English classes at the Freeport High School in De Funiak Springs as being "unacceptable" and "obscene"

1986 - Wyoming - Removed from Medicine Bow senior high school English reading list because of profanity and sexual references

1987 - North Dakota - Banned from a required sophomore English reading list at Napoleon High School after parents and the local Knights of Columbus chapter complained of profanity and sexual references

1988 - Indiana - Challenged at the Linton-Stockton High School as being "blasphemous and undermines morality"

1989 - California - Muroc Joint Unified School District board in Boron High School removed the book from school reading lists after parents complain the novel was unsuitable because of profanity, blasphemy and promotion of anti-family values. Local resident and religious activist Patty Salazar said she supports the board action because the novel "doesn't belong in a public high school." "It uses the Lord's name in vain 200 times," she said. "That's enough reason to ban it right there. They say it describes reality. I say let's back up from reality. Let's go backwards. Let's go back to when we didn't have an immoral society."

1991 - Illinois - Challenged at Grayslake Community High School

1992

Illinois - Challenged at the Jamaica High School in Sidell for profanity, depiction of premarital sex, alcohol abuse, and prostitution

Iowa - Challenged at Waterloo schools for profanity, lurid passages about sex, and statements defamatory to minorities, God, women, and the disabled.

Florida - Challenged at Duval County public school libraries for profanity, lurid passages about sex, and statements defamatory to minorities, God, women, and the disabled.

Pennsylvania - Challenged at the Cumberland Valley High School after parent's objections of profanity and immorality.

1993 - California - Challenged and retained at Corona Norco Unified School district because it is "centered around negative activity."

1994

Wisconsin - Challenged but retained at the New Richmond High School for use in some English classes

New Hampshire - Challenged as mandatory reading in the Goffstown schools for language and sexual content

1995 - Florida - Challenged at the St. Johns County Schools

1996 - Maine - Parent challenged over the word "fuck" ("f" word) at teh Oxford Hills High School

1997

Georgia - Challenged but retained at the Glynn Academy High School in Brunswick after a student objected to profanity and sexual content.

California - Removed by school superintendent required reading curriculum of the Marysville Joint Unified School District  to get it "out of the way so that we didn't have that polarization over a book."

1999-2000 - Georgia - Vanned and reinstated after community protests at the Windsor Forest High School in Savannah after a parent complained about the sex, violence, and profanity

2000 - Alabama - Challenged but retained at the Limestone County school district after complaints of language

2001

South Carolina - Removed by a Dorchester District 2 school board member in Summerville because it "is a filthy, filthy book."

Georgia - Challenged by a school board member for language but retained in Glynn County

2005 – Maine - Challenged, but retained as an assigned reading in the Noble High School in North Berwick.

2009 – Montana - Challenged in the Big Sky high School in Missoula

2010 - Florida - Challenged but retained in the Martin School District after a parent's complaint for language




"Dances and Dames"

Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/


The Color Purple by Alice Walker

The Color Purple
By Alice Walker

We talk about the origin of the library's ebooks and an important book everyone should read.


Banned

1984 - California - Challenged and retained in Oakland High School honors class for "sexual and social explicitness" and its "troubling ideas about race relations, man's relationship to God, African history, and human sexuality"

1985 - California - Rejected for purchase from Hayward school trustees due to language and sexual content

1986 - Virginia - Removed from Newport News school library for language and sexual content and placed in special section available only to those over eighteen or with parental permission

1989

Michigan - Challenged at the Saginaw public libraries for sexual content

Tennessee - Challenged as a summer youth program reading assignment in Chattanooga for language and "explicitness"

1990 - Wyoming - Challenged in Ten Sleep schools for optional reading

1992 - North Carolina - Challenged at New Bern High School as a reading assignment because of rape

1995

Connecticut - Challenged at Pomperaug High School in Southbury for sexual content

Florida - Challenged at St. Johns County Schools in St. Augustine

Oregon - Challenged and retained in the Junction City high school due to language, sexual content, and "negative image of black men."

1996

North Carolina - Challenged and retained at Northwest High School in High Point for sexual content and violence

Texas - Challenged and retained at Round Rock Independent High School for violence

1997 - West Virginia - Removed from Jackson County School libraries

1999

Ohio - Challenged and retained at Shawnee School in Lima after parents called it vulgar and "X-rated"

Virginia - Removed from Ferguson High School library in Newport News, yet may be requested and borrowed with parental approval

2002 - Virginia - Challenged at Fairfax County elementary and secondary libraries along with seventeen other books by a group called Parents Against Bad Books in Schools for language, drug abuse, sexual content, and torture

2008 - North Carolina - Challenged in Burke County schools in Morgantown for homosexuality, rape, and incest

2013 - North Carolina - Challenged but retained at Brunswick County Advanced Placement English eleventh grade assignment for language, sexual content, or has literary value as age appropriate


Sources

Banned and/or Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century

Doyle, Robert P. Banned Books: Challenging Our Freedom to Read. 2014



"Dances and Dames"

Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/


When Dad Killed Mom by Julius Lester

When Dad Killed Mom
By Julius Lester

We delve into the lives of two kids being disrupted by their dad shooting their mom in the face and the secrets that get revealed.


Banned

#56 on ALA's Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009

2002 - Wyoming - Teton County Board of Education voted to ban the book from Jackson Hole Middle School (JHMS) library after a parent's complaint about being unsuitable for age group



"Dances and Dames"

Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/


Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume

Tiger Eyes
By Judy Blume

When Davey's father dies, she and her family move to New Mexico to deal with all their feelings. And so many feelings happen.

Davey's father dies in a violent shooting at their convenience store, so her, her mother and her brother move down to live with their aunt and uncle in New Mexico. When their mother checks out with grief, the aunt and uncle become very protective. Davey responds to this by making friends with Wolf, a hot dude she met hiking, and Jane, a teen with a drinking problem. After a year, Davey deals with her feelings about, well, everything, and they all go home changed.

The book was banned for teenage depression, mild sex attitudes, religious debates, and underage drinking. It has held a place on the ALA banned books list since the list was made, falling around the 80s out of 100. While there are few accounts reported online after a quick search, the placement on the list shows it is relevant and used forty years after publication.

The book is standard teen fare set up by Blume way back when, copied by many to the point of rather blandness. The overbearing parents and teen angst seem tired but are well executed. Well written and short, the book is good for a quick afternoon and won't frighten away most teengers if you tell them it is all about sex, violence, and drinking.


Banned

1984

Indiana - Challenged at Daleville Elementary due to sexual content

Pennsylvania - Removed from Hanover School District's elementary and secondary libraries, later placed on "restricted shelf," for being "indecent and inappropriate"

Wyoming - Challenged at Casper school libraries

1999 - Louisiana - Removed from the Many Junior High library shelves for sexual content, drinking at school, and language


Sources

Doyle, Robert P. Banned Books: Challenging Our Freedom to Read. 2014.



"Dances and Dames"

Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/


Forever... by Judy Blume

Young love finds itself in a boring story banned so many times it should have its own shelf in the library.


Banned

1982

Orlando, Florida

Park Hill Jr. High School, Missouri for promoting "the stranglehold of humanism on life in America"

Scranton, PA - challenged for language, "masturbation, birth control, and disobedience to parents"

1983

Akron, Ohio - challenged in school libraries

Howard-Suamico High School, Wisconsin - "it demoralizes marital sex."

1984

Cedar Rapids, Iowa - "pornography and explores areas God didn't intend to explore outside of marriage"

Holdrege, Nebraska - challenged and moved to the adult section at the public library for being "pornographic and does not promote the sanctity of life, family life."

1986

Patrick County, Virginia - placed on restricted shelf

Campbell County, Wyoming - challenged in school libraries as pornography and that it would encourage children "to experiment with sexual encounters."

1987

Moreno Valley, California - challenged at school libraries for profanity, sex, and thems that encourage disrespectful behavior

Eliot, Minnesota - challenged at a classroom library for not casting "a responsible role of parents," that the teens of today are not as sex-minded as the characters, and being pornography, creating a bad role model.

1988 - West Hernando Middle School, Florida - school principal recommended it be removed from school library as inappropriate

1992 - Herrin Junior High School, Illinois - placed on reserve to be checked out with parental permission for being "sexually provocative reading."

1993

Schaumburg, Illinois - removed from Frost Junior High School library because "it's basically a sexual 'how-to-do' book for junior high students. It glamorizes [sex] and puts ideas in their heads."

Rib Lake, Wisconsin - Superintendent found the book "sexually explicit" and filed a "request for reconsideration." The book was confiscated by the principal after being placed on the "parental permission shelf." A guidance councilor spoke out against the principal's actions, his contract was not renewed in retaliation, and a federal jury awarded him $394,560.

1994 - Mediapolis School District, Wisconsin - Removed from school libraries for not promoting abstinence or monogamy, and "lacks any aesthetic, literary, or social value." Returned a month later accessible to high school students.

1995

Gainesville, Florida - removed after a science teacher objected to the sexual content and reference to marijuana

Muncie, Indiana - moved to restricted section of high school library requiring written parental permission.

1996 - Wilton School District, Iowa - challenged for sexual content

1997 - Elgin School District U46, Illinois - banned from middle school libraries for sex. Decision upheld in 1999 and returned to shelves in 2002.

2006 - Fayetteville, Arkansas - Challenged in the Fayetteville Middle and Junior High School libraries along with more than 50 other titles as being too sexually explicit and promoting homosexuality.


Sources

Doyle, Robert P. Banned Book: Challenging Our Freedom to Read.



"Dances and Dames"

Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/