A Time To Kill by John Grisham

in
A Time to Kill: A Novel
By John Grisham

When a black man kills the men who raped his daughter, a small southern town loses its damn mind.

Banned

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

2005 - North Dakota - Challenged but retained at Fargo North High School advanced English classes despite complaints of graphic rape and murder scenes

Sources

ALA. "Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009." Retrieved on 17 Aug 01 from http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/top-100-bannedchallenged-books-2000-2009

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

Grisham, John. A Time to Kill. Doubleday. New York, 1989.

 

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

We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier

in
We All Fall Down
By Robert Cormier

A group of boys trash a house and nearly kill a girl, and that's just in the first few paragraphs. Book was banned for alcohol, violence, and sexual content.

Banned

#41 on 100 most frequently challenged books: 1990–1999

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

1994 - California - Pulled from school libraries in Stockton after parents complained it glorified alcoholism and violence, contains a violent rape scene, and profanity

1998 - Ontario, Canada - Complaint from a parent in Simcoe County for violence

2000

Florida - Removed from Carver Middle School library in Leesburg after parents complained about content and language

Texas - Restricted in Arlington middle and high schools for parental permission for violence

2001 - Pennsylvania - Challenged in Tamaqua Area School District for not being age appropriate.

2003 - Kansas - Removed from a Baldwin ninth grade class by the superintendent because "it was clear to him it wasn't fit for his own daughter or granddaughter" after complaints of profanity and sexual content.

2005 - New Jersey - Challenged and retained at Cherry Hill Public Library's young adult section by a parent claiming the book was unfit for the age group with "deplorable" content.

Sources

We All Fall Down the Center of Controversy in Arlington School Libraries - American Libraries

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

We All Fall Down By Robert Cormier - Freedom to Read Canada

Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009 - ALA

100 most frequently challenged books: 1990–1999 - ALA

We All Fall Down (Robert Cormier novel) - Wikipedia

We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier - Google Books

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"Dances and Dames"

Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

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

My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln and Christopher Collier

in
My Brother Sam Is Dead
By James Lincoln Collier

Spoiler alerts all around, Sam is totally dead at the end in the juvenile but ultimately compelling book set during the American Revolution!

Banned

1984 - Georgia - Challenged at the Gwinnett County school libraries because of language; an abridged version without profanities was substituted

1989 - Ohio - Removed from fifth grade New Richmond classes for language and did not represent "acceptable ethical standards" for the age

1991 - South Carolina - Challenged in Greenville County Schools for using the name of God and Jesus in a "vane and profane manner along with inappropriate sexual reference."

1993 - Kansas - Challenged at Walnut Elementary School in Emporia for profanity and violence

1994

California - Removed from the fifth grade at the Bryant Ranch Elementary School in Palcentia-Yorba Linda Unified School district because "the book is not g-rated. Offensive language is offensive language. Graphic violence is graphic violence, no matter what the context."

Pennsylvania - Challenged but retained at the Palmyra schools for language and violence

1996

California - Retained at the Antioch elementary school libraries after a parent complained about profanity and violence

Colorado - Challenged in the Jefferson County Public Schools in Lakewood for profanity, references to rape, drinking, and battlefield violence

1998 - Virginia - Challenged at the McSwain Elementary School in Stauton for language and Tucker-Capps Elementary School in Hampton for language and violence

2000 - Illinois - Challenged in the fifth grade Oak Brook Butler District 53 curriculum because of violence and language

2009 - Georgia - Regained in Muscogee County elementary school libraries after parental concerns about profanity

#27 Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009

Sources

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

Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009

Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, or RSS Feed

Help support the podcast on Patreon

"Dances and Dames"

Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

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

Beloved by Toni Morrison

in
Beloved
By Toni Morrison

We read an award winning book about a ghost haunting the life of an ex-slave and then talk about ghosts in the library.

Banned

1996 - Texas - Challenged but retained for violence at Round Rock Independent High School

1997 - Maine - Challenged for language at the Madawaska School District

1998 - Florida - Challenged at the Sarasota County schools for sexual content

2000 - Illinois - After a board member promised to bring Christian beliefs to board decision making at the Northwest Suburban High School District 214, a number of titles were challenged and retained. The board member had based her decisions on excerpts from the Internet.

2007

Indiana - Parents asked for parental permission for student access for five books at the Coeur d'Alene School District

Kentucky - Pulled from the senior Advanced Placement English class at Eastern High School in Louisville after two parents complained of bestiality, racism, and sex. Students had to start over with Scarlett Letter for their AP exams.

2012 - Michigan - Challenged but retained at Salem High School Advanced Placement English classes after numerous considerations of district officials including appropriate for age, accuracy of the material, objectivity of the material, and necessity of covering the material.

2013 - Virginia - Challenged at the Fairfax County schools because parent complained for beastility, gang rape, and an infant's gruesome murder

2016 - Virginia - Came into focus during legislation over whether or not parents should be notified about school materials. Excerpts of the novel were read on the state senate floor depicting the novel as a work of, as Senator Richard Black put it, "moral sewage."

"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

in
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/