Bringing Books and Stories for Everyone
10 Surprising Banned Books
(that you should read by the time you’re 10)
For banned book week, we’re celebrating the freedom to read! When most people hear the term ‘banned book’ they’ll think of 1984 by George Orwell, or the Harry Potter series (both high on the list of most challenged books). However, there are lots of seemingly innocent children’s books that have also been banned. Here’s a list of 10 banned childhood classics that might surprise you:
1. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.
Reason: In 2010, the book was banned by the State Board of Education in Texas. Why? The author- Bill Martin- has the same name as another author who wrote a book about Marxism. No, they’re not at all related.
2. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Reason: This book was banned largely in the south, and psychologists called it “too dark”. Due to Max being sent to bed without dinner, it was seen as promoting child abuse, as well as witchcraft and supernatural events.
3. Where the Sidewalks Ends by Shel Silverstein
Reason: In 1986, Wisconsin school libraries banned the book because it “promotes drug use, the occult, suicide, death, violence, disrespect for truth, disrespect for authority, and rebellion against parents.”
4. The Lorax by Dr. Suess
Reason: Originally banned in California schools for the negative portrayal of logging. The worry is that this portrayal would turn children against the logging industry, which is a huge part of California’s economy.
5. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Reason: In 1986, a Wisconsin town banned this book because religious groups thought the part where a spider licking her lips could be taken in a sexual way. More recently, the book has been challenged for mysticism.
6. Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne
Reason: Challenged by religious groups because talking animals are seen as an insult to God. In the UK, Winnie the Pooh was banned in schools because Piglet, the talking pig character, might offend Jewish or Muslim students who abstain from eating pork.
7. Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola
Reason: Banned by a number of libraries in the U.S. for depicting witchcraft and magic in a positive light.
8. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Reason: A librarian in New York didn’t like it. Seriously. Anne Carroll Moore, head of the children’s department at the New York Public Library, wasn’t a fan of Goodnight Moon‘s realism. She also called it “overly sentimental,” and decided that it would not be in the library.
9. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
Reason: In 2006, the book was challenged by parents in a Kansas school district who believed it was unnatural for animals to talk. Quote: “Showing lower life forms with human abilities is sacrilegious and disrespectful to God.”
10. Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
Reason: Challenged in 1983 at a school board meeting in Ohio, where some argued the book encouraged children to disrespect their parents, as well as lying and spying.
