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Lists

The Big Five: Why Books Are Banned

by Powell's Books, September 10, 2018 9:15 AM
5 Reasons Books Are Banned
As we noted in this post, the Office for Intellectual Freedom at the American Library Association releases a yearly list of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books. While the titles vary slightly from year to year, the reasons for censoring material are consistent, and generally boil down to some combination of the following five, listed here in order of frequency:

SEX. In pretty much any form, sex between young adults — or the admission of sexual thoughts by a young adult — is a red flag for concerned parents, school administrators, and library patrons who worry that reading about sex will encourage children to think about, express interest in, or have sex. This extends to books like The Kite Runner, which depicts a rape, It’s Perfectly Normal, which is a sex education guide for children and teens, My Mom’s Having a Baby!, and Drama, for including LGBTIA characters.

UNSUITABILITY TO AGE GROUP. This is a vague, catch-all label, which explains why it’s so popular. There’s probably a legitimate argument to be made that Fifty Shades of Grey is unsuitable for some age groups. But the Captain Underpants series, which has made the Top Ten list five times since 2002 and features characters like talking toilets and wicked wedgie women, is definitely suited to an elementary school audience. (Not that we don’t find talking toilets funny. But they’re even funnier when you’re six.) The real difficulty with labeling a book “unsuited to age group” is that children mature at different rates and bring different life experiences to their reading. Maybe your six-year-old is terrified of toilets and potty training was a nightmare. Or you think fart jokes are gross. That’s okay! But there are a lot of grade schoolers out there whose lifelong bond to reading began with: “Meet George Beard and Harold Hutchins.” At least one of them works at Powell’s. Plus, as is the case with all five top reasons books are banned, “unsuited to age group” is an easy way to censor books about minorities (Nasreen’s Secret School, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, George, etc.) without stating that as one’s goal.

PROFANITY AND OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE. This category covers everything from expletives to racist terms, sexual dialogue or vocabulary, and language that references drug use, LGBTQIA issues, and any cultural claims or depictions that strike the challenger as offensive. Recent books challenged under this label include The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, The Hate U Give, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Eleanor and Park. It’s worth pointing out that language is reliant on context: To Kill a Mockingbird is arguably an antiracist work that uses racist terms to communicate historical realities. Eleanor and Park uses vulgar language to show how difficult the main characters’ home and school environments are. Another point, well made by Angie Thomas, who had to defend the use of the f-word in The Hate U Give, is that focusing on profanity allows people to ignore the larger, real-life issues at play in these works. As she noted, “There are 89 f-words in The Hate U Give; I know because I counted them…. And last year, more than 900 people were killed by police. People should care more about that number than the number of f-words.”

LGBTQIA. Books by, about, and which reference the existence of people who identify within the LGBTQIA spectrum are often challenged, usually via charges of sexual content, offensiveness, and unsuitability to age group. A casual survey of the last 18 years of lists and statistics gathered by the OIF shows this to be one of the fastest growing challenge categories since 2000.

DRUG AND ALCOHOL USE. Last but not least, books that depict teen drug and alcohol use are frequently challenged, generally because people fear children will be inspired to experiment with illegal substances.
÷ ÷ ÷
For more recommendations, original essays, and bookseller displays, check out our Banned Books resource page.



Books mentioned in this post

The Kite Runner

Khaled Hosseini

Fifty Shades of Grey

E L James

Drama

Raina Telgemeier

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Mark Haddon

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Sherman Alexie

To Kill a Mockingbird

Lee, Harper

Eleanor and Park

Rainbow Rowell

Its Perfectly Normal Changing Bodies Growing Up Sex & Sexual Health

Robie H Harris, Michael Emberley

Nasreen's Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan

Jeanette Winter

The Hate U Give

Angie Thomas

George

Alex Gino
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6 Responses to "The Big Five: Why Books Are Banned"

John September 28, 2020 at 01:32 PM
Good point, Greg. Maybe it's actually "books that were once banned—somewhere." Yes, Tahiya, reading can be subversive. I'm happy Powells is spotlighting these books, but I find this list of reasons a relic of some former time, and bordering on irrelevancy. Our entertainment media are teeming with sex, drugs & rock n' roll. Our mainstream news media are focused on salacious material. Some of us see this as a vast distraction from issues that matter. IMO, the #1 reason books are suppressed is that they provoke thinking counter to the norms of the prevailing institutions of power. Censorship is on the rise. I'll use the contact form to suggest a book, which challenges the current public health assumptions. A huge online merchant, which listed it for pre-order, dropped it just before its fulfillment date.

Baldanders April 8, 2019 at 07:44 AM
By far the number one books are banned today is politics. Specifically, right wing politics.

Liz September 25, 2018 at 01:55 PM
This is a great article, however I found it incorrect to include "Drama" as a banned book for having sexual content. "Drama" is challenged because it includes LGBT character, not because they engage in any sexual behavior. The main character experiences crushes but this is not considered sexual, so why is a similar (and less emphasized) experience by a LGBT character categorized as sexual? I think this is a common ideology with those who seek to ban books- that the LGBTQ life is inherently sexual. Please distinguish in your article what people think is in the book from what actually is. Thank you! Greg- While we have legal protections for schools and libraries, a book is considered challenged if patrons/parents/people request for the item's removal and banned if the item is removed. There are many cases of books being removed from school curriculum, school libraries, and public libraries. These happen on a case by case basis however- each location will respond to complaints about their books specifically. A banning of a book does not limit availability through other means. This is still a problem because it goes against the American Library Association's beliefs against censorship. More info can be found here: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/banned-books-qa

Greg September 18, 2018 at 03:46 PM
While I think this is interesting and I've looked at the list of "Banned Books". I think that list would have had much more veracity or weight if the book descriptions mentioned where and why they were banned. The dictionary defines banned as: Verb (used with object), banned, ban·ning. to prohibit, forbid, or bar; interdict. Some here is my confusion. Powells is selling these books so Powells is either breaking the law or these books aren't banned because they aren't barred, or forbidden since they are being sold by a well known bookseller. IMHO, it they were really "banned" I have to buy them from an underground seller and risk arrest if I was found with them. That's not the case here we have the 1st amendment that protects these sort of things. I understand the need to generated sales but I think the borders on sensationalism.

Tahiya September 18, 2018 at 03:36 PM
Reading is a subversive act. The greatest threat to literature and love of reading is wholesale co-opting of the activity of reading itself by parents and schools as a "measurable goal" with assigned minutes, books, and various idiotic mechanisms designed to make reading an odious chore that authority oversees. The act of banning books is our last hope of preserving reading as the assertion of self-determination and owning learning that all true readers cherish. Ban away! Otherwise kids will lose interest altogether.

Linda September 16, 2018 at 05:01 PM
Every year since my oldest child was in about 6th grade I have bought at least one banned book. I still have most of them. I figure when I die maybe things will change and they won't be wanting to ban books anymore and all of my books will go out to the general public. So far so good, I still keep buying them and stashing them in my bookcase.

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