Banned Books....

[Ann.without.an.e]

We typically get our books from the library. I had never considered that some books may be banned from the American Library Association. I am sure that some of those books are extremely thought provoking reads. We are currently reading The Giver by Lois Lowry. I just happened to pick it up at a Yard Sale. What a great book. Our library will not carry that series, so I ordered the sequels from Amazon. I can see why it might be banned. It is sad and while I would not want my child to pick this up in the Children's section of the library and read it on their own, we are thoroughly enjoying reading it together.

 

What other books am I missing?

 

:001_smile:

[Luckymama]

That just must be your library's decision to not shelve the book. Ours carries The Giver.

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

The ALA doesn't ban books-as a matter of fact it is strongly opposed to the banning of books. From their web site:

 

The ALA promotes the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one's opinions even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those viewpoints to all who wish to read them.

 

They do however maintain lists of books that have been banned and challenged. You can check out their web site and search "banned books" or "challenged books".

 

Individual libraries may choose not to purchase some books. This can be budgetary restrictions, objections from various members of the community, patron statistics that show the book wouldn't be used enough, etc.

[Ann.without.an.e]

The ALA doesn't ban books-as a matter of fact it is strongly opposed to the banning of books. From their web site:

 

 

 

They do however maintain lists of books that have been banned and challenged. You can check out their web site and search "banned books" or "challenged books".

 

Individual libraries may choose not to purchase some books. This can be budgetary restrictions, objections from various members of the community, patron statistics that show the book wouldn't be used enough, etc.

 

This is good to know. I just found it on the Banned Books List and assumed it was "banned". I had never come across this before so I had no idea how it worked. Our library show the titles and shows them unavailable and they are flagged, I am assuming they were removed. They are not checked out. Since the whole series is this way, I am assuming they have pulled them.

[Hillary in KS]

I wasn't aware that "The Giver" is a series. :confused:

 

It's not banned in our library, or any library that I'm aware of. All the books on the banned list aren't actually "banned." You can purchase them from nearly any bookstore.

[NanceXToo]

I just looked online, my library carries "The Giver" in its "Young Adult" section.

[Hunter's Moon]

The ALA doesn't ban books-as a matter of fact it is strongly opposed to the banning of books. From their web site:

 

 

 

They do however maintain lists of books that have been banned and challenged. You can check out their web site and search "banned books" or "challenged books".

 

Individual libraries may choose not to purchase some books. This can be budgetary restrictions, objections from various members of the community, patron statistics that show the book wouldn't be used enough, etc.

 

Before you posted this, I was sitting here trying to imagine how bad "The Giver" would have to be to be banned by them. I read a series about a year ago. The first is called "Flowers in the Attic". A mother abandons her children in the attic of her rich parents' home so she can inherit her dying father's money. The father wouldn't give her the money if he knew she had those kids. The grandmother poisons them with arsenic, beats them, one dies from the arsenic poisoning (I believe he was 5 or 6) and the older brother and sister have an incestuous relationship. The mother then abandons them completely and they run away.

 

I was shocked that book was in our library. Not to mention, my mother told me my grandmother was trying to get my mother to read it when she was younger, about my age.

[Ravin]

Most libraries will actually have a "Banned books Week" when they showcase books that have been banned.

 

In the U.S. in recent decades most of the banning of books, from what I understand, takes place in school library systems. Some books have been banned in other countries, etc.

[Farrar]

The Giver isn't a series per se, but it has a sequel (or two? I forget now). I have seen it on lists of books that have been banned or challenged.

 

The ALA's policy is, indeed, anti-censorship. However, not every library follows that policy, especially in regards to children's books. I am curious if you're sure it's censored and not just not owned by the library. Or lost at some point and never re-purchased. One thing that can happen in many communities (and it's just disgraceful if you ask me) is that books are purposefully "lost" by community members who want them removed. Instead of challenging the book and going through a process, they hear it's bad and then check it out with the purpose of not returning it.

 

I agree that you should go look at the list of banned and challenged books and see if there's anything else on there that looks good. There are especially a growing number of YA books being challenged, especially books with gay and lesbian themes.

[Aubrey]

The Giver isn't a series per se, but it has a sequel (or two? I forget now). I have seen it on lists of books that have been banned or challenged.

 

The Giver is one of my all-time favorite books. The sequels are Gathering Blue & The Messenger. Gathering Blue is really good, imo, but not obviously connected to The Giver. The Messenger connects the first two books, but it is tragically bad. I'm sure everybody else on the planet who's read that book will disagree w/ me, & even I, had I not read it, would instantly lose all human respect for someone who said such a thing about a book written by Lowry, so I do hate to say it. But man, that book was bad.

[pooh bear]

Before you posted this, I was sitting here trying to imagine how bad "The Giver" would have to be to be banned by them. I read a series about a year ago. The first is called "Flowers in the Attic". A mother abandons her children in the attic of her rich parents' home so she can inherit her dying father's money. The father wouldn't give her the money if he knew she had those kids. The grandmother poisons them with arsenic, beats them, one dies from the arsenic poisoning (I believe he was 5 or 6) and the older brother and sister have an incestuous relationship. The mother then abandons them completely and they run away.

 

I was shocked that book was in our library. Not to mention, my mother told me my grandmother was trying to get my mother to read it when she was younger, about my age.

 

I guess you have not read the rest of the books in the series. The first book is tame compared to the rest of the books in the series.

[Mimm]

:001_huh: Your library doesn't carry The Giver?? My library had a shelf of banned books for banned books week (or month, or whatever). The Giver was one of the books on it.

[Hunter's Moon]

The Giver is one of my all-time favorite books. The sequels are Gathering Blue & The Messenger. Gathering Blue is really good, imo, but not obviously connected to The Giver. The Messenger connects the first two books, but it is tragically bad. I'm sure everybody else on the planet who's read that book will disagree w/ me, & even I, had I not read it, would instantly lose all human respect for someone who said such a thing about a book written by Lowry, so I do hate to say it. But man, that book was bad.

 

I read "Gathering Blue". I didn't realize it was a sequel to "The Giver". It is a strange book, but good. I think I got it at a tag sale.

[Hunter's Moon]

I guess you have not read the rest of the books in the series. The first book is tame compared to the rest of the books in the series.

 

I read 2.

 

I decided not to continue the series.

 

The whole time reading those books I just had a dark, sickening feeling.

[vonfirmath]

Before you posted this, I was sitting here trying to imagine how bad "The Giver" would have to be to be banned by them. I read a series about a year ago. The first is called "Flowers in the Attic". A mother abandons her children in the attic of her rich parents' home so she can inherit her dying father's money. The father wouldn't give her the money if he knew she had those kids. The grandmother poisons them with arsenic, beats them, one dies from the arsenic poisoning (I believe he was 5 or 6) and the older brother and sister have an incestuous relationship. The mother then abandons them completely and they run away.

 

I checked that V.C. Andrews series out of my HS library.... and it is the one book/series that has really seriously scarred me such that I regret reading it.

[pooh bear]

I read 2.

 

I decided not to continue the series.

 

The whole time reading those books I just had a dark, sickening feeling.

 

More than anything it is the 5th book, which is a prequel which really makes you see the whole series in a new light. Very disturbing.

[Ann.without.an.e]

The Giver is one of my all-time favorite books. The sequels are Gathering Blue & The Messenger. Gathering Blue is really good, imo, but not obviously connected to The Giver. The Messenger connects the first two books, but it is tragically bad. I'm sure everybody else on the planet who's read that book will disagree w/ me, & even I, had I not read it, would instantly lose all human respect for someone who said such a thing about a book written by Lowry, so I do hate to say it. But man, that book was bad.

 

"Bad" - do you mean bad as in morally, ethically, or just bad writing. Just curious. :confused:

[Aubrey]

"Bad" - do you mean bad as in morally, ethically, or just bad writing. Just curious. :confused:

 

Well...I guess I wouldn't quite go as far as to say "bad writing"--it's the same style as the other 2, but most like the 1st, which I love. But it's a bad story line, esp a weak ending.

 

I understand what she was going for w/ it--something mysterious & open-ended like the 1st book's ending (the execution of which I really liked, fwiw--so it's not just the *kind* of ending that's bothering me), but I think a) she could have done it much better than she did, b) even if she'd done it better, the ending was really unsatisfactory, & c) besides the ending, there were several threads of the story that were left so loose as to wonder why they had been introduced in the first place.

 

Really, the whole thing was very all over the place, but you don't completely realize it until the last line of the book, when you go, "WHA--?"

[JudyJudyJudy]

I live in a very conservative area, and even our library has The Giver. I've never read it. Now I'm curious, so I'm going to put it on my list to read!

[Ann.without.an.e]

I live in a very conservative area, and even our library has The Giver. I've never read it. Now I'm curious, so I'm going to put it on my list to read!

 

 

You should read it, it is a very good book. Very well written. I can see why some libraries pull it, since it is a Children's Book. I would simply move it to the Young Adult Section rather than removing it. A parent who is cautious is more likely to monitor somethiing a child takes from the Young Adult section, KWIM? I would not like if my, say 2nd or 3rd grader, pulled it from the children's section and read it alone. I appreciate that some libraries are cautious enough that it isn't accessible to the general children's section, but some libraries remove it altogether (yes, mine has removed it) and that is sad because is it a great book. It hits some very deep issues (like euthanasia, population control, coming of age sort of feelings, etc). It is a very thought provoking book. Definitely a great book for 6th grade and up, in my opinion. We are using it as a Read-Aloud for my older three - 12, 10, and 8 year olds. I started the book not knowing that it was controversial and now the kids are really deep into it. I have been pre-reading only by a few chapters and I just came across the chapter where it describes how they release a baby. I am not exactly sure my 8 and 10 year old are ready for that, so I am not sure how I am going to handle it. I my not read that part - since the description is so vivid, but I may just explain what happens and move on with the story line. Not sure?