Banned Books: The Catcher in the Rye- Mason Morgan

I chose one of my favorite books from grade school, J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. It revolves around the life of Holden Caulfield, a teenage kid going through some trouble. In this scene, Holden hires a prostitute to come up to his hotel room, but feels uncomfortable and only wants someone to talk to. It is one of the more challenged scenes, because the book is normally assigned to grade school children. After reading it though, the scene is not as bad as challengers make it out to be.

I choose The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison because I was interested in a lot of the content concerning women and the way that beauty standards shape women and especially young African-American women. This book has been challenged and continues to be challenged by people today due to the explicit sexual content involved incest, pedophilia and sexual abuse. I choose to read a section where the little girl talks about how Pecola Breedlove, the girl who falls victim to all above make the rest of the young girls in that community feel better about themselves because of what she suffers. It is not a boastful part of the novel yet a sad part, nobody feel good about the pain endured by Pecola. I hope that you enjoy this section of the novel and choose to pick it up too.

Banned Books Project: The Kite Runner

The book The Kite Runner has been challenged in multiple schools since it was published in 2003. Many parents find the graphic rape scene to be inappropriate and unsuitable for adolescents. Despite these claims it has never been officially banned.

Banned Books Project- Of Mice and Men

For Banned Books week I decided to read Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. This book has been challenged across the world for violence, language, racial slurs, and sexually explicit scenes. Despite the numerous amount of challenges, this book still remains a key novel on the reading list of middle school and high school English classes.

Reading Banned Books: Huckleberry Finn

My high school English Lit. class read this book a few years ago, and it prompted thoughtful conversations about censorship and authorial intent. It's been challenged for obvious reasons: the use of racial slurs and the way the main character, Huck Finn, speaks about his slave friend Jim. This is a particularly difficult section from the second chapter where Huck is describing a prank that his friend, Tom Sawyer, has pulled on Jim, which leads Jim to believe that witches have been messing with him. I have to say, even though I love Twain, and in particular this book, this was very hard to read! I actually intended to read a larger selection, but I had to stop.

Reading Banned Books: Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games

Despite its popularity, or perhaps because of it, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins has been on the ALA's list of top 10 frequently banned books three times, mostly for violence and being 'unsuited for age group.' This is an excerpt from chapter 25 of The Hunger Games. It showcases some of the violence that had parents upset as well as the reminder that to the audience, the killing was all for entertainment.

Reading a Banned Book: Sherman's Alexie's 'The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian'

In celebration of Banned Books Week 2015, here's a brief reading from the first chapter of Sherman Alexie's young adult novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Alexie is a funny writer, but not everyone likes his brand of humor. Judge for yourself.