100 Banned Books (71-80)

*pant* *pant* almost there….20 more to go… The rest of the list is at https://solonor.com/bannedbooks.php.


71
TITLE: Native Son
AUTHOR: Richard Wright
ISBN: 0060809779
Plot Summary: Bigger Thomas is a young black man who kills a white woman in a moment of panic in 1930’s Chicago. The novel tells of the downward spiral his life becomes after this act. It also examines racism in painful detail.
Word from the mouse: My recommendation? Don’t read it unless you want a lot of philosophy and description. Full Review
Complaints: Violence, offensive language, racism
Removed from New Jersey schools in Trenton in 1977, North Bergen in 1980, and Wall Township in 1993. As recently as 1995, the book was still cited as “dangerous, explicit, dishonest…”
Solonor Says Ban It Because: It’s just a male version of “The Color Purple”.
Links:
Mr. 125 Street–Richard Wright: Brooklyn’s One-Time Native Son

72
TITLE: Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies
AUTHOR: Nancy Friday
ISBN: 0671648454
Plot Summary: This book details the sexual fantasies of women, based upon the response of 150 participants in a study by Ms. Friday, the author of “My Secret Garden”.
Complaints: Sexual themes
Before a final vote was taken by the library board on the fate of Women on Top at the Chestatee Public Library in Gainesville ( Hall County ), Georgia, the book was borrowed and “accidentally” destroyed. The board voted not to replace it.
Solonor Says Ban It Because: Uppity women.
Links:
All About Sex – Censorship of Nancy Friday

73
TITLE: Curses, Hexes and Spells
AUTHOR: Daniel Cohen
ISBN: 0397314930
Plot Summary: A kids’ book that tells about curses on families, creatures, places, wanderers and ghosts. It also describes amulets and talismans which provide protection.
Complaints: Witchcraft, Satanism
Solonor Says Ban It Because: Ow! Quit sticking that pin in my ass!
Links:
BigTome.com-Bannedbooks: Curses, Hexes and Spells
California Astrology Association

74
TITLE: Jack
AUTHOR: A.M. Homes
ISBN: 0679732217
Plot Summary: 15-year-old Jack is confused about his feelings for his father to begin with, since Dad left Jack and his mother four years earlier, but now he finds out his father is gay…
Complaints: Homosexuality
Solonor Says Ban It Because: How could the dad be gay, if he made Jack with the mom? I don’t get it, so kids won’t either.
Links:
A.M. Homes is a Big Fat Liar

75
TITLE: Bless Me, Ultima
AUTHOR: Rudolfo A. Anaya
ISBN: 0446600253
Plot Summary: Six-year-old Antonio Marez meets Ultima, a curandera (one who heals with magic and herbs). Antonio grows to adulthood in the presence and under the care of Ultima, exploring family ties, magical secrets of their pagan past, and reconciling them with his Catholic upbringing.
Aden’s Mini-Review: A very intense, and powerful read. It is very easy to get swept up in the story and moved by the characters.
Complaints: Offensive language, “glorifies death”, sexual themes, witchcraft
Banned by the Laton Joint Unified School District in California.
Solonor Says Ban It Because: Oh, here we go. Just ’cause a guy is Mexican or some such, we ought to let him get away with teachin’ our kids about witches and questioning the church? I don’t think so!
Links:
These Are Not God’s Eyes

76
TITLE: Where Did I Come From?
AUTHOR: Peter Mayle
ISBN: 0818402539
Plot Summary: A broadly humorous approach to sex and puberty, using comic illustrations.
Complaints: Sexual themes
Challenged at the Washoe County Library System in Reno, Nev. (1994) because “Nobody in their right mind would give a book like that to children on their own, except a library.”
Solonor Says Ban It Because: Yeah! What they said. What’s the library doing giving out information! Next thing, they’ll be selling drugs!!
Links:
From Hell to Breakfast-Fear of Words

77
TITLE: Carrie
AUTHOR: Stephen King
ISBN: 0671039725
Plot Summary: 16-year-old Carrie is abused and denied everything fun by her fanatical mother. She is teased and tormented at school. But she has a secret–she has telekinetic powers. Powers that are unleashed in revenge and hatred, when they push her too far.
Complaints: Offensive language, violence, sexual themes
Considered “trash” that is especially harmful for “younger girls.” Challenged by Clark High School library, Las Vegas, Nevada, 1975. Placed on special closed shelf in Union High School library, Vergennes, Vermont, 1978.
Solonor Says Ban It Because: Stories about telekinesis don’t move me. Get it? MOVE me? Uh-haa. Shut up. I want it banned.
Links:
Stephen King: Required Reading?

78
TITLE: Tiger Eyes
AUTHOR: Judy Blume
ISBN: 0440984696
Plot Summary: After 15-year-old Davey’s father is killed in a robbery, she and her mother and younger brother move in with relatives in far off New Mexico. There she meets a young man who helps her carry on and conquer her fears.
Complaints: Offensive language, violence, sexual themes
Solonor Says Ban It Because: I think they just put this on the list so Judy Blume would have five books listed.
Links:
Holt Uncensored: Judy Blume’s Story

79
TITLE: On My Honor
AUTHOR: Marion Dane Bauer
ISBN: 0440466334
Plot Summary: 12-year old Joel promises not to go anywhere except the park. He and his daredevil friend, Tony, then go swimming in a dangerous river. Tony drowns, leaving Joel to face his friend’s death and both sets of parents.
Complaints: Offensive language
Retained at the Orchard Hill Elementary School in Cedar Falls, Iowa (1989) after being challenged because the 1986 Newbery Honor Book contained “two swear words and one vulgarity.” Challenged at the Alamo Heights, Tex. School District Elementary School (1992) because the book uses the words “hell,” “damn,” and “frigging.” Challenged in fourth to sixth grade reading classes in Grove City, Pa. (1995) because it was “depressing.” The criteria used to select the Newbery Award winning book along with a list of other books that focus on “divorce, death, suicide and defeat,” was contested.
Solonor Says Ban It Because: It’s damned depressing as frigging hell.
Links:
ERIC Bibliography-Marion Dane Bauer

80
TITLE: The Arizona Kid
AUTHOR: Ron Koertge
ISBN: 0316501018
Plot Summary: 16-year-old Billy Kennedy is spending the summer with his gay uncle in Tucson, cleaning stables and grooming horses at the local race track. He dreams of becoming a vet…and of the girl who exercises the horses.
Complaints: Inappropriate to age, sexual themes
Pulled from and later restored to the seventh grade English classroom at Minnetonka, Minn. Middle School West (1994) after a parent found the content inappropriate for twelve- and thirteen-year-olds.
Solonor Says Ban It Because: Mmmm…girls on horses…what? Oh! Yeah! Right! *ahem* Ban this immediately. It causes immoral thoughts. Besides, the uncle’s GAY!
Links:
101 Best Books for YA

NEXT: 100 Banned Books (81-90)

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