It's Banned Book Week

The First banned book I ever read was Beastly Boys and Ghastly Girls a collection of children's poetry edited by William Cole. It showed up in our libray at Temple View Elementry in 1964. It was so popular the librarian would only let us keep it for one day. A few days after I read it, some parents complained and it was pulled from the shelves. I can still recite some of the Shel Silverstein poems from the collection.

Lists of banned books can be found all over the internet. Here are a few of the books that I've read. A longer list of mine would be very heavy on young kids' books. When I worked in bookstores, I often read illustrated kids' books on my breaks. Not all of these books were banned in the US. The Bible, for instance has never been banned in the US, despite what Tea Partiers and religious right fund raisers will tell you.

• The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
  
• The Glass Teat by Harlan Ellison
  
• Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
  
• The Stupids (series), by Harry Allard
  
• Good Soldier Schweik by Jaroslav Hašek
  
• The Bible
  
• The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
  
• A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
  
• His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
  
• American Heritage Dictionary
  
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
  
• The Call of the Wild by Jack London
  
• All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
  
• Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel
  
• The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
  
• Sophie's Choice by William Styron
  
• In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
  
• Dictionary of American Slang
  
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
  
• Howl by Allen Ginsberg
  
• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
  
• New Class by Milovan Djilas
  
• Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
  
• Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
  
• Macbeth by William Shakespeare

What's on your list?