Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman

in
Little Black Sambo
By Helen Bannerman

A crazy, racist little fairy tale, Sambo learns to steal from bullies and eat hella pancakes.

Banned

1956 - Canada - Removed by the Toronto, Ontario board of education after complaints from several groups that "the popular book was a cause of mental suffering to Negroes in particular and children in general."

1959 - New York - A black resident of New York City challenged the book at a school library, calling it racially derogatory. The book was eventually restored to library shelves.

1964 - Nebraska - School superintendent of Lincoln school system ordered it removed from open shelves due to the inherent racism of the book. The book was placed on reserved shelves with a note explaining it would be available as optional material.

1971 - Alabama - Montgomery schools banned the book for being "inappropriate" and "not in keeping with good human relations."

1972

United Kingdom - General attack in schools and libraries for symbolizing "the kind of dangerous and obsolete books that must go."

Canada - Hamilton, Ontario teachers ordered students to tear the story from their books; the Montreal-based Canadian National Black Coalition began a war to remove the book from school and library shelves; New Brunswick banned it entirely.

Texas - Dallas school libraries removed the book because it "distorts a child's view of black people."

Sources

Associated Press. "COMPANY NEWS; Sambo's to Alter Northeast Names." New York Times, 1981. Retrieved January 5, 2018 from http://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/11/business/company-news-sambo-s-to-alter-northeast-names.html

Bannerman, Helen. "Little Black Sambo." Applewood Books, 1921. Bedford, Massachusetts.

Doyle, Robert P. "Banned Books: Challenging Our Freedom to Read." American Library Association, 2014.

Golus, Carrie. "Sambo’s subtext." Chicago Magazine. 2010. Retrieved January 5, 2018 from http://magazine.uchicago.edu/1010/chicago_journal/sambos-subtext.shtml

Pancake Parlour. "Helen Bannerman on the Train to Kodaikanal." Retrieved January 5, 2018 from http://web.archive.org/web/20060820084143/http://pancakeparlour.com/Wonderland/Highlights/Thefuture/Short_Stories/Bannerman/bannerman.html

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell 20

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And Tango Makes Three (Classic Board Books)
By Justin Richardson, Peter Parnell

Title: And Tango Makes Three

Author: Justin Richardson, Peter Parnell, Henry Cole (Illustrator)

Publisher and Publication Year: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2005

Summary

In a world where penguins are locked up in cages called zoos, two male chinstraps dare to find… whatever it is you call companionship in penguins. Love? Sure. Hot, sweaty penguin love. Then a guy gives them an egg because fuck it, let's see what happens. The thrilling conclusion comes when the egg hatches and the two become daddies. Join us as we talk about And Tango Makes Three.

Banned

General:

  • Some parents and other adults who should stop trying to raise other peoples kids have objected to children reading a book about homosexuality, misreading the whole point of the book entirely.

  • The idea about comparing penguin love to human love has been found ludicrous by some, which is a pretty good argument because penguins don't have higher brain functions. That being said, "senior penguin keeper Rob Gramzay said that he never saw the pair complete a sex act, but the two did engage in mating rituals like entwining their necks and vocalizing to one another." Co-author Justin Richardson also said “We wrote the book to help parents teach children about same-sex parent families. It's no more an argument in favor of human gay relationships than it is a call for children to swallow their fish whole or sleep on rocks." That being said, the book is also not a call against homosexuality in any way, simply enforcing that families come in all shapes and sizes. Think about that when you read, that humans can learn a lot about forming families.

Specific Cases:

2006

Illinois - Shilo - Parents at Shiloh Elementary School requested the book be allowed checked out with parental permission, but the superintendent vetoed the matter.

Missouri - Moved from children's fiction to nonfiction in Savannah and St. Joseph after parents complained it had homosexual overtones. 

Missouri - Rolling Hills - book moved to nonfiction section by Library Director Barbara Read after parent complains of gay themes.

North Carolina - Charlotte - Superintendent Peter Gorman of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools ordered the book be removed from school libraries. A committee reviewed the decision claiming policy on challenged books were not followed.

2008

California - Lodi Public Library - resident challenged, claiming its "homosexual story line that has been sugarcoated with cute penguins

California - Chico - Three parents complained the book was unsuitable for young children. A school committee voted to retain.

Iowa - Ankeny - parents at local elementary school asked it be restricted for parental check out. School board voted 6 to 1 to keep the book in circulation.

Maryland - Calvert County - Parent requested the book be placed in a section for "alternative or non-traditional families". Another parent also claimed the book should be labeled or removed as being too young for sexuality and that when the penguins "slept together," it was referencing sex. The library board voted to retain the book both times.

Ohio - Dublin - Eli Pinny Elementary retained the book after a parent's concern that the book "is based on one of those subjects that is best discovered by students in another time or in another place."

UK - Withdrawn from two Bristol primary schools following objections from parents.

Virginia - Sterling, Loudoun County - Superintendent Dr. Edgar B Hatrick, after parents complaint, removed book from all school libraries despite staff complaints. The book was returned after Hatrick found "significant procedural errors that he believes void the process followed in this matter."

2009

Minnesota - retained in the Meadowview Elementry School in Farmington despite a paren't concern that "a topic such as seual preference does not belong in a library where it can be obtained by young elementary students."

Missouri - North Kansas City - Challenged but retained after parent's complaints about inappropriate "human sexuality education" and "tries to indoctrinate children about homosexuality."

2011 - Minnesota - Rochester - Pulled and removed from Gibbs Elementary School library but later put back after district policy had not been followed. The parent who challenged the book was required to be present when any item was checked out.

2013 - Utah - Marked for removal in the Davis School District because parents might find it objectionable.

2014 - Singapore - National Library Board (NLB) announced it would destroy three children's books with pro-LGBT families themes as they saw the titles as being "against its 'pro-family' stance following complaints by a parent and its own internal review." The decision was eventually reversed pending review.

"Dances and Dames"

Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

$12.48

King & King by Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland

in
King and King
By Linda de Haan, Stern Nijland

Can a prince find love in a hellish wasteland where Texas has a monarchy?

Banned

2004

Indiana - Moved from children's to adults section in Shelvyville-Shelby County library because a parent considered the homosexual story inappropriate

North Carolina - Restricted to adults in a school's library in Wilmington because the children's book is about a prince who's true love turns out to be another prince.

2005 - Oklahoma -  Challenged by seventy state legislators calling for the book to be removed from the children's section and placed in the adult section of the Metropolitan Library System in Oklahoma City.

2006- Massachusetts - Parents of a Lexington second-grader protested that their son's teacher read the fairy tale about gay marriage to the class without warning the parents first. The book was used as part of a lesson about different types of weddings. Lead to a long fight in U.S. District Court and Court of Appeals against the book being allowed in schools with parents still attempting to go to U.S. Supreme Court after other courts ruled there was no agenda for indoctrination and that public schools could not protect individual students from ideas that could be offensive, particularly if there is "no requirement for the student to agree with or affirm those ideas, or even participate in discussions about them."

2007 - Pennsylvania - Retained at the Lower Macungie library after the donated book was challenged because "let them be kids...and not worry about homosexuality, race and religion. Just let them live freely as kids."

2008 - England - Withdrawn from two Bristol, England primary schools after parents complained the book was unsuitable and that the parents had not been consulted.

Sources

Doyle, Robert P. Banned Books: Challenging Our Freedom to Read. ALA, 2014.

Marshall University

"Dances and Dames"

Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/