My Teacher is an Alien by Bruce Coville
The library looks at a pre-YA classic about an alien invasion, talks about our favorite alien invasion movies, and discusses some potential ways to stop aliens in their tracks.
Read MoreThe library looks at a pre-YA classic about an alien invasion, talks about our favorite alien invasion movies, and discusses some potential ways to stop aliens in their tracks.
Read MoreMoby navigates water and religion and abortion and all kinds of difficult topics that are way worse than the language for which it was challenged.
2011 - Wisconsin - A parent at the Belleville High School complained the book on the ninth grade required reading list was "pornography" and had "pervasively vulgar" language, but the school board decided to keep the book.
ALA. "Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009." Retrieved on 17 Aug 01 from http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/top-100-bannedchallenged-books-2000-2009
Crutcher, Chris. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. Greenwillow Books. New York, 1993.
Doyle, Robert P. Banned Books: Challenging Our Freedom to Read. ALA. 2014.
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"Dances and Dames." Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
The Harry Potter that started it all! Join Evan as he talks about wizards, wizardry, how Hogwarts is a hellscape, and how unicorns are not innocent.
1999
California - Parent's objected to the book's use in two Moorpark elementary schools
Colorado - Parents objected at Douglas County schools
New York - Parents objected in suburban Buffalo among other districts
South Carolina - Challenged in schools because "the book has a serious tone of death, hate, lack of respect, and sheer evil."
2000
Ontario, Canada - Challenged but retained in the Durham School District because of witchcraft
Brisbane, Australia - Banned from Christian Outreach College library, being considered violent and dangerous
Alabama - Challenged but retained in Arab school libraries, claiming the author "is a member of the occult and the book encourages children to practice witchcraft."
California
Challenged but retained in the Simi Valley School District after a parent complained the book was violent, anti-family, had a religious theme, and lacked educational value.
Challenged but retained at the Orange Grove Elementary School for magic and bad experiences.
Challenged in the Fresno Unified School District by a religious group voicing concerns about sorcery and witchcraft.
Florida - Challenged in six Santa Rosa County schools in Pace for witchcraft.
Iowa - Challenged in Cedar Rapids school libraries because the book romantically portrays witches, warlocks, wizards, goblins, and sorcerers
Illinois - Challenged but retained in Frankfort School District 157-C after parents complained of lying and smart-aleck retorts to adults.
Michigan
Zeeland schools restricted the book to parental permission for fifth to eighth graders as well as no future installments would be purchased. Restrictions were overturned by the superintendent except one: teachers are prohibited from reading the book aloud to students below sixth grade. Restrictions place because the book contained an intense story line, violence, wizardry, and the sucking of animal blood.
Removed from Bridgeport Township public school for promoting witchcraft
New Hampshire - Challenged but retained in the Newfound Area School District in Bristol despite complaints the book was scary.
New York - Challenged at the Salamanca elementary school library for dark themes
Oregon - Challenged in Bend at Three Rivers Elementary school for witchcraft and concerns that the book would lead children to hatred and rebellion
Texas - Restricted to parental permission in the Santa Fe School District because of witchcraft promotion
2001
Florida - Challenged but retained in the Duval County school libraries despite complaint of witchcraft.
New Mexico - Burned in Alamogordo outside Christ Community Church as being "a masterpiece of satanic deception."
Pennsylvania - Challenged in Bucktown's Owen J. Roberts School District because the "books are telling children over and over again that lying, cheating, and stealing are not only acceptable, but that they're cool and cute."
2002
Moscow, Russia - Challenged by a Slavic cultural organization that alleged the stories about magic and wizards could draw students into Satanism
United Arab Emirates - one of 26 books banned from schools that contradicts Islamic and Arab values
Arkansas - Originally challenged for characterizing authority as "stupid" and portrays "good witches and good magic" and placed on restricted access. Parents of a fourth-grader filed a federal lawsuit against the restriction and the federal judge overturned the restriction.
Kentucky - A teacher's prayer group in Russell Springs proposed this for ghosts, cults, and witchcraft as well as fifty other titles for removal.
2003 - Connecticut - Challenged but retained in the New Haven schools as it "makes witchcraft and wizardry alluring to children"
2006 - Georgia - Gwinnett County for guess what, but the school board rejected it. Georgia Board of Education ruled December 14, 2006 that the parent had failed to prove her contention that the series "promote[s} the Wicca religion and therefore that the book's availability in public schools does not constitute advocacy of a religion." On May 29, 2007, Superior Court judge Ronnie Batchelor upheld the Georgia Board of Education's decision to support local school officials. County school board members have said the bo oks are good tools to encourage children to read and to spark creativity and imagination.
2007 - Massachusetts - Removed from the St. Joseph School in Wakefield because the themes of witchcraft and sorcery were inappropriate for a Catholic school.
2010 - Calgary, Alberta, Canada - Salvation Army post refusing to take donations of Harry Potter items because they “promote black magic and the occult.”
2019 - Tennessee - Rev. Dan Reehil, the pastor of St. Edward Catholic School, consulted with exorcists and the Catechism of the Catholic Church before making the decision to remove the book series from the school library due to the possibility of risking “conjuring evil spirits” as well as concerns that the book teaches Machiavellian approaches to problem solving. Students may still read the book on school grounds.
Doyle, Robert P. Banned Books: Challenging Our Freedom to Read. 2014.
Willingham, AJ. “A Catholic school removes 'Harry Potter' from its shelves, claiming the books' spells are real.” CNN.com. CNN, September 3, 2019. Retrieved September 3, 2019 from https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/03/us/harry-potter-catholic-church-st-edward-nashville-trnd/index.html
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"Dances and Dames"
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
What would happen if one of the Hogwart's Houses started using the Matrix to fuck up and control the other houses? Of course you would get something that wants to be a society based on the insane asylum from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest! Follow Tris as she does little but cower in the face of adversity and pine for her boyfriend in Insurgent.
The only instance of the word "banned" coming up in context of this book online was for people threatening to remove comments from comment sections of articles where people took this teen novel too seriously.
That being said, it does contain violence, gun use, parental abuse, distrust of authority, distrust of smart people, borderline sexual situations, and long passages about dumb teenage lust that sounded okay when Shakespeare wrote them 400 years ago but kids today should know better.
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"Dances and Dames"
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
The Giver Episode (mostly for spelling of "teen dystopia")
Hunger Games Episode (mostly for spelling of "dystopian teen bullshit")
In the near future, Chicago is divided into factions who value random virtues. Tris, our hero, shows aptitude for various virtues making her Divergent, so she switches from the boring people to the crazy people. While in crazy person land, Tris learns to shoot things and beat up things. Can she overcome her fears and wanting to bone down with her instructor to stop the plot to destroy society? Listen to the podcast and find out!
Or read the book. Whichever.
The book is full of violence, death, resisting authority, talking back to your elders, underage drinking, sex talk, and bad plotting. The last one is subjective, but I objected to it.
No exact cases
Help sponsor the podcast on Patreon and get all types of extra content for just a penny!
Follow us on Twitter, Tumblr, Goodreads, or like us on Facebook
Rate and review us on iTunes and tell us if you enjoyed your time here.
"Dances and Dames"
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0