The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

We follow the ups and downs and rapes of a Chilean family for several mystical generations.

Banned

#97 Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009

1994 - California - Challenged due to accounts of sexual encounters and violence but retained at Paso Robles High School 

1997 - Virginia - Challenged but retained at Brentsville's Stonewall Jackson High School for sexual explicitness

1998 - Maryland - Challenged at Montgomery County reading lists and school library shelves as obscene

1999 - California - Challenged in Encinitas at La Costa Canyon High School as it "defames" the Catholic faith and contains "pornographic passages"

2000 - California

          Challenged but retained at Fairfield Unified School District as "immoral and sexually depraved"

          Challenged and retained for being "immoral and sexually depraved" at Suisun City Unified School District

2003 - California - Challenged but retained at Modesto, with the Modesto City School Board advising that parents given annotations and information of any text with the option of opting out

2013 - North Carolina - Challenged due to the book's graphic nature at Watauga County High School and retained after three appeals. 

Sources

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 

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

Allende, Isabele. House of the Spirits. Alfred A. Knopf. 1982.

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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/

Grendel by John Gardner

We learn that a monster known to be a crazy bloodthirsty tornado of violence is really just a bit of a thinker. With claws.

Banned

#96 on Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009

1978 - Maryland - Challenged at Frederick County Schools for being "anti-christian, anti-moral, and violent."

1986

     California - At Wasco High School the principal felt it was "profane," and created a restricted list of books, this being the first and only book on the list. All students had to have parental permission before they could study the book.

     Indiana - Challenged in an Indianapolis accelerated English class

1991 - Utah - Challenged as obscene in Farmington's Viewmont High School

1992 - New Jersey - Challenged but retained at Bass River Township's Pineland Regional High School for obscenities

1993 - Georgia - Challenged in Clayton County Schools in Jonesboro for being violent and graphic

1997 - Colorado - Challenged but retained at Douglas County schools for being obscene and violent. The school board also declined to create a book rating system.

2008 - Oregon - Challenged but retained at Sherwood School District for torture and mutilation

Sources

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 

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

Gardner, John. Grendel. Vintage Books. New York, 1971.

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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/

So Far From the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins

An autobiographical tale of a young Japanese girl and her family escaping Korea and surviving after World War II.

Banned

2006 - Massachusetts - Dover-Sherborn Middle school took it off the sixth grade reading list for rape, violence against women by Korean men, and distorted presentation of history. The Dover Regional School Committee voted unanimously to keep it on the list but are looking for other texts for balanced experience.

Sources

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

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

Watkins, Yoko Kawashima. So Far From the Bamboo Grove. HarperTrophy. New York, 1986.

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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 Outsiders by SE Hinton

Librarian ST Harker joins the Greasers in their epic battle against the Socs and people who talk in movie theaters with The Outsiders Chapters 1-3.

Banned

#38 100 most frequently challenged books: 1990–1999

• 1986 - Wisconsin - Challenged at South Milwaukee schools for "drugs and alcohol abuse was common" and "virtually all the characters were from broken homes."

• 1992 - Iowa - Challenged at Boone School District for smoking, drinking, and excessive violence and obsenties.

• 2000 - West Virginia - Challenged at George Washington Middle School in Eleanor due to the focus on gangs and gang fights.

Sources

ALA. "100 most frequently challenged books: 1990–1999." Retrieved on 2019 January 7 from http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/100-most-frequently-challenged-books-1990%E2%80%931999

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

Hinton, S.E. (1967). The Outsiders. New York: Speak.

Hinton, S.E. "Biography." Retrieved 2019 January 7 from sehinton.com

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Help support the podcast on Patreon

"Dances and Dames." Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/