ACLU releases annual banned books report

by Alex Bentley

They say they're "celebrating" banned book week, but something tells me the festivities will be subdued.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas has released their 11th annual Banned Books Report as part of Banned Book Week, Sept. 29-Oct. 6, and wouldn't you know it, the D/FW area is well-represented in the report. Granted, not all these schools/school districts actually banned books -- some of them just had books challenged, but retained them after deeming them acceptable. But just take a gander at some of the reasons books were either challenged or banned:

Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD: The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck

Challenged for being "a trashy novel" -- retained. What, as trashy as this?

Cedar Hill ISD: In the Night Kitchen, Maurice Sendak

Lake Ridge Elementary banned this book because of nudity -- what kind of nudity, you say? Well, according to commonsensemedia.org, a website that specializes in reviewing books for families, the book "raised a minor furor when it was published thirty-(seven) years ago because it showed a little boy's penis (hardly graphic, just a loop of a line), which served only to draw attention to this marvelous picture book." It's so controversial that Common Sense Media recommends the book for kids as young as 4.

Joe Wilson Intermediate School in Cedar Hill also restricted the usage of the Alice Books series by Phyllis Naylor Reynolds for that subjective bugaboo, "sexual content."

Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD: Chisholm Ridge Elementary had Endangered & Extinct Prehistoric Animals by Michael Bright challenged because a "parent complained of pictures of naked men" and "said it's no different than pornography and the book is only appropriate for married adults." Now, I have no idea what kind of naked men are depicted in said book, but if they bear any resemblance to these guys, I'd object too.

Plano ISD: Barron Early Childhood School banned Train by Charles Temple because "a picture depicts an individual in jail. Jail is not an appropriate place to be." I agree -- throughout my last stint in the pokey, I kept telling the warden what an inappropriate place prison was. He just laughed and said everybody felt that way after their first night with Tiny. Ah, memories.

Here's the whole list of books challenged or banned in Texas. Other area school districts that had books either challenged or banned include, Coppell, Frisco, Grapevine-Colleyville, Highland Park, Keller, Kennedale, Mansfield, McKinney, Pilot Point, and Richardson.

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