The Bespectacled Bluestocking

Literature Meme No.6

Prose writers: C.S Lewis

[Some of] my favourite banned/challenged books:

The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald): "Challenged at the Baptist College in Charleston, SC (1987) because of 'language and sexual references in the book.'" (credit: Classic Lit)

To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee): Banned/challenged for offensive language and racism. And apparently because it “promotes white supremacy" (I definitely didn't read the same book that person did!)

Gone with the Wind (Margaret Mitchell): "Critically praised for its thought-provoking and realistic depiction of ante- and postbellum life in the South, it has also been banned for more or less the same reasons. Its realism has come under fire, specifically its realistic portrayal – though at times perhaps tending toward optimistic -- of slavery and use of the words 'nigger' and 'darkies.'” (credit: Banned Books Week Official Website)

The Harry Potter series (J.K. Rowling): Enticing students to Satanism, witchcraft, promoting violence and/or the occult, anti-Christian themes...

Winnie-the-Pooh (A.A. Milne): Anthropomorphism is one of the most common reasons given for this book's bannings. (Apparently talking animals are an insult to God. Who knew?) Others have claimed that Piglet, as a talking pig, is offensive to Muslims (Muslims, unsurprisingly, disagreed, and the challenge was dropped. It has even been accused of portraying (wait for it) Nazism. (I know, I was shocked too.)