A. L. Kaplan

Category: Essay

  • Banned And Challenged Books I’ve Read: James and the Giant Peach

    Banned And Challenged Books I’ve Read: James and the Giant Peach

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    James and the Giant Peach

    Roald Dahl

    I was surprised to learn this book has been challenged. Yes, it has scarry things, but so does life. In the end, James finally finds the home he deserves. I read it years ago.

    James Henry Trotter lives with two ghastly hags. Aunt Sponge is enormously fat with a face that looks boiled and Aunt Spiker is bony and screeching. He’s very lonely until one day something peculiar happens. . . At the end of the garden a peach starts to grow and GROW AND GROW. Inside that peach are seven very unusual insects – all waiting to take James on a magical adventure. But where will they go in their GIANT PEACH, and what will happen to the horrible aunts if they stand in their way? There’s only one way to find out . . .

    James and the Giant Peach is not permanently “banned” but has been frequently challenged and temporarily restricted in various schools and libraries due to its depiction of scary scenes (like the death of the aunts), references to drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, vulgar language (such as “ass”), and themes of disobedience and mystical elements. These challenges stem from concerns that the book promotes unsuitable behavior, contains offensive language, or is too frightening for the intended audience.  

  • Banned And Challenged Books I’ve Read: A Wrinkle in Time

    Banned And Challenged Books I’ve Read: A Wrinkle in Time

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    A Wrinkle in Time

    Madeleine L’Engle

    I read this book in collage as an assignment. It was a lot of fun. My daughter really liked it as well. While not banned, it has been challenged several times.

    It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger.

    “Wild nights are my glory,” the unearthly stranger told them. “I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me sit down for a moment, and then I’ll be on my way. Speaking of ways, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract.”

    A tesseract (in case the reader doesn’t know) is a wrinkle in time. To tell more would rob the reader of the enjoyment of Miss L’Engle’s unusual book. A Wrinkle in Time, winner of the Newberry Medal in 1963, is the story of the adventures in space and time of Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O’Keefe (athlete, student, and one of the most popular boys in high school). They are in search of Meg’s father, a scientist who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government on the tesseract problem.

    A Wrinkle in Time is not an officially banned book, but it has been frequently challenged and sometimes removed from school libraries for various controversial reasons, including its blend of science and religion, the portrayal of witches and magical elements, and the depiction of Jesus alongside other great thinkers, which some find blasphemous while others find it too secular. 

  • Banned And Challenged Books I’ve Read: The Call of the Wild

    Banned And Challenged Books I’ve Read: The Call of the Wild

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    The Call of the Wild

    Jack London

    This is a fantastic book that depicts the brutality of life during the Alaskan gold rush. At its heart, it is a story of survival. I read all the sequels as well.

    First published in 1903, The Call of the Wild is regarded as Jack London’s masterpiece. Based on London’s experiences as a gold prospector in the Canadian wilderness and his ideas about nature and the struggle for existence, The Call of the Wild is a tale about unbreakable spirit and the fight for survival in the frozen Alaskan Klondike.

    The Call of the Wild has faced bans and challenges primarily due to its depiction of animal cruelty, violence, and its dark, gritty tone. Some historical bans also cited the book’s radical socialist undertones. Although not widely “banned” in the same way as works with political themes, the book’s content is sometimes considered inappropriate for young readers, leading to challenges in schools and libraries.  

  • Banned And Challenged Books I’ve Read: A Farewell to Arms

    Banned And Challenged Books I’ve Read: A Farewell to Arms

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    A Farewell to Arms

    Ernest Hemmingway

    War sucks and this book shows it well. I read this in HS.

    A Farewell to Arms is the unforgettable story of an American ambulance driver on the Italian front and his passion for a beautiful English nurse. Set against the looming horrors of the battlefield – the weary, demoralized men marching in the rain during the German attack on Caporetto; the profound struggle between loyalty and desertion—this gripping, semiautobiographical work captures the harsh realities of war and the pain of lovers caught in its inexorable sweep. Ernest Hemingway famously said that he rewrote his ending to A Farewell to Arms thirty-nine times to get the words right.

    A Farewell to Arms was not a single, sustained ban but faced multiple censorship attempts and bans in different places due to its controversial content, including depictions of premarital sex and the brutal, unflattering portrayal of war, which offended political leaders and moral crusaders. It was banned in Italy for its negative depiction of their military retreat, in the US (Boston) for sexual content, burned by Nazis in Germany, and challenged in US school libraries as a “sex novel”.  

  • Banned And Challenged Books I’ve Read: The Golden Compass

    Banned And Challenged Books I’ve Read: The Golden Compass

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    The Golden Compass

    Philip Pullman

    Lyra is rushing to the cold, far North, where witch clans and armored bears rule. North, where the Gobblers take the children they steal–including her friend Roger. North, where her fearsome uncle Asriel is trying to build a bridge to a parallel world. Can one small girl make a difference in such great and terrible endeavors? This is Lyra: a savage, a schemer, a liar, and as fierce and true a champion as Roger or Asriel could want. But what Lyra doesn’t know is that to help one of them will be to betray the other…

    Banned and challenged because of religious viewpoints

  • Banned And Challenged Books I’ve Read: The Complete Perseposil

    Banned And Challenged Books I’ve Read: The Complete Perseposil

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    The Complete Perseposil

    Marjane Satrapi

    My daughter recommended this one to me. It is a graphic novel, but not for kids.

    Persepolis is the story of Satrapi’s unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private life and public life in a country plagued by political upheaval; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trials of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming—both sweet and terrible; and, finally, of her self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland. It is the chronicle of a girlhood and adolescence at once outrageous and familiar, a young life entwined with the history of her country yet filled with the universal trials and joys of growing up.

    Banned and challenged because of gambling, profanity, political viewpoints, and said to be “politically, racially, and socially offensive”, and other “graphic depictions”

  • Banned And Challenged Books I’ve Read: Of Mice and Men

    Banned And Challenged Books I’ve Read: Of Mice and Men

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    Of Mice and Men

    John Steinbeck

    Another story I read in HS.

    They are an unlikely pair: George is “small and quick and dark of face”; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a “family,” clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation. Laborers in California’s dusty vegetable fields, they hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. But George and Lennie have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own.

    Of Mice and Men, creates an intimate portrait of two men facing a world marked by petty tyranny, misunderstanding, jealousy, and callousness. But though the scope is narrow, the theme is universal: a friendship and a shared dream that makes an individual’s existence meaningful.

    Of Mice and Men is banned and challenged in schools and libraries due to its racial slurs (particularly the N-word), profanity, vulgarity, and depiction of violence and sexual situations. Some people also object to the novel’s negative themes, its portrayal of marginalized groups like women and the disabled, and an alleged anti-business or anti-American message from the Depression era.   

  • Banned And Challenged Books I’ve Read: Brave New World

    Banned And Challenged Books I’ve Read: Brave New World

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    Brave New World

    Aldous Huxley

    Hard to believe, but this was another HS read. I really appreciate my school more now than ever before.

    Aldous Huxley’s profoundly important classic of world literature, Brave New World is a searching vision of an unequal, technologically-advanced future where humans are genetically bred, socially indoctrinated, and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively uphold an authoritarian ruling order–all at the cost of our freedom, full humanity, and perhaps also our souls. 

    Banned and challenged because of sexual content and promiscuity, anti-religious/atheistic beliefs, anti-family, drug use, profanity, and suicide

  • Banned And Challenged Books I’ve Read: Lord of the Flies

    Banned And Challenged Books I’ve Read: Lord of the Flies

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    Lord of the Flies

    William Golding

    I read this one is HS and it was an eyeopener into human nature. We had some great discussions in class.

    At the dawn of the next world war, a plane crashes on an uncharted island, stranding a group of schoolboys. At first, with no adult supervision, their freedom is something to celebrate; this far from civilization the boys can do anything they want. Anything. They attempt to forge their own society, failing, however, in the face of terror, sin and evil. And as order collapses, as strange howls echo in the night, as terror begins its reign, the hope of adventure seems as far from reality as the hope of being rescued. Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse, Lord of the Flies is perhaps our most memorable novel about “the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart.”

    Lord of the Flies is banned and challenged primarily due to its violent and brutal themes, including the depiction of murder and the descent into savagery, as well as its offensive language and “defamatory” comments toward women, minorities, and God, according to critics and school administrators. Some also object to the book’s disturbing portrayal of human nature, seeing it as a negative or racist message about society and civilization. 

  • Banned And Challenged Books I’ve Read: The Hunger Games

    Banned And Challenged Books I’ve Read: The Hunger Games

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    The Hunger Games

    Suzanne Collins

    My daughter suggested I read this one and I loved it. It does have a lot of violence in it, but so do most dystopian stories. It’s a great opening for discussion with your readers. The movie, however, was even more intense and I wouldn’t recommend that for young people.

    Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun. . . . In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

    The Hunger Games has been banned and challenged for its violent and graphic content, including themes of child violence and rebellion against authority. Other reasons cited for challenges include perceived “anti-family” and “anti-ethic” messages, offensive language, and references to sexuality or occult themes. However, many critics argue that these challenges stem from a misunderstanding of the book’s true themes, which highlight societal issues and encourage readers to question oppressive governments.