I've had a pretty rough week - some of which I can't share, and some of which I can and will at a later time, but I've been a delinquent poster in consequence. So, here's a meme to tide you all over until a real post. (Which may be Monday or later. Tons of Grading, a Paper proposal, and a lecture come first.)

Saw this on Overread and Sappho's Breathing

So, in honor of banned book week, I'll chime in and add to the books I have read my assessment of why The Man (the evil dude behind the curtain responsible for all bad things in the Universe) opted to ban them.

Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier {Hated it, but it was clearly banned because The Man must perpetuate the bizarre use of children to sell handy fundraising products like Chocolate.}
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
Forever by Judy Blume {or How I Learned the Details of Sex, age 10. I tried to talk my mom into buying it because it was a "Judy Blume" book. She saw through that one toot-sweet.}
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Giver by Lois Lowry
It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Sex by Madonna
Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel {or How I Learned More Details of Sex, age 13. I'm sensing a theme here to the banning... Clearly, The Man is opposed to young women learning anything about Sex.}
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle {The woman has written about spiritual values in childrens literature, as well as a prayer book. So, clearly The Man decides her work is evil and must not be read. }
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak {Because The Man doesn't want kids sneaking out of bed at night to watch the giant bakers who make the world out of dough and ordinary objects.}
The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry {Because The Man doesn't want odd-ball smart girls to have their own stories. They should remain silent and unnoticed. Either that or the Man's Secret Name of Power is One-Ball Reiliy Krupnick and he's pissed that Lois Lowry figured it out.}
The Goats by Brock Cole
Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane {Because The Man doesn't want us to know what apartheid was like.}
Blubber by Judy Blume {Because The Man wants us to continue our social torment of larger sized folk and not know how hurtful it is.}
Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
Final Exit by Derek Humphry
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood {Clearly, to prophetic to permit.}
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras {or How I Learned about Puberty. Give it up to my Mom for buying me most of these banned books. (except Forever, damn it.)}
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
Deenie by Judy Blume {Oh, definitely because The Man doesn't want anybody to masturbate.}
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein {Who could ban Shel Silverstein??? It would be like kicking Santa. The Man is so, so evil.}
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley {Also too prophetic to permit.}
Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
Cujo by Stephen King
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl {This one, I really don't get. Because The Man doesn't want anybody to buy magic worms and fly across the ocean in a giant peach with some giant bugs? Because it is too close to an acid trip? Because Peaches so luscious they must be the work of the De-Vil?"}
The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume {Oh, this one's got to be because The Man believes that Men-Stru-Ation is Evil, and that God definitely shouldn't be bothered with it.}
Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
Fade by Robert Cormier
Guess What? by Mem Fox
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende {One of my all-time top ten favorite books. Read it, if you haven't. Banned because The Man wants us not to think about South American dictatorships that he sends big time money to.}
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Native Son by Richard Wright
Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday
Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Jack by A.M. Homes
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle {The Man wants to keep that Stork story alive. Or maybe he's pissed about the drawing of a sperm in a top-hat. No snazzy sperm for him, no siree. Only ordinary sperm in his world.}
Carrie by Stephen King
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
Family Secrets by Norma Klein
Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
Private Parts by Howard Stern
Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford {The Man doesn't want us to find him, because Waldo is a top-secret CIA agent, responsible for the produciton of all of the nation's "intelligence," so if we find him, his cover is blown. Or maybe its because The Man hates red and white striped socks.}
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
Sex Education by Jenny Davis
The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell {The Man wants to preserve the worm population? I must confess it did occurr to me to try to eat fried worms after I read it, but I didn't think I could manage the stove. I was 8.}
View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier


Three cheers for banned books, without which nobody would know anything about sex, understand the secret lives of peaches, bugs, bakers, and teenagers, or know exactly how idiotic some people are who try to prevent the spread of knowledge and literature.