House Editorial: Banning the banned book display
Local high school misses the irony, demonstrates the need to protect freedom of expression
Posted on October 9, 2006

At the end of September, the American Library Association celebrated its 24th annual Banned Book Week, which the organization claims “reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted.”

And in its own special way, the event did not go unmarked at nearby Harrisonburg High School. In commemoration of the event, also known as the “Celebrating the Freedom to Read” week, school superintendent Donald Ford banned the banned book display.

Ford’s decision was justified by asserting that the freedom to read should be contingent upon motivation. “We are not going to send a message to kids encouraging them to read ‘banned’ books,” he told the Daily News-Record. “Our message should be to read books, a wide variety of books … I don’t think we should tease kids into reading a book by trying to say, ‘there might be something juicy or controversial in this book. Therefore it would be a good one for you to sneak home and read.’”

As lovers of (and participants in) the printed word, we at The Breeze belive that it would be a wonderful state of affairs if high school students were smuggling Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” or Madeline L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time” home to read by flashlight under the covers — whether Ford thinks so or not.

Looking at the ALA’s list of the 50 most frequently challenged books from 1990 to 2000, it is shocking that many of the books that have defined our collective childhoods have been subjected to the censor bar. It can only be hoped that Harrisonburg learns from Ford’s ironic demonstration during this past Banned Book Week, and will not take this precious democratic freedom for granted again.

1. Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
2. Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
4. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
8. Forever by Judy Blume
9. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
10. Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
11. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
12. My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
14. The Giver by Lois Lowry
15. It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
16. Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
17. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
18. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
19. Sex by Madonna
20. Earth's Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
21. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
23. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
24. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
25. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
26. The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
27. The Witches by Roald Dahl
28. The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
29. Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
30. The Goats by Brock Cole
31. Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
32. Blubber by Judy Blume
33. Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
34. Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
35. We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
36. Final Exit by Derek Humphry
37. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
38. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
39. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
40. What's Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
42. Beloved by Toni Morrison
43. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
44. The Pigman by Paul Zindel
45. Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
46. Deenie by Judy Blume
47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
48. Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
49. The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
50. Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz