What do Madonna’s Sex, Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho, and A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein have in common?  They all have nice, cushioned spots on the banned books list, of course!

Obviously there is no actual controversy with the Pinnacle staff reading banned books.  We live in a country where freedom of expression and freedom of information mesh beautifully in books that can help shape our worldviews, that shake our beliefs to the very foundation, and that can help discover different points of view.

It’s also banned book week, and in honor of both of these things, the Arapahoe Pinnacle staff has selected a few of their favorite controversial books from the banned book list (2000-2009).  Just don’t tell anyone, though, lest our beloved novels face another ban.

 

Outdoor and Relationship Journalist Ashante Wood picks the Salinger classic- Catcher in the Rye!

This is my pick because of how monumental and absolutely ahead of its time this book proved to be.  Published in 1951 the world was not ready for such a raw depiction of American coming-of-age.  Salinger exposed the reality of teen rebellion and alienation that no one was talking about.  Catcher in the Rye made the subject of struggling with identity a topic for conversation.  This book managed to spark social outrage, which eventually led to important social progress.  With roughly 65 million copies sold and counting along with a secured spot on the 100 Best English Novels of the 20th Century list, Catcher in the Rye changed literature, society, and history.

 

International Political Journalist Rashid Mohamed chooses Toni Morrison’s Beloved – number 26 on the banned list:

A native of Lorraine, Ohio, Toni Morrison only started writing at the age of 40.  Now at the ripe age of 85, she is an accomplished American novelist, Editor and Professor Emeritus at Princeton.  In 1998, she received the Nobel Prize for Literature for her complete body of works.

Beloved is a gripping tale set in 19 Century America, of an African American slave named Sethe who escapes her farm in northern Kentucky and flees with her daughter Beloved, to the free state of Ohio.  28 days later, a posse arrives from Kentucky intent to retrieve Margaret and her daughter, a right given to them by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 which allowed Slave owners to pursue slaves across state lines.  Instead of letting her daughter be taken away she ends up killing her.  Many years later their home in Cincinnati becomes haunted by the revenant of Beloved.

By highlighting the devastating effects of slavery on the human psyche, Ms. Morrison presents a book in which the themes are real, even gruesome at times but they only reflect the harsh reality of that era.  Morrison’s family also moved from the stagnant South to Ohio in search of a more promising future.

‘If there is a book you want to read and it hasn’t been written yet, you must be the one to write it.” – Toni Morrison

 

Science, Tech, and Environmental Journalist and Photojournalist Nico Danks has complex feelings about To Kill A Mockingbird:

This book has been on my mind lately because I’ve just finished Go Set a Watchman. While reading Watchman I reread passages from Mockingbird and looked up history on Harper Lee and Truman Capote. Lee’s keen writing style leaves an impression with her descriptive character narration and her deep sense of social awareness.
Mockingbird is about losing innocence and seeing a community for what it is, warts and all. There is a certain richness in stories revolving around communities, we get to witness its highs and lows. I’m also impressed by Lee’s wisdom, painfully aware of racial injustices that happened during her youth, and how relevant it sadly still is now.

This book is frequently banned for vulgar language, sexually charged themes, and institutionalized racism. It does bother me that in the book we don’t truly hear from the black perspective, that their insight is almost never articulated. It’s all written from a purely white focus. However, being uncomfortable with literature does not warrant banning it. In case you couldn’t tell, I have complex feelings on the book.     

 

Advice Columnist and Counter Culture Editor Scott Bright picks The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood:

Margaret Atwood’s iridescent prose, sharp tongue, and sharper wit work hand in hand to set up the dystopian world of The Handmaid’s Tale.  Atwood never fails to whip her cultural observances into a stunning creation of gripping proportions.  

This book is about an America-turned-fascist state that is ideologically anti-feminist.  The story follows Kate, whose social caste as a handmaid relegates her to a live of sexual servitude.  Women are assigned partners and everyone spies on everyone else, or so it is to be believed.  When Kate falls in love with someone who is not her assigned partner, life becomes ever the more dangerous and paranoid.

This book was banned when a Judson, Tex., school superintendent heard complaints from parents of students in an advanced placement English class saying that the book offended Christian values and had graphic sexual content.  The superintendent’s decision to ban was appealed to the school board and the decision was overturned in 2006.

 

Pinnacle Instructor and English Professor Jamey Trotter picks his books with his children in mind:

I was going to take the usual approach and talk about a book on this list that is dear to me (there are many), but I found myself bemused by the number of children’s books on here, many of which my eight-year-old daughter has read. So, since we have many students at ACC who are themselves, parents, I thought I’d explore those:

-My daughter LOVES Goosebumps (series), by R.L. Stine—the movies especially. A great series to ease kids into spooky stuff before you sit them down for The Shining.

-Are you kidding me? Junie B. Jones (series), by Barbara Park? Just, wow—people sure are tightwads. Sure, Junie B is a snarky little girl, but come on! This character teaches your daughter it’s okay not to conform.  Junie B is basically Allison Hagood as a kid, and we follow her development from kindergarten to second grade in this charming and hilarious series.

-We’re not quite here yet: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. But I remember this being the first big, thick book that I ever read. My dad read Huck Finn to my brother and me every night before bedtime back when I was a wee lad.

 

-This one’ll be in our house soon enough, sooner than ol’ dad would like: What’s Happening to My Body Book, by Lynda Madaras.

-And of course, there’s the series that is pretty much solely responsible for keeping young people interested in reading in the digital age: Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling. I patiently waited to read this series until my daughter got old enough so that we could read it together. I read the first book to her last year (she was in 2nd grade) at bedtime. It took a while, of course, but we finished it. Sadly, she was one of a handful of kids around the globe who hated it. SIKE. Of course, she loves Harry Potter! Her reward for finishing the first book was that she then got to watch the movie. For me, it was everything I’d hoped for and more.  She’s now reading the second book BY HERSELF. At 3rd grade. I don’t think I read my first novel until 5th grade or something, but that’s an unverified fact. Rowling for Queen of England!

 

Entertainment and Theater Journalist Ashlyn Stetzel has learned valuable lessons from the timeless Harry Potter series:

Manchester, England, 1990. J.K. Rowling jots down a quick idea on a napkin while waiting on a delayed train. Little did she know that she was writing down the vision that would transform into a worldwide phenomenon, resulting in over seven billion dollars in book sales worldwide.

It is hard to put into words what the Harry Potter series has done for me over the years. I am part of the generation that grew up with these books. I’ve never known a world without them, I was born in 1998, 41 days before the U.S. release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The lessons that the Harry Potter books have taught us over the years are everlasting: love is irreplaceable, fear is overcomeable, and hope is indistinguishable. Aren’t those three simple lessons that we all want our kids to learn? What better books could you grow up with than with books that show teenagers conquering impossible things while still dealing with being, well, teenagers? While the original series is officially over, the timeless stories and lessons it contains will live on forever and continue to shape even more generations to come.

 

Sports Journalist Sam Baquet’s favorite banned book is Lois Lowry’s The Giver:

For me, this was my favorite book because it showed that a utopian society has many problems that people wouldn’t expect. It shows that having no pain and feeling isn’t always as good as one may think.

In this “utopian” society the rulers take away the pain of the real world and keep everyone the same. When the main character, Jonas, is selected for a position as a receiver of memory, he learns how the real world is. Jonas gains new emotions that other people will never experience such as sadness and anger. In the community that Jonas lives in, it lacks any color, climate, terrain, and memory.

This book is challenged because many parents feel that it is unsuitable for middle school age groups and that it contains violence. The Giver is ranked 11th on the list of books that are most often requested for removal.

 

Entertainment and Music Journalist Jeyner Ruiz’s childhood was indelibly shaped by Catcher in the Rye:

The Catcher in the Rye had quite the impact on me when I first read it.

It was on a list of summer reading for a charter school (that shall remain nameless) that my parents had forced me to go. The book is a story of a rebellious  kid who is fed up with his school and runs away to New York, recounting the adventure from an unclear mental health facility. The book consequently inspired me to get myself expelled.

If you were to do some research you would find many cases like mine where people inspired by the book made some pretty impactful decisions that had affected society.  With the book’s content and reputation, it is no surprise that this book was banned at some point.  The author J.D. Salinger led a very private life, nonetheless his past is filled with strange and interesting stories. He was somewhat of an enigma. The Catcher in the Rye has remained as one of the top books I’ve ever read.