Surprise! 20 banned books – ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ and California bans the dictionary
Why do books get banned from schools and libraries? There’s nothing too terribly surprising about the idea that parents and teachers may strive to limit the access of young readers to books heavy on sex and/or violence. But there are some titles – like “Where’s Waldo?” or “Sylvester and the Magic Pebble” – whose presence on banned book lists seems quite mysterious. The following 20 books may seem innocent to many, but they have all raised reader objections at one time or another.
You can check the whole list via the Christian Science Monitor.
‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,’ by L. Frank Baum
Frank L. Baum’s classic story about a girl and her friends traveling through the mystical land of Oz came under fire in Detroit, where it was banned from the libraries for having “no value” for children and supporting “negativism.”
And this one is a hoot. Maybe the real reason is, they don’t want students to know what words really mean?
The dictionary as banned book – really? Yes. The dictionary has been banned from libraries in California because it includes sexual definitions.
There are plenty more surprises where they came from.
