Laurie R. King

As I said yesterday, I’m honored to be a sort of banned author myself, having been told in the early days of my career that certain bookstores in Salt Lake City (oh, those Mormons again!) were selling A Grave Talentunder the counter, since it was about a lesbian detective. (Or maybe it was because I had adopted that wicked Sherlock Holmes…)

At any rate, Banned Books Week (September 23-29) is when the American Library Association talks about how “Banning Books Silences Stories.”  I found it interesting to review the books banned and challenged over the past few years—there’s a full list here.  Some of the titles are obvious lightning-rods, popping up in various protests year after year, while others are puzzling.

It was hard to choose one favorite banned book for my local library’s video. What about Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card, which was accused of being pornographic?  Or Dave Eggers’ A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, ripped from the shelves for its “profanity, poor grammar and sentence structure”? Perhaps one of the Tintin comics whose racist stereotypes made library readers uncomfortable?  Or maybe The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, challenged in Florida and Tennessee for its profanity and atheism?

But in the end, there was really no choice in the matter.  I had to go for the document that lay beneath Mark Haddon’s story, a novel that pre-dated all the others on the banned lists by decades.

In 2011, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet was removed from a 6^thgrade reading list because of its slanted depiction of Mormons. Which, well, fair enough. If I were a Mormon, I’d be a bit hot under the collar, too.

But look at some of the others—more important, look at how the library or school in question actually dealt with the challenge, and tell me you don’t think that Banned Book Week is a shining example of the democratic process in action.  For example:

Eggers, Dave: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius 

Retained in the adult nonfiction collection at the Toronto Public Library in Ontario, Canada, despite complaints about the novel’s profanity, poor grammar and sentence structure. The memoir chronicles the author’s stewardship of younger brother Christopher “Toph” Eggers, following the cancer-related deaths of his parents. The book was listed on The New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year; in 2000, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction; and chosen as the twelfth best book of the decade by The Times.

Haddon, Mark: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Banned from the ninth-grade honors-level English reading list in the Wilson County, Tenn., schools (2014) due to offensive language. The book was removed from libraries and the possession of students soon after. The decision was later rescinded on the advice of the school board attorney due to possible conflict with a board policy. The award-winning book is about a 15-year-old autistic child who investigates the death of a neighbor’s dog. And, in 2015 it was pulled as a summer reading assignment in the Leon County, Fla. schools because of the book’s content and language. Moved from required reading to optional reading at Lincoln High School in Talahassee Fla after receiving about a dozen complaints through telephone calls and emails about the book’s profanity and atheism.

Hergé [Georges Remi]: Tintin in America

Pulled by the Winnipeg, Canada Public library (2015) pending review due to stereotypical and racist depictions of indigenous peoples. The library eventually returned the book to general circulation, but in the adult collection, where it will be available to adult readers who want to see it for themselves or “carry on discussions with their children or others.”

Tintin in the Congo

A Belgian court (2012) rejected a five-year-old bid by a Congolese student to have
the 1946 edition of Hergé’s book banned because of its racist depictions. “It is clear that neither the story, nor the fact that it has been put on sale, has a goal to … create an intimidating, hostile, degrading or humiliating environment,” the court said in its judgment. The student, who launched the campaign in 2007 to ban the book, plans to appeal.

Card, Orson Scott: Ender’s Game

A teacher at Schofield Middle School in Aiken, S.C. (2012) will not face criminal charges for reading to his students from the science-fiction book. In addition to
the Card novel—which has won several science-fiction awards and is listed on numerous children’s literature review websites as appropriate for readers twelve and older — the teacher read excerpts from an Agatha Christie novel and a young adult novel set in the Old West, officials said. The incident came to light after the materials were characterized by one student and one parent as pornographic, according to a press release issued by the school district.

Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan: A Study in Scarlet

Removed from the Albermarle County, Va. school sixth-grade required reading list (2011) because the book casts Mormonism in a negative light. The complaint cited

the novel’s reference to Mormons as “murderous” and “intolerant,” as reason
to remove the work. The complaint also alleged that the work unfairly characterized Mormons as murderous kidnappers. The classic novel was the first to present the character of the brilliant sleuth Sherlock Holmes and his friend, Dr. Watson. Doyle wrote the novel in three weeks;it was published in 1886.

Sex, of various sorts: For some reason, 2009-2010 was a very randy year, seeing challenges to Alex Comfort’s classic Joy of Sex(originally published in 1972, but updated in 2008); Emily Dubberley’s rather depressingly determined Sex for Busy People: The Art of the Quickie for Lovers on the Go; Kat Harding’s Lesbian Kama Sutra;Eric Marlowe Garrison on Mastering Multiple Position Sex (published by the nicely named Quiver Press); and Charles Silverstein & Felice Picano on The Joy of Gay Sex.  Here are the arguments, and decisions:

Comfort, Alex: Joy of Sex.

Restricted minors’ access in the Topeka and Shawnee County, Kans. Public Library (2009) because the organization Kansans for Common Sense contended that the material is “harmful to minors under state law.” Later the board voted 6–3 in favor of adopting a staff recommendation to keep the books where they are currently located on the shelves in the library’s Health Information Neighborhood section.

Dubberley, Emily: Sex for Busy People: The Art ofthe Quickie for Lovers on the Go.

Restricted minors’ access in the Topeka and Shawnee County, Kans. Public Library (2009) because the organization Kansans for Common Sense contended that the material is “harmful to minors under state law.” Later the board voted 6–3 in favor of adopting a staff recommendation to keep the books where they are currently located on the shelves in the library’s Health Information Neighborhood section.

Harding, Kat: Lesbian Kama Sutra.

Restricted minors’ access in the Topeka and Shawnee County, Kans. Public Library (2009) because the organization Kansans for Common Sense contended that the material is “harmful to minors under state law.” Later the board voted 6–3 in favor of adopting a staff recommendation to keep the books where they are currently located on the shelves in the library’s Health Information Neighborhood section.

Garrison, Eric Marlowe: Mastering Multiple Position Sex.

Challenged, but retained at the Pataskala, Ohio Public Library (2009). The library determined to implement a new juvenile library card.  A parent or guardian will be able to sign off on the card, thereby restricting his or her child’s borrowing rights to juvenile materials.

Silverstein, Charles, and Felice Picano: The Joy of Gay Sex.

Challenged in the Lewis and Clark Library in Helena, Mont. (2008) due to objections over its content. The book has been in the library’s collection since 1993. The library director accepted the recommendation of the library’s collection review committee that the book be retained in the collection. Restricted minors’ access in the Topeka and Shawnee County, Kans. Public Library (2009) because the organization Kansans for Common Sense contended that the material is “harmful to minors under state law.” Later the board voted 6–3 in favor of adopting a staff recommendation to keep the books where they are currently located on the shelves in the library’s Health Information Neighborhood section.