It's that time of year again

The ALA's Banned Books Week is upon us. To celebrate, here are a few selections from a list of the Banned and/or Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century, with commentary where applicable.

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

Challenged in the Waukegan, III. School District (1984) because the novel uses the word "nigger." ...Challenged at the Park Hill, Mo. Junior High School (1985) because the novel "contains profanity and racial slurs:"...Challenged at the Santa Cruz, Calif. Schools (1995) because of its racial themes...Challenged at the Moss Point, Miss. School District (1996) because the novel contains a racial epithet...Returned to the freshman reading list at Muskogee, Okla. High School (2001) despite complaints over the years from black students and parents about racial slurs in the text...Challenged at the Stanford Middle School in Durham, N.C. (2004) because the 1961 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel uses the word "nigger." Source: 2004 Banned Books Resource Guide.

I've been formulating a theory about something that's been kind of prickling at the back of my brain ever since the OJ trial. When we had nominally grown men and women using the euphimism "N-word" in the context of a courtroom trial.

Why do we get so bent out of shape about some words, even racially charged ones, regardless of their context? I think it's because we know, most of us, that race relations in this country are FUBAR. And worse, we're afraid we know that there's nothing we can do about it at this point. The wound goes too deep, yet too much time has gone by.

So if we can't do anything about that, well hey, at least we can ban a book because it uses a bad word, never mind that it uses it in the midst of an anti-racism story. That'll make us feel better.

Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck

The Knoxville, Tenn. School Board chairman vowed to have "filthy books" removed from Knoxville's public schools (1984) and picked Steinbeck's novel as the first target due to "its vulgar language:" ...Challenged as a summer youth program reading assignment in Chattanooga, Tenn. (1989) because "Steinbeck is known to have had an anti business attitude:" In addition, "he was very questionable as to his patriotism:' ...Challenged as appropriate for high school reading lists in the Shelby County, Tenn. school system (1989) because the novel contained "offensive language." ...Challenged at the Jacksboro, Tenn. High School (1991) because the novel contains "blasphemous" language, excessive cursing, and sexual overtones...Pulled from a classroom by Putnam County, Tenn. school superintendent (1994) "due to the language:' Later, after discussions with the school district counsel, it was reinstated. . Source: 2004 Banned Books Resource Guide, by Robert P. Doyle.

I admit I kept an eye on which of these books have been banned or challenged in Tennessee, and what I found was this: Those Tennesseeans really hate John Steinbeck. They banned The Grapes of Wrath, too. Also, A Separate Peace by John Knowles. But then, Santa Cruz is one of the cities that challenged To Kill a Mockingbird, so far be it from me to say that stupid, wrongheaded behavior is limited to the bible belt.

The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
Burned in Alamagordo, N. Mex. (2001) outside Christ Community Church along with other Tolkien novels as satanic. Source: Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, Mar. 2002, p. 61.

That's right, baby. Burned in 2001. You know, the Harry Potter books occasionally attract the ire of one of these whackaloons (though none of them made this list, or the top banned books of 2005 which I'll get to in a moment).

But the Lord of the Rings books are still making Christians insecure almost 50 years after they were published. I'm just saying, you gotta have some respect for that. Now as promised, here are

the 10 Most Challenged Books of 2005:

“It's Perfectly Normal” for homosexuality, nudity, sex education, religious viewpoint, abortion and being unsuited to age group;
“Forever” by Judy Blume for sexual content and offensive language;
“The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger for sexual content, offensive language and being unsuited to age group;
“The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier for sexual content and offensive language;
“Whale Talk” by Chris Crutcher for racism and offensive language;
“Detour for Emmy” by Marilyn Reynolds for sexual content;
“What My Mother Doesn't Know” by Sonya Sones for sexual content and being unsuited to age group;
Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey for anti-family content, being unsuited to age group and violence;
“Crazy Lady!” by Jane Leslie Conly for offensive language; and
“It's So Amazing! A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families” by Robie H. Harris for sex education and sexual content.

As with Tolkien, I'm just pleased that Cormier and Blume are up there with J.D. Salinger when it comes to still offending the kind of people who ought to be offended, over 30 years after their books were first published.

I don't know "Whale Talk," but I read Crutcher's "Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes" a few years ago and loved it. If were a betting man, I'd put my money on his still being on this list in another five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 years...