c/banned-books-exchange

4

joseph_coleman•2d ago

Just realized how many people confuse book banning with censorship of hate speech

I was at a library talk in Portland last month where someone claimed 'Huckleberry Finn' was banned because it was racist. But actually, it's been challenged for using racial slurs, not banned outright. Schools sometimes remove it from required reading but it's still in most libraries. Anyone else notice this mix-up happening a lot in these discussions?

18

the_wesley•4d ago

Stumbled on an old library card catalog in Prague that listed books removed by the Nazis in the 1940s

Found it in a small archive room at the Clementinum while my tour guide was distracted, and the handwritten notes next to each title like 'banned 1942' gave me a weird chill since those books were literally pulled off shelves and burned. Has anyone else run into original records of book censorship from that era?

6

brooke71•6d ago

Rant: A librarian in Spokane told me I was reading banned books wrong

So I used to only read the 'big name' banned books like Huckleberry Finn or 1984. Then a librarian in Spokane, this older lady, said I was missing the point. She told me to check out local school board ban lists from the 90s, and I found this novel called 'The Giver' that got pulled from a middle school in Texas for being 'too dark'. Realized I had no idea how deep these bans go until I looked at smaller districts. Anyone else dig into state-specific ban records instead of just the national headlines?

6

dakota_singh39•7d ago

Argued with a librarian in Texas about 'Gender Queer' last week

She said it was too explicit for teens... I said teens see worse on TikTok every day. But then I looked up the actual complaints and there's pages about oral sex that made me pause. On one hand I still think banning is wrong, but on the other hand I'm not sure 13 year olds need that level of detail. What makes a book cross the line for you... is it the content itself or just that someone complained?

8

wesley83•8d ago

Found an old copy of Slaughterhouse-Five at a garage sale in Cleveland last spring

I picked it up for fifty cents not thinking much of it, then later found out it's one of the most banned books in US schools because of some language and war scenes. We read it in high school back in the 90s before it got pulled from the curriculum, and it blew my mind then. Now I'm comparing how the challenges against it have shifted from 'vulgarity' to 'anti-war messaging' depending on the decade. Has anyone else noticed how the reasons for banning a book change over time based on politics?

22

richardknight•8d ago

Warning: wasted $60 on a 'banned authors' collection that turned out to be a scam

I bought this online bundle from a shady site claiming it had rare banned books from 5 countries, but when I downloaded the files they were just poorly scanned public domain stuff I could get for free. The site ghosted me when I asked for a refund, so total loss of 60 bucks and a few hours of my time. Has anyone else run into fake banned book sellers that promise rare content but deliver nothing?

7

olivers28•9d ago

Counted 64 banned authors on my shelf last night

I was rearranging my books after moving to a new apartment in Portland and decided to tally up how many were written by people who had their work banned somewhere. Ended up at 64, which shocked me since I never set out to collect those. Mostly stuff like Vonnegut and Morrison, but I had no idea how many countries still ban certain books today. Anyone else ever count their shelf and get surprised by the number?

22

ericp67•9d ago

Hit 50 banned books on my reading list this year and it's way worse than I thought

I set a goal back in January to read 50 books that have been banned somewhere in the U.S. just to see what all the fuss was about. I hit that number last week and honestly it shook me. Most of them were pulled from school libraries or reading lists for really flimsy reasons like references to puberty or mentioning that slavery was bad. I grew up in a small town in Iowa where we barely had a library at all so I had no idea how much material was being hidden from kids. One book I read was a simple graphic novel about a kid with a single mom and it was banned in three districts for 'promoting alternative family structures.' That one got me because my own kids have friends from all sorts of families and reading about different lives is part of growing up. Has anyone else tried a challenge like this and found a pattern in what gets pulled most often?

9

taylor82•10d ago

Rant: My local library pulled 'The Hate U Give' and I didn't even notice for 3 weeks

I went to grab it for a book club, and the shelf was empty. The librarian told me it got challenged by a parent group back in October and they just quietly removed it without any signage. Has anyone else spotted books vanishing without any notice from your library?

2

sage_morgan75•12d ago

Censorship fight in a small town library changed my thinking

I used to think book bans were just a big city problem, but last year in Midland, Texas, a group tried to pull "The Handmaid's Tale" from the local library. I showed up to the town meeting ready to argue against the ban, but then a mom stood up and said her daughter read it for a school project and it sparked great conversations at home. That moment made me realize outright banning isn't the answer, but maybe having a thoughtful discussion about age-appropriate sections could work better. Has anyone else seen a community find a middle ground on this?

2

victor219•12d ago

My high school librarian told me not to read Slaughterhouse-Five and I wish I had listened sooner

Back in 1998 Mrs. Patterson pulled me aside when I checked out Vonnegut and said I was too young for it. I was 16 and thought she was just another book banner. Read it anyway that weekend and honestly it was fine but I think I would have gotten way more out of it if I waited a few years. She wasn't trying to censor me she was trying to time it right. Has anyone else had an adult steer you away from a banned book for good reasons instead of bad ones?

-1

ericp67•13d ago

Realized I was the problem with book challenges at my kid's school library

I used to submit challenges to the school board every time my 8th grader brought home a book with language I didn't like. Last month, a librarian in Akron gently asked me to actually read the whole book before filing. Turned out the book I was mad about had a chapter about facing bullying that my kid needed. Now I spend my energy talking to teachers instead of filling out complaint forms. Has anyone else here backed off after realizing their own blind spots?

25

robin489•16d ago

The weird way Maus keeps getting misinterpreted in my local book club

I run a small banned books group with about 8 people from my town. We read Maus earlier this year and I was surprised how many folks just see it as 'the Holocaust comic.' They miss how Spiegelman is also talking about family trauma and guilt. Three people said they didn't get why it was banned until I showed them the scene with the dead mice. Did your group miss something obvious about a banned book too?

29

anna758•16d ago

Just realized 'To Kill a Mockingbird' got banned in a school district near me in 2021

I was looking up my local school board's meeting minutes last night and found out this district in Bexar County pulled 'To Kill a Mockingbird' from the 8th grade reading list because of the racial language. What got me is they replaced it with a book about the Holocaust instead, like swapping one heavy topic for another. I grew up reading it in 7th grade back in the 90s and nobody blinked. Has anyone else found a book they thought was untouchable getting pulled in their own town?

27

stone.jesse•17d ago

That time the library told me they pulled Huck Finn from the shelves

I was at the county library last week grabbing cookbooks and overheard the head librarian saying they finally pulled Huckleberry Finn from the kids section after a complaint. She said the N-word usage made it too hard to teach without context, which got me thinking about how much the world has changed since I read it in 7th grade English. Has anyone else seen classic books get moved or banned in their local libraries recently?

38

morgan316•18d ago

Picked 'The Satanic Verses' over 'Lolita' for my book club and I'm glad I did

My local group in Portland was voting between two banned books last month: Rushdie's 'The Satanic Verses' and Nabokov's 'Lolita'. We went with Rushdie and holy moly, three members quit over it because they thought it was blasphemous. The discussions got super heated but honestly it made me realize how censorship hits different books in different countries. Iran had a fatwa on Rushdie for years while 'Lolita' gets banned in US schools for very different reasons. Has anyone else had a book club fall apart over a controversial pick like that?

25

finley_bennett28•18d ago

Found my old copy of '1984' from high school last night

Had a required reading list in 2003. That book was on it. Now kids in some districts can't even touch it. What changed in just 20 years to make a classic a bad thing?

21

brookerobinson•18d ago

Updated my view on banning 'Huck Finn' after reading it with my son

I used to think banning Huckleberry Finn was an overreaction by sensitive parents. But last month my 14-year-old brought it home for a school project, and we decided to read it together. The N-word appears over 200 times in that book, and I realized how painful that must be for Black kids in a classroom. I spent about 30 bucks on a used copy, which isn't much, but the time I wasted defending it on forums feels like a bigger loss. My son asked me why we can't just find a version that teaches the same lessons without that word every other page. That question really stuck with me. Now I think schools should offer a modern adaptation or at least let families opt out without judgment. Has anyone else changed their mind about a classic after reading it with younger people in your life?

20

wren826•19d ago

Just hit 300 books on my banned list tracker and im shook

I started a spreadsheet last year to log every banned or challenged book I came across from different states and countries. Hit 300 entries yesterday and it really got to me. Thats 300 unique titles someone tried to keep out of schools or libraries for reasons like LGBTQ themes, racial stuff, or just plain weird moral panic. I thought maybe 50 were worth banning for legit reasons like actual harm, but most are just regular stories. The number just keeps climbing and it feels like every week there is a new school board fight. Does anyone else keep a running list or am I just being obsessive about this?

23

briancampbell•19d ago

My tiny library in western Kansas had a secret shelf of pulled books

I was visiting my folks last month and stopped into the public library in Hays where I grew up. The librarian there, Mrs. Chen, has been there since I was a kid. She recognized me and after chatting a bit she pulled me aside and showed me this back room storage closet. Had like three boxes of books that had been pulled from the shelves over the last 15 years. Stuff like 'The Bluest Eye' by Toni Morrison and even a children's book about a family with two dads. She said a local church group complained about maybe half of them and the rest got flagged by the school board for 'age appropriateness' even though they were in the adult section. I asked if I could borrow one and she said no, they can't circulate them or it'd get her in trouble. Has anyone else stumbled on a secret stash like this at their old hometown library?

8

felix155•19d ago

The week my high school librarian slipped me a banned copy of 'The Chocolate War'

It was back in 2005, junior year at Lincoln High in Portland. My librarian Mrs. Chen pulled me aside one Tuesday and handed me a beat-up paperback wrapped in a brown paper bag. She whispered that the school board had pulled it from shelves three years ago for 'language and sexual content.' I read the whole thing in two days and honestly it blew my mind how questioning authority could get a book banned. Has anyone else had a librarian secretly share a banned book with them?

32

emerycarr•20d ago

A librarian in Omaha made me rethink my banned book stance

I used to think banning books was just about censorship until I talked to this librarian at the Omaha public library. She told me about a parent who complained about a book with graphic violence, and it wasn't about controlling ideas but protecting a 9 year old from nightmares. That stuck with me because I realized context matters more than I thought. Have you ever changed your mind about why a book got banned after hearing the actual story behind it?

2

henrygrant•22d ago

Debate: Should 'Huckleberry Finn' stay banned in schools or go back in?

I heard one side says the N-word makes it too harmful for kids, but the other argues banning it hides real history. Which camp are you in after reading both arguments?

7

smith.jordan•22d ago

The librarian who told me I shouldn't read 'The Bluest Eye'

Back in 2018 I was browsing the young adult section at the public library in Austin, Texas when a older librarian came up and said I should pick something less 'controversial' for my age. She pointed at Toni Morrison's book in my hand and said it had no place in a public library because of the content. I told her I had already read it for a school project and thought it was important for understanding race in America. She got real quiet and just walked away without saying anything else. What gets me is that she was trying to shield me from something she never even asked about. Has anyone else had a librarian or teacher question their reading choices like that?

17

ryan_clark40•22d ago

Found a copy of 'The Satanic Verses' tucked behind a shelf at a library sale for 50 cents

I grabbed it without thinking and later realized it was a 1992 UK first edition, which surprised me since I thought all those copies got pulled after the fatwa, has anyone else stumbled on a banned book in a random spot.