It infuriates me when schools ban books - even ones that they have had in their libraries for a long time- because one parent objects to it for whatever reason. Recently a school district near us banned Diary of Anne Franke, for cripe's sake.
How ridiculous to ban
Diary of Anne Franke, which was one of the most inspiring books I ever read in Junior HIgh School. It is a book that young girls can identify with, and that helps them to realize how wonderful it is to be free. That article that BestWifeEver linked to about the banned dictionary is ridiculous, too. That is just insane.
Now I can see a school being careful about what books are
required, but not what books are permitted. But allowed books? I allowed my daughter to openly read (or watch on TV) whatever she wanted and the only dubious result from that is that she has no problem watching "Friday the 13th" type movies which I just cannot watch because they terrorize me. She now reads more than any 31-year-old I have ever met and belongs to fan clubs for great authors on Facebook and that sort of thing.
I can vouch for the fact that at age 12, knowing
Catcher in the Rye was not permitted just made it seem more exciting, adult, and glamourous to me. I might not have read it if it was just another book on the book list. I thought Holden Caulfield was brilliant, sensitive, perceptive, etc., and probably really good looking.
As a junior high school student at the time, going through some of the worst teenage years, I could relate to his angst and railing about phonies (I *still* don't like phonies). I don't even remember any bad words so I guess they didn't make much impact. All this said, I still didn't think it was a wonderful book. Just OK. At the time I thought Victor Hugo's
Les Miserables and Jules Verne's
The Mysterious Island were wonderful books. Neither of those was on the book list either, but they weren't banned.