Banned Books Week
This is Banned Books Week and according to the ALA website here is the list of the most challenged books of the 21st century (2000-2005) I am amazed at the list. But I’m going to discuss Captain Underpants. Come on. What is the harm in those books? My older son has never been a reader but he devoured those books when he was younger and those were the only books he asked to go to the library to check out. A little fart humor never hurt anyone. So thanks Dav Pilkey for your wonderful books and for getting my son to read!
In anticipation of the 25th anniversary of Banned Books Week the American Library Association (ALA) compiled the top 10 most challenged books from 2000-2005, with the Harry Potter series of books leading the pack. The 10 most challenged books of the 21st Century (2000-2005) are:
1. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
2. “The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier
3. Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
4. “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck
5. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou
6. “Fallen Angels” by Walter Dean Myers
7. “It’s Perfectly Normal” by Robie Harris
8. Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz
9. Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey
10. “Forever” by Judy Blume
All but three of these books also were in the top 10 of the most challenged books of the 1990s. The ALA reports there were more than 3,000 attempts to remove books from schools and public libraries between 2000 and 2005. Challenges are defined as formal, written complaints filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness. See also Challenged and Banned Books. See also Harry Potter tops list of most challenged books of 21st Century.
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Yep, Captain Underpants. Banned for promoting the use of bad spelling. (whoever banned it for that reason has clearly never surfed the Net.)
I recommend the Captain to any boy who hasn’t fallen in love with reading yet. It’s so amazingly clever — c’mon. Where else can you find a teacher named Miss Anthrope? (say it out loud if you don’t get it) And frankly, the bad spelling is SO overshadowed by the challenge in rearranging the letters on those signs to make something funny.
Grr… I see no need for banning books. If someone doesn’t like a book or doesn’t want their children to read something, that’s fine but depriving everyone else of it is just dumb and selfish.
I’m still amazed by the number of parents who believe it is up to the school system to teach family values! For the love of
PeteCaptain Underpants, if you don’t want your kids to read something then start being a parent to your kid (NOT to mine!). Grrrrrrr. Okay, rant over.My daughter reads Captain Underpants. She’s a sraight A student who makes Principal’s List (the school’s highest honor) every year, is on Student Council and the Academic team. Every teacher she’s ever had has requested my younger children in their classes. Obviously, reading Captain Underpants isn’t harmful. It’s just silly humor, nothing that will warp their little minds.