It’s banned books week!
So my Friday Five this week will be:
5 banned picture books!
Note: I believe parents have the right to choose which books their children read.
I come from the “You can’t tell other people how to parent” mindset.
Yes, it upsets me when I hear a parent tell their child, “You’re too old for books with pictures” when they’re 5 or 6 (true story, this happened in a bookstore last year), but I’m not going to call out that parent and say she’s wrong, even if I think she is.
Instead, I had some picture books in my hand and when the child walked by me I said, “I love reading books with pictures and I’m really old.” I feel like that was more, “Here’s my take on it,” instead of trying to tell someone how to parent, and I hope that’s how it came off. I don’t think the mother even heard me, because she was off trying to get another one of her kids.
I do feel though that books shouldn’t get banned or removed from libraries.
If there’s a book there that you don’t want your child to read, then try to make sure they don’t read it, but I don’t think the best option is to get the book completely removed so no one can read it. I know that authors, illustrators, agents, and editors work VERY HARD to make sure they publish the best books they can, and I love that we have the freedom to express ourselves in this country.
Ok, off soapbox, and onto the books!
One last thing:
Spoiler Alert!
I pretty much tell the whole story of these stories,
since most times I must to get to the reason it’s banned.
You’ve been warned 🙂
1. Babar by Jean De Brunhoff, published in 1939
Banned for: being politically and morally offensive and promoting colonialism.
Do you know Babar? I grew up reading books about him.
He lives in the forest with his Mama and the other elephants until his mother gets killed,
and he runs off and comes to a city.
He doesn’t understand anything about it,
but soon finds a nice lady to take him in.
Soon he’s walking on two legs, wearing clothes, and doing Yoga!
He eventually goes back to the forest and becomes King of the elephants.
I can see why people think it promotes colonialism, but I always liked how, when Babar goes back, not all the elephants adopt his ways of wearing clothes.
2. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig, published in 1969
Banned for: the police officers being illustrated as pigs.
In this book ALL the characters are animals.
Sylvester is a donkey who loves pebbles, and one day, on a walk, he finds a magic one.
If he’s holding it in his hand and makes a wish, the wish comes true!
He has fun with it until he makes a wish too fast,
and soon he has no way to get the pebble back.
There are some sad times in this book,
but it all works out in the end.
I LOVE the art in this book; some of the best picture book scenes of seasons I’ve ever seen.
They have a neighbor who is a pig and then two police are shown as pigs.
On the page when the pigs show up it says, “They went to the police. The police could not find their child.”
3. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak, published in 1970
Banned for: child nudity.
This book is about Mickey, who hears some racket
and then falls into the night kitchen,
where the bakers are just trying to make some cake!
Mickey gets mixed in the batter but busts out just in time,
then helps them get the milk they need,
and that is why we have cake for breakfast.
I like the dreamlike fun of this one,
and Mickey falls out of his clothes and into the batter,
then out of the batter again when he falls in the milk.
You see his backside and his frontside three times.
Nudity can be seen as uncomfortable, but I think you could just talk to kids about it.
4. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, published in 1971
Banned for: criminalizing the forest industry.
You know the Lorax, right?
He speaks for the trees.
And when the Truffula trees are getting cut down at an alarming rate,
he’s there to stand up for them.
The reason the forest industry seems bad in this book is because IT IS bad in this story.
The Onceler does nothing until the very end to help replant trees.
I think that would come up in discussion with kids.
5. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, illustrated by Henry Cole, published in 2005
Banned for: parent penguins being the same sex.
This one is cool because it’s based on a true story!
Silo and Roy are penguins at the Central Park zoo.
They spend all their time together, and no time with the girl penguins.
The zookeeper watches as they make a nest and sit on it like the other penguin couples,
but they cannot lay an egg or have a baby.
One day the zookeeper found an egg that needed caring for,
and brought it over to Silo and Roy’s nest.
The two took turns sitting on the egg,
and soon, they were proud parents to Tango.
Tango was the first penguin in the zoo to have two dads,
and if you go to the Central Park Zoo, you can still see her and her dads swimming around with the other chinstrap penguins.
I think this is a great book for talking about what families look like with children.
This one has been at the TOP of the banned books list (all books, not just picture books or children’s books) for many years, and has been on the list since it came out.
Have you read any of these?
Do you have any favorite banned books?
Some links for you if you want to explore more:
33 must read books to celebrate banned book week
Top 10 frequently challenged books
What banned book are you? (I’m the Hunger Games!)
Banned authors celebrating banned book week
Banned graphic novels
Thanks for reading along!
Happy Friday!
KE
