Help me choose Banned Books to teach

[Chloe]

I have a Great Books class next semester, and I'd like to focus it around the theme of banned books. There are several lists of banned books, but which ones do you think are most valuable to college students?

ETA: A list of the most commonly challenged books in the US is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...oks_in_the_U.S.

[Sister Ray]

Looking at that list, it's really hard to choose. Lots of excellent books there.

Sister "i've read seventy, which includes the joy of gay sex" Ray

[Chloe]

I'll probably skip the sex manuals. Probably. And also Howard Stern.

[Sue Bee]

So many great books to choose from. But a lot, as you obviously know, are way past college level. Captian Underpants!

To Kill A Mockingbird. If these kids have gotten to college and not read this, they need to.

Slaughterhouse-5. Pretty much the same

[Mateus]

One of John Updike's Rabbit books (I think "Rabbit Run") was constantly being challenged at the high school I went to. I ended up in one of the years it wasn't used .

You could always use "Fahrenheit 451" as a lesson in irony

[rangerdog]

• 1984
• The Anarchist Cookbook
• Bridge to Terabithia
• A Separate Peace

[Beachlife!]

1984 jumps out at me as being a good one right off the bat. There are so many other good ones to teach that it's hard to pick the best. It's easier to eliminate some, the sex maunuals and Howard Stern are good choices to drop. I also think that many of those books were banned for sexual content. I don't know how much value there is in having a discussion on why a book was banned for 'teh secs' more than once.

[I'mNotDedalus]

Ulysses. For the entire semester. Do it! Do it!

[Algae]

Not A Separate Peace. Too many of your students will have read that in High School and will be all too glad to hear it's a Banned Book.

I like the quirkier choices for Banned Books, such as Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret and The Color Purple and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Books that aren't so much about things as defying totalitarian authority, but books that people feel question society and are afraid of dealing with those questions.

[Il-Mari]

I'd actually recommend not covering some of the more widely known and appreciated 'classics', like 1984, Fahrenheit 451, To Kill A Mockingbird and Slaughterhouse-5 (to use some examples quoted in the thread so far) just because that might keep some otherwise interested people from taking the course due to having read and covered the novels in previous courses.

I might have been interested in a course like that, but probably wouldn't have taken it if it included TKaM, just because I had to read it in both middle school and high school English classes.

- Il-Mari

[DarkDan]

As I Lay Dying (history and racism)
Black Boy (history and racism)
The Giver (maybe a week project, since it's very short. Also the movie is coming out next year)
Great Gatsby (just a great overview of the 20s)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (history and racism)
Lolita (awesome writing style)

I read these books in high school (The Giver in middle school), but I believe my school had an advanced curriculum for a public school. The last two were my own reading that I did reports on.

[rhiandmoi]

Interestingly enough, all the books on the list that I have read were part of my required reading lists. Is the class about why the books were banned? Maybe choose a couple for each type of subversive activity. Like two for race mixing, two for teen sexuality, two for promotion of atheism, etc.

[Chloe]

Some of my thoughts:

1984
As I Lay Dying
Brave New World
The Handmaid's Tale
Satanic Verses
Lord of the Flies
Grapes of Wrath
Fahrenheit 5451
Lolita
Lady Chatterley’s Lover
The Bluest Eye
The Color Purple
I know why the Caged Bird Sings
Beloved
The House of Sprits
Cat’s Cradle
Slaughterhouse 5
The Catcher in the Rye
Huck Finn
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Moll Flanders
Fanny HiIl
A Clockwork Orange
A Farewell to Arms
The Sun also Rises

[A Turtle Named Mack]

If this is a one-semester course, I do not see how you could possibly get to all of those. You would certainly lose all your students.

You say the theme is Banned Books, and for that reason, I would suggest as an opening selection In the Night Kitchen. Of course, it is quite far below the reading level of your students (well, it's OK, so most of them). The point is that it is a whimsical fantasy picture book for toddlers which raises objection because the pictures show Mickey's little toddler penis with almost no detail. It helps to set the tone for addressing the idea of banning books and what sorts of things people find offensive.

For a Vonnegut book, I'd suggest Cat's Cradle over Slaughterhouse Five, for being less known and still filled with the examination of social issues that is the hallmark of the best science fiction.

Perhaps what is needed are significant passages for many of these, like Huck Finn's decision that he'd rather go to hell than betray Jim and the trial in To Kill a Mockingbird. Then there could be 2-3 whole books, preferably things your students are unlikely to have otherwise read, such as Black Boy or something from D.H. Lawrence or Toni Morrison.

And why the heck are Where's Waldo and How to Eat Fried Worms on the list?

[Chloe]

Definitely not *all* of those. Probably about 10-12 at most. One Morrison and one Vonnegut (I also lean towards Cat's Cradle). One Steinbeck. One Hemingway (if I can face it).

I know there's been this debate in another thread, but excerpts are not an option.

[Tarquin Farquart]

Originally Posted by Chloe

Some of my thoughts:

From your list I'd pick Caged Bird, Fanny, House of Spirits and either Lolita or Chatterly.

No Last Exit to Brooklyn?

[Tabbyclaw]

Originally Posted by DarkDan

The Giver (maybe a week project, since it's very short. Also the movie is coming out next year)

OMG WHY D:

-Tabby
the princess with claws

[A Turtle Named Mack]

Originally Posted by Chloe

Definitely not *all* of those. Probably about 10-12 at most. One Morrison and one Vonnegut (I also lean towards Cat's Cradle). One Steinbeck. One Hemingway (if I can face it).

I know there's been this debate in another thread, but excerpts are not an option.

Wow, that is still a lot for, what? 16 weeks? Shorter books maybe, but some of those are pretty long.

BTW, I was not kidding about In the Night Kitchen. You could require it before the first session. I think a light and relatively simple example is a great way to introduce a topic. For Shakespeare classes, the first play should be A Comedy of Errors - quite simple and straightforward, stupid slapstick humor, and a great way to introduce Elizabethan/Tudor English.

[Phil'sGirl]

I would suggest:

A Handmaid's Tale

Beloved

A Farewell to Arms, I find this more palatable than The Sun Also Rises.

Let us know what you decide.

[Arriah]

I think I'd go for Flowers for Algernon. It's an easy read but there's plenty of good discussion about ethics to be had from it.

I'd definitely not pick The Grapes of Wrath. I read it in hs and it is still the most horrible book I've read. I'd drop a Lit class that had it required because it's such a horrible story. (not the writing quality, the events depicted)