Dr. Trisha Tucker
Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know:
Reading Banned Books
What do Harry Potter, The Great Gatsby, Captain Underpants, and Slaughterhouse-Five all
have in common? Believe it or not, they’re each among the most-banned books of the twenty-
first century. In fact, many of the books you cherished as a child or loved in AP Lit have been
banned from classrooms and libraries across the country. Some people call such efforts
censorship, but others feel it’s imperative to protect young minds from works they call
“profane,” “vulgar,” “indecent,” and “pornographic.”
What makes these books so dangerous, we might ask? How can a work like To Kill a
Mockingbird be labeled both “a filthy, trashy novel” (NY School District) and “a novel of great
sweetness, humor, [and] compassion” (Harper’s)? And haven’t parents and school boards ever
considered that branding something “forbidden” is likely to make it twice as attractive to young
readers?
This Reading Salon will explore these darkest and most dangerous of works. After surveying a
selection of novels that have been banned on political, religious, and moral grounds in the first
half of the semester, the class will collectively create a reading list for the second half of the
course. Together we will revel in reading books that have been branded too obscene for the
masses, asking what such labels can teach us about the texts themselves and the societies that
have banned them.
Texts
Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. NY: Little, Brown, 2009.
Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. NY: Ballantine Books, 2009.
Blume, Judy. Forever. NY: Atheneum Books, 2014.
Orwell, George. 1984. NY: Signet Classics, 1950.
Pullman, Philip. The Golden Compass. NY: Yearling Books, 2001.
This Film Is Not Yet Rated. Dir. Kirby Dick. 2
