William Steig's " Sylvester and the Magic Pebble," about an unassuming donkey transformed into a rock after finding a magic pebble, portrays a sweet-natured character wishing for the impossible. In 1987, for example, the Anchorage School Board banned the American Heritage Dictionary for its "objectionable" entries - particularly slang words, including "bed," "knocker" and "balls." 1977: "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble" by William Steig You might assume that the dictionary is the least likely place a teen would search for illicit content, but school administrators in Alaska believed otherwise - both American Heritage and Merriam-Webster have been banned in various libraries and schools. Early critics argued that Harriet "didn't spy, but rather gossiped, slandered and hurt other people without feeling sorry about her actions," Thought Co. Some schools blocked Louise Fitzhugh's book from shelves when it came out in the 1960s because of concerns that the 11-year-old child's penchant for peeping on her neighbors, jotting down her brutally honest observations, and being generally disagreeable could negatively influence kids by setting a bad example. " Harriet the Spy" was banned from shelves because its titular character is, well, a spy. A 1969 column in Ladies Home Journal deemed the book "psychologically damaging for 3- and 4-year-olds." Mid-1960s: "Harriet the Spy" by Louise Fitzhugh When the book was finally published in 1963, it was banned because adults found it problematic that Max was punished by being sent to bed without dinner and also bristled at the book's supernatural themes. "The father may not have been an ordained minister," said Rothmund, "but after all things were primitive in those days in the jungle." Mid-1960s: "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice SendakĪuthor Maurice Sendak had a hard time getting his classic children's book " Where the Wild Things Are" published, as many editors feared that troublemaker Max's imaginary adventure into a fantasy land was too dark and frightening. Ralph Rothmund, who ran Burroughs' estate, protested that the couple had taken marital vows in the jungle with Jane's father serving as minister. Authorities thought the adventure stories unsuitable for youngsters since there was no evidence that Tarzan and Jane had married before they started cohabiting in the treetops. Here is a look at some of the country's most surprisingly embargoed works through the years: 1961: The "Tarzan" series by Edgar Rice BurroughĮdgar Rice Burroughs' classic series about a man living in the jungle was pulled from the shelves of a public library in the appropriately named town of Tarzana, California. But even with this increase in complaints, which the ALA says is due in part to the use of book lists created by censorship groups, America has long had a history of book banning, one that stretches back to at least the 1960s.
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