Banned Books, Part One

September 23-29 is Banned Books Week, a week that promotes the freedom to read. Every day this week, I’ll be sharing three banned books that you should add to your TBR lists.
(Since I didn’t get a chance to post yesterday, parts one and two will be posted today.)

A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
I wanted to start things off with one of my favorite childhood authors. I grew up with a bunch of Shel Silverstein’s books, and adore them to this day. An elementary school in Florida banned this book due to two of his poems, “How Not To Have to Dry the Dishes” and “Little Abigail and the Beautiful Pony.” The school thought that the first poem promoted disobedience and that the second was improper since it described Abigail dying after her parents refuse to buy her a pony.
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
If you’ve already been reading this blog, you know that Salman Rushdie is one of my favorite authors. The Satanic Verses is one of his most well-known novels. Many Muslims found the book offensive for a number of reasons, from the naming of some of the characters (such as Mahmoud being derogatory) to the title itself being sacrilegious. The release of the novel prompted violence, with the FBI having to get involved in order to stop attacks on bookstores. The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, even called for Rushdie’s death.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Many people are assigned Harper Lee’s classic novel in school, but this book has been periodically removed from classrooms all over America. The book is usually challenged due to its depiction of rape, as well as racial slurs and profanity.

Have you read any of these books? What were your thoughts?