Banned Books Week

BBW Facts

Did you know...

First published in 1951, The Catcher in the Rye details 48 hours in the life of Holden Caulfield. The novel is the only novel-length work by J.D. Salinger, and its history has been colorful. The Catcher in the Rye is famous as the most censored, banned and challenged book between 1966 and 1975 for being "obscene," with an "excess of vulgar language, sexual scenes, and things concerning moral issues."

 

The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, received the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, but the book has been frequently challenged and banned for what has been termed "sexual and social explicitness." The novel involves sexual assault and abuse.

 

The Bell Jar is the only novel by Sylvia Plath, and it is famous not only because it offers shocking insight into her mind and art, but also because it is a coming-of-age story--told in the first person by Esther Greenwood, who struggles with her mental illness. Her suicide attempts made the book a target for book censors. (The book has been repeatedly banned and challenged for its controversial content.)

 

Published in 1932, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World has been banned with complaints about the language used, as well morality issues. Brave New World is a satirical novel, with a stringent division of the classes, drugs, and free love. The book was banned in Ireland in 1932; and the book has been banned and challenged in schools and libraries across the United States. On complaint was that the novel "centered around negative activity."

 

(From) Challenged and Banned Books - Reasons Why These Famous Novels Were Removed

By Esther Lombardi, About.com Guide