My daughter just finished Charlotte’s Web. She didn’t like it. Something about fulfilling the fate of farm pigs.
“They’d turn Wilbur into bacon, Mama!” she cried… as I was cooking her weekend breakfast. Awkward.
It’s not the first time I’ve heard of kids not enjoying the children’s classic by EB White, but there’s a reason it’s on most year four book lists. It’s an old-school classic about friendship, overcoming adversity, and just being kind to others.Â
But there is one school where the classic novel will not be read in class – because it is placed on a very special shelf in their school library. A shelf full of controversial “banned” reads.
One person recently took to it Reddit to share an image they saw of their local school filled with “warning” signs.
“The school library has an exhibition of banned and challenged books. Here’s a small sample,” they wrote along with some images of the notes displayed on the bookshelf.
“Warning: Satanic,” read the sign for JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series.
“Pro-communist, sexually explicit,” was awarded to George Orwell’s “1984.”
Even “Where’s Wally” got itself shelved for “nudity, age inappropriate.”
And yes, among them was “Charlotte’s Web” which was labeled “Blasphemy, Unnatural Theme, Unsuitable for Children”.
I mean, ask my daughter and she’d probably agree that Charlotte’s Web deserves to be on there, but the parents out there were baffled as to why some of the best books we read as kids were now off limits to some.
Are these books really ban-worthy?
Many people in the thread were left confused about the banned shelf and went on to strongly defend some of the classics.
“Calling a book ‘satanic’ is so ignorant and theocratic,” one person said.
“Lol in 1984 and animal farm communism,” added another.
And another shouted: “What the hell is wrong with Charlotte’s web?!”
A follower provided a little more context as to why the books might have been placed there with different warnings. They write:
“TEAR it was never stopped or challenged. Someone at a church book burning threw it in and called it satanic.
1984 it has been banned many times over the decades since its release by a variety of governments.
Bad Kitty for President was challenged in a single elementary school for an “implicit vent.”
Animal Farm it was never banned or challenged in the US
The Charlotte Network is strange, since there are no primary sources for the ban, only a single attribution to an unnamed school in Kansas over some supposed religious implications regarding talking animals.
Where’s Waldo (or Where’s Wally) was banned because of a breast spotted by someone.”
Is this a clever tactic to encourage readers?
Meanwhile, others claimed it was a clever tactic used by the school to encourage children to read, rather than a message about specific titles and their subject.
“This is a common strategy used by teachers and libraries to purposefully attract young people – it’s actually proven to be a great technique for teenagers, especially because they’re inherently curious AND challenging so they’re drawn to ‘taboo’ or things prohibited.” someone shared.
“Good way to get kids to read more. Maybe some 13-year-old boys are disappointed when they pick up the ‘nudity’ book and it’s Waldo,” echoed another.
Even one educator thought and admitted that the method works: “Over ten years, I’ve probably made about 50-100 new readers out of students by forcing them to read something that someone else doesn’t want them to see.”
What do you think? Should these classics be on a banned list?
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Image Source : nypost.com