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Books
1 Censored: Books Banned For Sexual Content
Books
2 The Banned Book Club: What Books Have Joined?
News
3 Say What? School on Banning Dictionary For Defining Oral Sex
Books
4 Should Books Ever Be Banned?
Books
5 Catch Up on Your Banned-Book Reading
Art
6 Should We Embrace Art That Makes Us Uncomfortable?
E.L. James may have kicked off her Fifty Shades of Grey book tour in Miami, but don't expect to see the erotic book in every Florida library. Librarians in Florida, as well as Georgia and Wisconsin, took the series off the shelves for being semi-pornographic and not so well received by critics. While book banning may sound like a throwback to Victorian times, censoring books continues to Read more
This month the American Library Association updated its list of frequently challenged books for the 2011 year, and one wildly popular novel is making its way up the rankings of this infamous list. The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, which first appeared at number five of Top 10 Most Frequently Challenged Books in 2010, is now third on the list for attempts to remove its contents from Read more
Bad books? It's Banned Books Week, the annual celebration of the freedom of the written word and a campaign to highlight books that have been banned or challenged at some point — meaning some group or person decided that they are unsuitable for tots and should be removed from schools and libraries. Keep reading for a sometimes surprising selection of books that were banned or challenged at Read more
The planned cover art for Kanye West's new album My Beautiful Twisted Fantasy matches the title. Unfortunately, the image described by Kanye as "me chilling on the couch with my phoenix" has been "banned in the USA!!" Kanye's tweets on the topic admit that it's not official censorship, but commercial considerations keeping the frightening cover off shelves. He wishes today's sensibilities could Read more
As Banned Books Week reaches its final page today, let's look at all the books that have been taunted, bullied, and banished from library shelves, whole cities, and whatever else bans books. Then, let's read them! 10 most complained about books of 2009 Who's joined the banned book club? Should books ever be banned? Books banned for sexual content School bans dictionary for defining "oral Read more
It takes a lot for a book to be banned, but only a few complaints to get a bad rap. Sexual content, racism, homosexuality, profanity, sexism, and religious viewpoints are all reasons books find their way onto the most-complained-about list. Novels like To Kill a Mockingbird, which have sexist and racist themes, can convincingly plead historical significance, but sexual content, homosexuality, Read more
"It's hard to sit and read the dictionary, but we'll be looking to find other things of a graphic nature." — Betti Cadmus, district spokesperson, for Southern California's Menifee Union School District discusses future plans after banning the 10th edition Merriam-Webster's dictionary. The district removed the dictionary from the fourth and fifth grades for defining "oral sex." It's defined as Read more
Though most book-ban inquiries remain hush hush, 9,600 requests to censor have been logged since 1990. With the help of news and librarian reports, the American Library Association tracks what tawdry titles threaten to jump off bookshelves into children’s knapsacks. And now USA Today has made a fancy chart, sortable by title, author, reasons for challenge, location, and final decision. Sexual Read more
Is three children one too many? — BabyCenter Blog Sienna Miller shows off her boho-chic bump — Celebrity Baby Scoop 16 reasons to live like a 2-year-old — HuffPost Parents Jillian Michaels says adoption is a calling — Celebrity Baby Blog The pros and cons of common labor and delivery positions — FitPregnancy The best baby travel gear — Parenting 9 cute headbands for baby girls — Read more
Will using a travel agent help you save money for your upcoming trip? LearnVest has the answer. Are travel agents back? This question, posed by The New York Times, got us thinking. According to the piece, nearly one in three leisure travel agencies is hiring, and in 2011 travel agencies experienced a second consecutive year of growth; in fact, their bookings accounted for a third of the $284 Read more
