The Hunger Games trilogyIn 2014, the book was banned for the insertion of religious perspective. The series ended up being banned and/or challenged throughout the years for reasons that include, but are not limited to: insensitivity, offensive language, violence, anti-family, anti-ethic, and occult/satanic.
But, it is disappointing and frustrating for students and book nerds alike. The list of banned books is constantly growing, and Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games is top-ranked on the list of banned books published by the American Library Association.
What Is the Most Banned Book in America? For all time, the most frequently banned book is 1984 by George Orwell. (How very Orwellian!) The most banned and challenged book for 2020 was George by Alex Gino.
As many people have noted, the past school year has seen an uptick in banning works by and about Black people and queer people specifically. Fences, a classic of African-American theater, is on this list, as are Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter From a Birmingham Jail and children's picture books about Black joy.
The Hunger Games: The REAL Reason Behind Its US Ban
Why was Charlotte's Web banned?
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
Due to themes of death and the fact that the main characters are talking animals, a parent group in Kansas sought to ban the book from their students' school libraries.
Readers are meant to feel outraged by the violence of the Hunger Games universe, but some parents have taken it a step further, landing the book on the American Library Association's list of the most challenged books. Why It Was Challenged: Depictions of violence, perceived “anti-family” messages.
The famous Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling was banned on multiple occasions. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was published in 1997. In 2001, the book was banned because of ”satanism and anti-family themes.” In 2002-2004, the book was banned for its focus on wizardry and magic.
Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham. Beginning in 1965, it was forbidden to read Green Eggs and Ham in Maoist China because of its “portrayal of early Marxism,” and the ban was not lifted until author Theodor Seuss Geisl's death in 1991.
There were concerns over the violence and increasingly dark tone of the later books but most of the censorship attempts were for religious reasons. It was also banned in some Christian schools in the UK.
The Bible was sixth on the American Library Association's list of most banned or challenged books in 2015, though these were largely challenges, not full bans. The Bible has not been on the list since then.
The Texas government has banned the most books from public school libraries in the United States including books such as “The Hunger Games,” “Harry Potter,” and “The Hate U Give.”
Notably, she is responsible for feeding her family, which she does by hunting and foraging, skills she learned from her father before his death in a mine explosion years earlier. Hunting, however, is illegal and punishable by death. Katniss does it anyway, indicating a rebellious streak in her.
One of California's largest industries at the time was logging. Parents were concerned that teachers were “brainwashing” their children and were fearful the children would start an uprising against the logging industry. Because of this, “The Lorax” was banned in a Laytonville, California public school.
Coraline has been challenged for age – appropriateness, due to scary scenes that some have deemed too frightening for its young middle grade reader audience. Challenges due to age group for a large portion of book challenges.
Between 1990 and 1999, books in the Goosebumps children's series made the top twenty list of most-challenged books; between 2000 and 2009 they made the top hundred. The objections came from parents who felt the books were too frightening for kids and/or contained satanic and occult themes.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck has been banned countless times. This Depression-era tragic tale that was praised for its realism is regularly found in the top one hundred of the banned book list published by the American Library Association because of racial slurs, profanity, vulgarity, and offensive language.
Katniss volunteers to take her sister's place in an annual battle in which 24 teens fight to the death on live television. The book is rated by Scholastic as grade 5.3 and for ages 11-13. Parents' concerns about The Hunger Games center around violence. The book has a lot of it, and it is graphic at times.
Challenged and presented to the Goffstown (NH) school board by a parent claiming that it gave her eleven-year-old nightmares and could numb other students to the effects of violence.
The series known all around the world as The Hunger Games has grossed an incredible amount of 500 million dollars. When a person looks at this series, they probably think of a series with a lot of action and cool effects, but some people are actually using the film as an act of rebellion.
Over 1,900 library book titles targeted for censorship so far in 2023 Most of the scrutinized books were written by or contained subject matter about people of color or members of the LGBTQ+ community, according to research by the American Library Association.
Classic books that have been banned or challenged for which you can get free downloadable versions for computer, mobile devices and some eReaders from Google Books, below. You can also try Project Gutenberg Banned Books Bookshelf and Many Books: Banned Books.
Seuss's children's books due to racist stereotypes that “portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.” The six titles withdrawn from publication were And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, If I Ran the Zoo, McElligot's Pool, On Beyond Zebra!, Scrambled Eggs Super!, and The Cat's Quizzer.
