7 books Charlotteans have called to be banned
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The concept of banning a book seems ludicrous to me in the era of free information and the Internet, but challenges to library material in Charlotte still can and do happen.
This week is Banned Book Week nationally, and Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is celebrating by pulling out classics like Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” and Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” – both of which frequently get challenged around the country.
The county library system gets about two to four requests a year to remove a particular book from circulation. I also got a list of a half-dozen books that have been publicly challenged from the American Library Association. Here’s what Charlotteans have pressured their libraries and schools to ban.
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Early 1990s: “Be Safe About Sex”
It was under Superintendent John Murphy’s tenure atop Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools when conservative families pressured him to remove this from school libraries. This was near the peak of Newt Gingrich-led charge to change sex education in schools. Murphy ended up removing the title from the school system. This book is obscure and I can’t find any real information about it. No copies at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.
1996: “Deenie”
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This is a 1970s-era Judy Bloom book about a 13-year-old girl whose mother wants her to become a model before being diagnosed with scoliosis. The sticking point? Passages talking about masturbation and menstruation. This book is on the American Library Association’s most challenged books list. Charlotte Mecklenburg Library has seven copies today.
2000: “Boys and Sex” and “Girls and Sex”
This was a series published in the 1960s, and by all accounts the material is dated. Like, dangerously dated, according to this review. No copies at the Charlotte library today and I’m OK with that.
2000: Faber Book of Gay Short Fiction
This was only a few years after the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners voted to pull funding from the Arts & Science Council because the Charlotte Repertory Theater put on “Angels in America.” The library now has one copy.
2006: And Tango Makes Three
This was the book about the ambiguously gay penguins that got people riled up all over the country. Superintendent Peter Gorman had the books pulled from CMS libraries, and then ended up going back on the decision and said it was all a mix-up. Eight copies at the library today and it’s on the list of materials Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has in its collection.
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2009: To Kill a Mockingbird
Seriously, people?