Books that Were Banned for Flimsy or Outright Weird Reasons

"Brave New World" because it is "negative."

"Little House on the Prarie" because it is "derogatory to Native Americans."

"Catcher in the Rye" because it is "anti-Christian."

"Flowers for Algernon" for containing "explicit, distasteful love scenes."

"Gone With the Wind" for containing the n-word.

"On the Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin - ok, this one isn't a huge surprise, but did you know that it was first banned in Trinity College in the UK in 1859?

There have also been attempts (so far, apparently unsuccessful) to ban ->

"The Wizard of Oz" because it depicts good witches, and good witches are "theologically impossible."

"The Diary of Anne Frank" because it is "a real downer."

"The Graphic Work of M.C. Escher" because the images are "pornographic, perverted, and morbid."

Other oddities:

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" was banned in China in the 1930s because "animals should not use human language."

Copies of "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury, a science-fiction novel about book-burning and censorship, had some words blacked-out before being given to middle-school students, thus proving that irony is not dead.

This is just a tiny sample of the many books that have banned at one time or another. Attempts to pull books out of schools and libraries are continuing even as we speak. Every year, at the end of September, the American Library Association has a "Banned Books Week," to try to bring attention to the problem. Look for library and bookstore displays and other publicity during that time.