Banned Books Week: Children's Classics Edition

On this final day of Banned Books Week 2013, let's take a look at the classics of children's literature that some adults have deemed unsuitable for young minds. 

That Wilbur the pig and the other animals on Zuckerman's farm could talk is "an insult to God," according to those who've banned Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White.

 
For reasons that range from "too depressing" to "promoting witchcraft" to "criminalizing the foresting industry," many classics of children's literature have been routinely banned in the United States. Buzzfeed compiled a list of the "15 Children's Books That Have Been Banned in America." Some of them are:
  

Immediately following its initial publication in 1963, Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are was targeted by a number of Southern U.S. states for promoting "witchcraft and supernatural events," according to Buzzfeed.

Since the 1960s, Alice in Wonderland (also Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) by Lewis Carroll has been banned out of fear that it promotes drug use to children, reported Buzzfeed. I have to say that listening to Jefferson Airplane's 1967 hit "White Rabbit" has recently got me to purchase a copy of Alice so that I can see if I can pick up on any drug references re-reading it as an adult.

As was the case with Charlotte's Web, Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne has also become forbidden reading because Pooh and the other animal inhabitants of Hundred Acre Wood can talk and thus are "an insult to God," said Buzzfeed.

Of all books, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary was banned because an edition of it contains the definition of oral sex, thus offending the sensibilities of some adults residing in the state of California, according to Buzzfeed.

To take a look at all "15 Classic Children's Books That Have Been Banned in America," check out Buzzfeed's article at THIS LINK. 

All above images from http://www.buzzfeed.com 

Vintage Print Ads for Now Classic Books

I love to browse and buy old magazines. One of the best things about these decades-old glossies are the advertisements: the snappy tag lines, the tongue-in-cheek ad copy, and the cleverly drawn artwork or unintentionally cheesy photographs. Usually, these ads are for automobiles or kitchen appliances or sportswear. But sometimes, they're for books, such as Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, Francoise Sagan's Bonjour Tristesse, or A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh.

Vintage ad for A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh.
Image via http://www.flavorwire.com

Looking at these advertisements, I like to study not only how the books were promoted (the choice of words and illustration), but I also like to spot the street addresses of the publishing houses to see where they were once located and to imagine what the city and the publishing world were like then. Eleven of these advertisements were highlighted by Flavorwire. Go to this LINK to see vintage print ads for F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, and more.