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 

Literary Mixtapes for Characters in Classic Books

What songs would make up the soundtrack to your life? This is a fun question to ponder, either alone as we daydream or with friends at a party. Well, let's try to imagine what music would accompany our favorite characters in classic works of literature as they wend their way from "Once upon a time..." to "The End."

A page from the 1955 Random House book Alice in Wonderland, illustrated by Marjorie Torrey.

Pop culture website Flavorwire has assembled mixtapes for more than 25 characters in best-selling literature, from Harry Potter and Humbert Humbert to Gandalf and Jay Gatsby. So "if you've ever wondered what your favorite literary characters might be listening to while they save the world/contemplate existence/get into trouble, or hallucinated a soundtrack to go along with your favorite novels," said the folks at Flavorwire, "wonder no more!"

Let's think about Alice, of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. What music fills our ears as she eats a mushroom and encounters hookah-smoking caterpillars, tailcoat-outfitted rabbits, and weeping mock turtles? I hear "White Rabbit," by Jefferson Airplane - an easy one. Flavorwire lists "Who Could Win a Rabbit?," by Animal Collective, "Wonder," by Natalie Merchant, "Mushaboom," by Feist, and, of course, "Alice," by Tom Waits, among other songs that reflect the mood of Alice's surreal adventures.

What songs do you think would play in the background as the plot thickened around Sherlock Holmes, Holly Golightly, Don Juan, Jane Eyre, and other memorable characters? Go to this link on Flavorwire's Literary Mixtapes HERE.