Books That Should Be Banned?

Banned Books Week is in September, but the American Library Association says each book listed below has been pulled from some library shelves in both schools and public libraries. I'm certain you will be surprised by the list and I hope you find it as troubling as I do. I mean why were Garfield and the dictionary deemed dangerous reading?

• The Adventures of Captain Underpants
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
• The Catcher in the Rye
• Garfield: His Nine Lives
• The Handmaiden's Tale
• Harry Potter (The Entire Series)
• Little Red Riding Hood
• Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
• To Kill a Mockingbird
Source: Parade Magazine

Meanwhile, on the same subject, this was posted on Sound Politics this morning...

A Bentonville, Ark., man is seeking $20,000 from the city after his two teenage sons found a book on lesbian sex on a public library bookshelf. He also wants the library director fired. Earl Adams said his 14- and 16-year-old sons were "greatly disturbed" after finding the book, titled "The Whole Lesbian Sex Book." Adams said the book caused "many sleepless nights in our house.

I'll bet it did.

I suppose there's a lesson here about being a little more aware of the world in which you live, and preparing your children to deal with that world no matter what belief system in which you're raising them. But for now I'm too busy laughing.
Oh, and the dad, "said the teenagers found it while browsing for material on military academies."

(Editor's Note: Bentonville, Arkansas is also the home of Wal-Mart)