The words 'banned book' can tend to drive people away from good content. But there are many reasons why everyone should consider reading at least one book that has been challenged or banned. This article would explore the benefits of reading such books. What kinds of lessons do works such as "The Lorax" or "Go Ask Alice" have to teach us? Has some of the books on this list been falsely accused (for example the Oxford Dictionary)? In short, banned books still have a lot to offer us, and are vastly under-appreciated.
I feel that this can be very broad a topic without specifying location. Do you mean on reading lists in America? Or in Europe? Or Germany? Culture relevancy is a major reason why books are banned, and gaining an understanding of why books are banned in specific locations can help the author reach a more poignant conclusion. – Jemarc Axinto9 years ago
Agree with the above. Also, I think it's obvious that controversial literature still has 'a lot to offer us' - the discussion could perhaps to be orientated on how their banning has added to their value to make a more audacious link. – JekoJeko9 years ago
I agree with Jemarc that with such a broad topic it needs to be narrowed down some more or even give more details on multiple points to give a general feel of the article. – Kevin Mohammed9 years ago
I don't think this topic can been justice without squeezing the concept of freedom from it. Whether books are banned or not is a question of whether a society (or nation) operates under a framework of freedom which allows certain types of books to be labeled as banned. For instance, I would venture a guess that when most Americans think of banned books they associate imagery of the Nazis burning books or of communist nations destroying books deemed dissident (in which case the author too is hunted down and silenced.) However, there have been plenty of banned books in America too. Bukowski and Vonnegut for example, in the realm of fiction. And Howard Zinn in the realm of academic non-fiction. I think this topic could lead to an interesting and important conversation about how much banned books can tell us about the level of freedom which a society operates under. – mcutler19 years ago
Definitely a great topic. I would suggest researching Banned Book Week and see if the BannedBooksWeek website has any resources that would be of service to you. There were some notes on your topic being a little too general. Maybe, if you'd like, you could narrow your banned book search by grade level (i.e. Elementary, Middle Grade, High School) or, you can break it down by canon or contemporary. Or both! – Jaye Freeland9 years ago
Amen! Actually, banning a book makes a lot of people more eager to read and explore it. – Stephanie M.8 years ago
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