CasandraM
That's just pathetic. -_-"
Also why is Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach on the list of 100 most challenged books? I can guess why the Witches is on the list, but James and the Giant Peach. 0_o
If enough rabid minority people get together, they'll make a successful appeal. James and the Giant Peach was probably banned because it involved an instance of murdering family members: the peach squashes the abusive aunts as it rolls away, killing them. Never mind that they were horribly abusive, evil women and in a traditional fairytale setting they would have been killed off to reinforce the moral that determination even in absurd circumstances overcomes all seemingly-impassable barriers.
People freak out over the stupidest things. Instead of letting a child think for his/herself, moral guardians are more likely to try and shelter them from the world, and thus, deprive them of many thought-provoking things that... I don't know... shape one's thought process?
As a writer, there's no kind of resolution without some kind of conflict, and no will to learn without some kind of point of interest. Take away the conflict, and you're left with something less than even narration. Take away the interest, and it becomes BORING.
No wonder no kids want to read anymore. On one hand, they have schools telling them they should. On the other hand, they have screaming people telling them what they shouldn't. What's left, from the viewpoint of someone who doesn't have a frame of interest for interesting things, is incredibly dull. Sure, lots of good stuff *is* allowed under the banned books list. But the thing is, is it fully able to be appreciated or even understood when there's so much you *can't* read?
If I had squabbling people telling me what I couldn't and was allowed to do, I'd not want to read, either...
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