Phantom Tollbooth... banned?
Ann Feeney
John Snyder <snyd...@ucsu.Colorado.EDU> wrote:
>While browsing in the campus bookstore yesterday, I came across a display
>of banned books the store was promoting. Among them were Vonnegut's
>_Slaughterhouse Five_ and Juster's _The Phantom Tollbooth_, two of the
>best books I've ever read. I can see a _case_ (though not a convincing one)
>against _Slaughterhouse_, but who could possibly find offense in _The
>Phantom Tollbooth_? Has anyone heard anything about this? What could be
>found in it that moves some people to want it _banned_?
>
>
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Ann Feeney
Resource Center Librarian |Any similarity of opinions between
Ligature, Inc. |those expressed in this posting
(312)648-1233 |and anybody else's, including
afe...@mcs.com |Ligature, Inc. is purely coincidental.
Ann Feeney
>What could be found in it [Phantom Tollbooth] that moves some people
> to want it banned?
Thoughts?
Sorry, gut reaction.
I can't think, either, though I'd not doubt for an instant that it has
been banned somewhere...censors, for all their claims of purity,
must have the filthiest minds on this earth...
Matt Lih
It's about a group of French children being sheltered at a convent in France
during WWII. They hide a group of Jewish children, in spite of the consequences
should the Nazis find them. Anyone else ever read this?
And no, you can't have it, it's mine, ALL MINE! HA HA HA HA!
Matt Lih
--One of the great joys in life is wandering through a used bookstore and
--finding a book you haven't read in ages.
John Snyder
Gary Phillips x397
are often bizarre and inconsequential. In reviewing this week's approval
titles for our library I was delighted to page through a new book specifically
on the subject of book censorship that lists the 50 most frequently challenged
library books of recent years. In the top ten we find Of Mice and Men,
Catcher in the Rye, Bridge to Terebithia, A Wrinkle in Time, and Huckleberry
Finn, all of which are superb, award-winning titles. Those who wish to ban
or censor books usually base their demands on issues like the use of "bad"
words, or the presentation of ideas that challenge conventional religious
or social values of some vocal part of the population. In the case of
Phantom Tollbooth, it may be as simple as "magic" or "witchcraft" or
a characterization of someone that is considered "inappropriate". Bridge to
Terebithia is frequently challenged on the basis that it presents an
unsavory view of a Christian minister. (Yet we all know very well that there
ARE unsavory and downright nasty ministers out there, far too many of them.)
--
Gary Lee Phillips <phil...@colum.edu>
Computer Services Librarian (312) 663-1600 x397
Columbia College, Chicago #include <std_disclaimers.here>
Steffan O'Sullivan
censorship in the schools and public libraries_ by Herbert N.
Foerstel, 1994. No mention of the Phantom Tollbooth at all. While
the book is very good reading, and covers the most commonly banned
books, it doesn't cover *every* banned book ever - I'm not even
sure that's possible!
It's worth a read, though: some very interesting things, such as
the list of the most commonly banned books in various time periods,
and so on. For example, the most commonly challenged authors from
1982 to 1992 are, in order:
Judy Blume
Stephen King
John Steinbeck
Robert Cormier
J.D. Salinger
Mark Twain
Roald Dahl
Alvin Schwartz
Shel Silverstein
Anonymous (_Go Ask Alice_)
Katherine Paterson
And the states with the most challenges for the same time period
are, in order: CA, OR, FL, TX, WA, NY, IL, MI, CO, IA, OH.
The book also has some essays by banned authors, and some moderate-depth
discussion of the most commonly banned books. Here's a gem included
from Twain, whose _Huck Finn_ was banned even in his own lifetime:
"I wrote Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn for adults exclusively, & it
always distresses me when I find that boys & girls have been allowed
access to them. The mind that becomes soiled in youth can never
again be washed clean. I know this by my own experience, & to this
day I cherish an unappeasable bitterness against the unfaithful
guardians of my young life, who not only permitted but compelled
me to read an unexpurgated Bible through before I was 15 years old.
None can do that and draw a clean, sweet breath again this side of
the grave. ... Most honestly do I wish that I could say a softening
word or two in defense of Huck's character since you wish it, but
really, in my opinion, it is no better than those of Solomon, David,
and the rest of the sacred brotherhood. If there is an unexpurgated
Bible in the Children's Department, won't you please ... remove
Tom & Huck from that questionable companionship?"
--
-Steffan O'Sullivan | "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only
s...@io.com | light can do that. Hatred cannot drive
Lamson Library, PSC | out hatred; only love can do that."
Plymouth, NH | -Martin Luther King, Jr.
Elizabeth Kuzina
Does the book you have contain a scene where the convent children
are play acting the Flight into Egypt? And later, is there an
episode where one of the children gets a chocolate bar?
If so, please tell me who the author is -- I would love to find
this book! It was one of my all-time favorites.
--
Matt Lih
YES!!! WE HAVE A WINNER!!! You have a good memory, the only detail I remembered
was that they had potato leek soup (says something about my priorities :)
I don't have the book with me right now, but I'll try to remember to look
when I get home. You may want to mail to my address to remind me.
Isn't life on the Net amazing?
Matt Lih (l...@venice.sedd.trw.com)
Jessica Raine
And Ten", by Claire Bishop. It's an autobiographical story about twenty
French schoolchildren and ten Jewish refugee children being sent away
during World War II. It's really good, and was one of my first (although)
mild forays into the world of historical fiction. Good pick for a kid ages
maybe eight thru eleven--older might be bored.
Jessica Raine | st92...@pip.cc.brandeis.edu
"Some people play hard to get. I play hard to want."--Ford Fairlane
Matt Lih
On my copy, the title reads "The Secret Cave", and then in smaller print,
reads something like "Original Title - Twenty and Ten." Perhaps Twenty
and Ten was the title in French? And is it really autobiographical, or
simply written in first person, my copy didn't have any blurb one way
or another.
Matt Lih (l...@venice.sedd.trw.com)