Wow. I just looked this up and OMG this is ridiculous. It's one thing if you don't want yourself (or your child) to be reading a certain subject matter-- settle with your own conscience.
When I was a teenager, my mother tried to keep me from reading the Earth's Children series because she felt it was too sexually explicit. Then she left the books in the bathroom where I could get them. (To be honest, I found the descriptions of the uses of plants far more interesting than the rather repetitive sex scenes. One can read sex scenes in any Harlequin romance, but good descriptions of plants were something special.)
Also, if there's sensitive or thematic subject materials, it's a teacher's decision to gauge what the class is ready for (i.e. we read Romeo&Juliet freshman year, but Hamlet didn't come along until senior year, because of the incest-y vibes).
A lot of the English curriculum hasn't changed in California over the years. I also read Romeo and Juliet as a freshman. The teacher taught us all the naughty things from the play, which meant that we learned it very well. I didn't take a literature class as a senior, though -- I took something called Advanced Composition (aka Advanced Decomposition, since the teacher quit halfway through the year), so I didn't get to Hamlet until I studied theater in college.
There's some novels I've read that I wish I hadn't, same as anyone. But to try and get books BANNED because of your own personal opinion? That's ridiculous. Don't prevent someone else from having an experience simply because you didn't like yours. (For example, I couldn't get through "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath in high school, because of personal reasons. It's the only book I actually didn't read. However, I wouldn't stop anyone else from reading it-- just because it was a bit triggering for me doesn't mean it might not be cathartic for someone else to read.)
I like your attitude. I've also found books that I couldn't get through, sometimes because they just didn't interest me, or sometimes because I found the material distressing. I didn't tell anyone else not to read those books, though -- just because they didn't suit me (or didn't suit me at that moment) didn't mean they weren't good for someone else.
But from what I've seen of the "banned books list," I owe my English teachers a big thanks. Because I've read at least half of the books on there. Also, I think it's the height of irony that "Fahrenheit 451" is on some of the lists I've seen. Just sayin'.
It is definitely ironic that Fahrenheit 451 has been banned. About 5 years ago, I had a principal who thought the idea of filling the library with banned books was great, because kids tend to want to read anything they've been told they aren't allowed to read, and gave me actual money to buy books with (rather than telling me it was a great idea and then expecting me to scrounge for what was needed).
Like you said though Annie, just knowing there's a list out there makes me want to comb through and read them all.
It's the rebel in me.
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Here is a page on frequently challenged books. I have to laugh at some of the challenges, since it's abundantly clear that in some cases the challengers didn't bother to read the books at all.
