Welcome to the Banned Books Blog! This October 2024, we have two spooky books that have been banned for both kids and adults!
These titles may be available in other formats or languages. Check our catalog for availability!
Like usual, we have good news and bad news. Recently, imprisoned Texans have written and published a book titled TEXAS LETTERS, which is an ongoing collection of letters written detailing their experiences with solitary confinement. Unsurprisingly, the Texas prison system has banned this book from their libraries.
However, Penguin Random House Publishers have sent off their Banned Wagon into the wild! The Banned Wagon, a book truck filled with free banned books for all ages, stopped in Austin, Texas as part of its national tour given Texas' current legislative policies about book challenges.
Additionally, it appears that Florida's book banning statistics are lower this year than last, though nobody is totally sure why—it might have to do with a mixture of underreporting book challenges, a lack of books to ban (with so many challenges being successful), or an acknowledgement of anti-censorship pushback.
But with the Banned Books Blog, there is no debate. There's only reading!
Title: Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin
Reason for Challenge/Banning: This book was published in Spain during the Francoist dictatorship, whose censors cut passages that "glorified Satan." As of April 2019, all Spanish-language editions of this book still retain these cuts!
Summary: Rosemary Woodhouse and her struggling actor husband Guy are thrilled to move into The Bramford, a sought-after Manhattan apartment building prized for its Victorian details and gargoyled façade. Yet as they learn of a darker side to the building's history, and become acquainted with their overly-attentive neighbors, the Castevets, unspoken tensions enter into the young couple's relationship. Matters improve when Guy lands a major role, and Rosemary at last becomes pregnant. But as her pregnancy takes frightening turns, Rosemary begins to question if her neighbors' heightened interest is strictly innocent, or if their motivations—and those of Guy himself—portend terrifying consequences for her and her unborn child.
Series/Standalone: Originally a standalone, now with a sequel taking place 30 years later!
Genre: Adult horror
Length: 245 pages
Content Warnings: Rape, gaslighting, as well as a brief racist scene near the end
Challenge/Banning Response: The crux of this cult classic movie and film is that Rosemary's baby is... not normal. In fact, her baby is literally the anti-Christ. As she begins to uncover the ways she's been used and how her next-door neighbors have gaslit her, it's clear she's unhappy. Though she's no longer a devout Catholic (her husband is a Protestant), she rages against and fears what has been done to her and her child. The passages that glorify Satan come directly from the villains of the story themselves. It is not innocent Rosemary, who only wishes for an upstanding, normal marriage and family, who is touting spells, potions, and Satanic verses. Not only this, but the necklace given to her smells bad, and the pre-natal smoothie she's given every day tastes awful. So it's clear to say that while there are passages that glorify Satan, the book decries it on many levels and shows just how dastardly and evil not only the devil but Rosemary's next-door neighbors are.
Perhaps the one scene that I can think of that "glorifies" Satan is at the end—spoiler alert, if you're like me and haven't read the book or seen the movie—is when Rosemary accepts her son for who and what he is. After all, she only wants to be a mother. In terms of the narrative, Rosemary gets what she wants, even though her son is nothing like she expected. However, this isn't to show that she is accepting of Satan in the end, rather, she simply loves her son because he is her child.
Personal Thoughts: Having not seen the film, I only had an understanding of where this was going. Part of me hoped that Rosemary was wrong, that it was pre- and post-partum mania that so many books (like Delicate Condition or And Then She Fell) are offering as plots. But part of me hoped that Rosemary was right, that there was something weird, that there was something very, very wrong at The Bramford (not unlike Nestlings). Certainly, it makes for a better story, especially at the time it was written, if Rosemary's intuition was correct.
There are plenty of hints that lead up to Rosemary's realization, though they're not exactly subtle. Instead, they're meant to make you believe Rosemary... until you don't. This is psychological fear at its finest: knowing in your bones that you're being manipulated by the very people who you thought wanted to protect you. I just wish that Guy, her husband, had a 'just desserts.' If I were Rosemary, I'd be a single mother after everything he put me through!
Title: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark collected by Alvin Schwartz
Reason for Challenge/Banning: This book is consistently in the Top 10 of Most Challenged/Banned Books over multiple decades for being too scary for children.
Summary: Tapped from the oral traditions of American folklore, these ghost stories and tales of weird happenings, witches, and graveyards have startling, funny, or surprising endings.
Series/Standalone: Standalone within a series
Genre: Children's horror
Length: 111 pages with illustrations and sources
Content Warnings: General death and violence
Challenge/Banning Response: First and foremost, Stephen Gammell's illustrations are terrifying. So, you know, I'll give them that—but I can't say that as a child who was fascinated and horrified by terrifying tales that I'm any worse for wear, though book banners may be wont to disagree. But here's the thing: folk and fairy tales of days past were meant to be shared, to impart lessons, and to imbue morals. Through the use of fear—while knowing that we ourselves are safe at home or with friends reading this book—we get to safely explore the reality of frightening happenings. We're greeted with loneliness, ghosts, and people whose fears are of their own doing. We are also greeted with potential murderers who don't discriminate about possible victims.
In fact, fear is a good thing: it's an internal danger alarm that continues to be honed throughout your lifetime. So starting with a collection of folkloric scary stories that are kid-friendly in comparison to their R-rated or online counterparts is, in my opinion, a great way to ease kids into fear. And if your kids don't like it? Then that's perfectly fine! Horror certainly isn't for everyone, and it can take reading a book or two within any genre to figure out whether you like something or not. And if your kids do like it? Well, there are worse things than telling scary stories around the campfire.
Personal Thoughts: Truly a classic. This is a book—and series—that I've reread multiple times. As an adult, these stories are no longer scary, but they bring back that feeling of what it's like to be a kid and utterly fascinated with ghosts, ghouls, and things that go bump in the night. But as an adult, Stephen Gammell's illustrations are still a scary cause for nightmares. Frankly, I think that Schartz's collected stories are a wonderful source of inspiration! And even better is that he cites where he collected these stories extremely well. We love an author who cites his sources!
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