The Dead Zone Banned!

[Wanderer From Ys]

It's not actually banned, it's just on the list of most commonly challenged books......along with Carrie, Christine, and Cujo. Both lists can be found on Wikipedia. As for how I feel about banning books, I'll just say that I believe and freedom of speech, and I don't think books should be banned. Maybe there are a few exceptions, but looking over the list, I would have no problem with my own Children reading Tom Sawyer, Harry Potter, or To Kill a Mockingbird.

[Audaciousfox]

I went on site to The American Library Association, http://www.ala.org/index.cfm. While I could not find a list of currently banned books (I imagine it's just too long to keep up with), I did find the Top 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books for 1990-1999. The King books listed, and their respective ranking: Cujo, Carrie, The Dead Zone; 55, 77, 83. While reasons for the bans were not listed, Carrie and Cujo I can stretch my imagination enough (if I really, really try) to figure it out. The Dead Zone is a puzzler - for me, anyway. People write novels about political assasinations all the time. I mean these books are on the same list as Sex by Madonna (*insert gagging sound here*).

There was a listing of Most Challenged Authors in the Twentieth Century as well. Our favorite author only shows up in the years 2002 and 2003.

[Audaciousfox]

That's EXACTLY what I thought! Of all the SK books I've read, The Dead Zone felt the most tame. Though I also think it was banned because it dealt with Political assassination. That being said, I felt Stephen King was holding back on this one, lol.

Through the years 1990-2008, school libraries, at 3616 challenges, and schools with 3614 (followed distantly at public libraries with 2569...and from there the number of different challenges tops at 392) led the way by a fantastic margin in challenging books. THIS is what makes reasons behind banning The Dead Zone so inscrutable to me. Are we really afraid our youngsters are preoccupied (or may become so) with political assasinations??!!

[*Iris*]

Are we really afraid our youngsters are preoccupied (or may become so) with political assasinations??!!

Well... I didn't know that Dead Zone was banned(?!)... Audaciousfox, the first thing that came up to my mind when I read this, was just what you have written above....