Banning Books Under The Big Sky of Montana

Banning Books Under The Big Sky Of Montana

If banning books were a sport, you can bet that America would be the frontrunner in the race.  I said it, and I'm not sorry, nor am I backing down from the statement.

In the United States, from July 1st, 2021 to March 31st, 2022 there were 1,586 decisions to ban books.  This affected over 1,100 unique book titles, involving 874 different authors.  Of those bans across the US, Montana had a grand total of zero.

That's Right, Montana Had A Big Fat Zero In The Banned Department

In a review by the website PEN America, they analyzed data from the above-mentioned time period.  In that, not once was Montana mentioned.  Hooray for us, right?

Perhaps.  But once I started digging deeper into the data and research from the group, I wanted to see the top books that were getting the axe by parents, school boards, advocacy groups, and more.  That's where the proverbial left curve was thrown across the plate at me.

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As I started down the list of the top 50 banned books for the time period, I had to keep scrolling.  And scrolling.  Then I continued to scroll until I finally hit one that I recognized; "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood.  I wouldn't have even known it if it hadn't been for the T.V. show it became.

50 books, I recognized one of them.  I wonder where the Slaughterhouse-5, The Scarlett Letter, or Lord Of The Flies classics are?  Most of the banned books are within the last 10-20 years.

What is your take on the banning of books in our schools across America?  What about the titles or the subjects that are bothersome to you?  Or that you agree with?  Let us know in the comments of our socials, with our appchat feature or you can email me here.