Banned Books discussion

I remembered reading the book The Lorax when I was little and I loved the environmental message it was trying to send to kids. However, when I heard that this book was banned years ago because the people who banned it thought that it was saying negative things about industrialization, I was actually shocked and I never once believed that this book was about that.

What did you think about the banning of this book?

I consider any book banning problematic, but in this case, it was even worse because the book was supposedly banned in certain school districts of California because the lumber industry threw what I would call a massive hissy-fit. And The Lorax is not against all logging and all industry, it demonstrates that protecting the environment is important and that one cannot indiscriminately destroy the same (by clear cutting etc.etc.); the book is not (at least in my opinion) promoting no industry, it is promoting an environmentally friendly and responsible industry. But I guess the logging industry felt attacked, and the former has been notoriously slow and reluctant to even consider adopting more environmentally friendly, less intrusive logging methods (I mean, the industry still often claims that clear cutting vast areas of forest is actually good for the environment).

Gundula wrote: "I consider any book banning problematic, but in this case, was even worse because the book was supposedly banned in certain school districts of California because the lumber threw what I would call..."

I agree. I never saw the book as attacking the logging industry or anything like that. The Lorax was just telling the Onceler that if he cut down the trees, he could destroy the environment and I agree with that message. So, to me, it was unfair that this book was banned just because it was just saying that cutting down trees could hurt the environment.

This is currently my 4 year old son's favourite book. This is because I bought it for him after we took him to see the movie on his Birthday. We both love this book so much and I think the message is awesome. It basically says: Unless people care, it's not going to get better. What is a better or more true message than that?

Danielle wrote: "This is currently my 4 year old son's favourite book. This is because I bought it for him after we took him to see the movie on his Birthday. We both love this book so much and I think the message ..."

I agree! That's the message I got from this book and I really loved the fact that there is a book that is willing to bring this message to kids.

It's a wonderful book and I hate it when special interest groups get together to challenge a book because it doesn't support their interests. It makes me even angrier when they succeed in banning it.

I think the logging industry even wrote a children's book defending themselves against the message of The Lorax but I forget what it's called. I really liked this book as a kid, although I kinda hated the movie adaptation of it.

Rachel wrote: "I think the logging industry even wrote a children's book defending themselves against the message of The Lorax but I forget what it's called. I really liked this book as a kid, although I kinda ha..."

I haven't seen the movie adaptation for this book yet, although I've heard some mixed reviews about it. I might try to check it out to see what it's like.

What happened to the the First Amendment(freedom of speech)!!??

Maria wrote: "What happened to the the First Amendment(freedom of speech)!!??"

Those who want to ban books or censor books often or usually believe it is their own freedom of speech to complain about books they consider inappropriate (which I would definitely accept), but think it is somehow acceptable to then impose or try to impose their viewpoints on others (quite hypocritical). And with children's books, parents etc. ONLY SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT to monitor and limit their OWN children's reading (and even that can be problematic, especially once the "children" are teenagers).

Gundula wrote: "Maria wrote: "What happened to the the First Amendment(freedom of speech)!!??"

Those who want to ban books or censor books often or usually believe it is their own freedom of speech to complain ab..."
good point