JAN 203-01 - Banned in the USA: Books Deemed Too Dangerous to Read

Level:  200-level

Course Times:  12:00pm - 2:40pm

Course Materials Fee:  $20

Instructor(s):  Joanne Furio   

Email:  jf14@stmarys-ca.edu

Book banning is nothing new. Books have been banned in ancient Rome and Egypt, in Nazi Germany, and in the U.S. before it was even a country. But recent events and the subsequent culture wars they’ve created have led to the banning of books at an unprecedented rate, a 200% increase from the 2022-23 to the 2023-24 school years, according to the American Library Association. The most challenged books are written by or about people of color or members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

In this class, we’ll look into book banning’s history and newly enacted state laws, as well as a landmark 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case that has proven ineffective. We’ll also read books that have been deemed dangerous enough to be pulled from library shelves: the YA book The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas; the graphic works Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe and Flamer by Mike Curato; classics like Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel on banning books, Fahrenheit 451; and myriad picture books we’ll examine in class.

Prerequisites & Notes
None

Credits: 3