The+Curious+Incident+of+the+Dog+in+the+Night-Time

Because of his book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon is no stranger to the banned books lists around the world. The book was banned in Wilson County, TN in 2014. More recently, a Florida school district removed the book their summer reading list. Mark Haddon finds it most interesting that language is often cited when taking issue with this book but the larger issues that the main character faces seem to go unmentioned (Flood, 20015).

In the same article, Haddon is quoted saying, ““The assumption is that I should be morally affronted when this happens – and it has happened surprisingly often – but the truth is that it always generates a really interesting debate among school kids and librarians and parents, not just about Curious, but about literature and freedom and language, and this is an undeniably good thing,” said Haddon. “I have no way of proving it, but my suspicion is that more people read the book as a result and read it with more attention and interest than they might have done” (Flood, 2015). I think this statement couldn’t be more poignant. Banning these books does often entice people, especially young ones, to want to know what the big deal is. Furthermore, by adding these topics to everyone’s minds and conversations only broadens the scope of the book’s reach.

References

Flood, Alison. (2015). Curious incident of the dog in the night-time pulled from children's reading list. //The Guardian//. Retrieved from []

Humbles, Andy. (2014). Tennessee school district bans book with ‘F-bomb’. //The Tennessean//. Retrieved from h__ ttp://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/wilson/2014/05/06/tennessee-school-d istrict-bans-book-f-bomb/8765203/ __

written and posted by Kristen Spratt 4/21/2016