Banned Books

Some reasons why a book might be banned may be because the book may have had some inappropriate content, or can be offensive to a certain group or organization.  A group or person may not want a child to read the ideas of these challenged books so that the child's mind would not be spurred to think more about a certain topic, whether it be a different religion or racism, or something inappropriate.  It is important for a student to read these controversial books in order to see the other side of stories and history, so as to get the mind thinking in ways that the student may not have otherwise thought.  These controversial books could be used to help break down biases and stereotypes by showing the other side of certain stories, such as getting the point of view of a slave during the 17th-18th centuries, instead of a historian telling the story.  Since stories tend to be one sided and some parts may be more point of view facts, it is important to get both sides of the story to make it easier to find the middle ground and get the whole truth.

Sources:
http://www.ala.org/bbooks/