A Light In The Attic Controversy

February 2004 chris zammarelli banned bookslut all because of a pony her parents wouldn t buy.

A light in the attic controversy.

A light in the attic is a collection of poems by the american poet writer and children s author shel silverstein it was first published by harper row in 1981. Published in 1981 shel silverstein s a light in the attic was the first children s book to make the new york times bestseller list where it stayed for record breaking 182 weeks. The following books may seem harmless to most readers but they all made it onto banned books lists at one time or another. Along with a light in the attic number 51 on the american library association s list of 100 most frequently challenged books.

Shel silverstein s collection of rhymes and whimsical drawings was challenged at one school because it encourages children to break dishes so they won t have to dry them. In the poem little abigail and the beautiful pony the title character tells her parents that if they don t buy her a pony she ll die. Through silly caricatures and sophisticated wordplay silverstein dared adults and children to confront with humor everyday issues like greed shame chores no. A light in the attic most remarkably showed the kind of staying power on the new york times chart two years to be precise that most of the biggest names john grisham stephen king and michael crichton have never equaled with their blockbusters.

The poems for children are accompanied by illustrations also created by shel silverstein. Full text of a light in the attic by shel silverstein see other formats a light in the o attic shel silverstein special edition harper an imprint of harpercollinspiyb s e s the family of shel silverstein is pleased to share 12 new poems and drawings selected from the silverstein archives. 1990 1999 are two other silverstein classics the giving tree and where the sidewalk ends these are books most of us are familiar with and yet they were all challenged at one time or another because. When her daughter cyrena borrowed a light in the attic from the fruitland park fl elementary school library sherry towne was disturbed by what she read.