AUTHOR: Mark Twain
ISBN: 1566192943
Plot Summary: Mark Twain's classic tale of an abused boy's trip down the Mississippi River with an escaped slave...and the lessons on racism and on friendship he learns.
Complaints: Racism, offensive language.
Challenged but retained on high school reading list at the Lewisville, Texas schools. Challenged in English classes at Taylor County High School in Butler, Georgia.
Solonor Says Ban It Because: In 1884, I thought it was too nice to the, um, people of color...today, I realize it should be banned, because it uses the "N" word. And what's this with Jim calling Huck, "dear"?
And Mark Twain agrees: "The mind that becomes soiled in youth can never again be washed clean. I know this by my own experience, and to this day I cherish an unappeased bitterness against the unfaithful guardians of my young life, who not only permitted but compelled me to read an unexpurgated Bible through before I was 15 years old. None can do that and ever draw a clean sweet breath again on this side of the grave. Ask that young lady - she will tell you so."
Links
Huckleberry Finn Debated: 1884-2001
Concord Library Ban
Twain Quotes