Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni.
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Sunday, October 13
Robert Cormier's The Chocolate War (number four on the ALA's most frequently challenged books list) has once again raised parental hackles. This time at John H. Kinzie Elementary School in Garfield Ridge. The irony of demanding the banning of a book that decries mindless conformity has, of course, been entirely missed by those wishing to protect the little ones from masturbation references and swear words. And hey! It's just in time for Banned Books Week!