Christien+N.

=Annotated Bibliography =

Cleland, John. "FURTHER READNG." 120 banned (2011): 351. A major contributor to the success of the novel is the fact that the author tells the story in the perspective of Charlie by in journal entries as the experiment progresses. This allows the reader to experience first-hand to see into the world of someone like Charlie and understand that he is worthy of respect. As the book develops, readers can identify his growing intellect and arrogance against others who he used to be close to. When the process of the experiment reverses itself and Charlie is like he was before the experiment, readers feel pity for him. But they also admire the determination that he displays at the end of the story to hold on to as much as he can of his new-found understanding of life.

Foerstel, Herbert N. Banned in the USA: A reference guide to book censorship in schools and public libraries. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002. The author, Herbert N. Foerstel, describes a few events of people attempting to remove //Flowers for Algernon// from student's reading lists in middle school and high school. He reports how there have been protests in Yorktown, Virgina by parents wanting to remove it because of the novel's profanity and references of sex and drinking. But when the Board of Education in Clayton, Georgia removed //Flowers for Algernon// from the ninth-grade curriculum on March 19, 1997, board chair Lawrence Stockton described the action as "totally illegal." He was one of the few who was unaware of the decision and stated, "I beg you to at least make a public date when all people can get a chance to hear all the information and not leave it privy to a select few." The board continued their ways and removed the book. Not everyone agrees with the banning of //Flowers for Algernon//. They believe that the book teaches a very important moral lesson: "Don't judge a book by it's cover."

Hill, Cheryl. "A History of Daniel Keyes’ //Flowers for Algernon// ." PDF). LIBR F 548 (2004). The source explains the development of Daniel Keyes' book (//Flowers for Algernon// ) and how the story came to him in bits and pieces. Keyes experienced a series of events that would soon become the main plots of his story: dissecting a mouse in a university science class, the name "Algernon" based off the poet Algernon Swinburne, working as a teacher for a special needs English class in 1957. Even though //Flowers for Algernon// first appeared in a science fiction magazine, many ask "What if?" What if an operation could be discovered that allowed an intellectually limited person to develop the ability to become the most brilliant man in the world?

Karolides, Nicholas J., Lee Burress, and John M. Kean. Censored books: Critical viewpoints. Scarecrow Pr, 2001. This author, Nicholas J. Karolides, gives many details about this book. Information is given about the book, about the author, and the praise and awards it has been given. Daniel Keyes, the Author of //Flowers for Algernon//, first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1959 with his short story, and received a Hugo Award for the Best Novelette in 1960. His story, and soon to become book, eventually spread into television shows and a movie was made. It has achieved literary success in a variety of forms, and may as well be considered as the best known work of science fiction to the general public.

Munley, Kyle. "Challenged and Banned: //Flowers for Algernon// ." Web log post. Suvudu RSS. SUVUDU, 2008. Web. Kyle Munley, sarcastically criticizes the challenging and banning of //Flowers for Algernon//. It is listed as 47th on the American Library Association's 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000. Munley admits that there are passages in the book that may set some censors off, but they are very minor. Schools need to worry less about a book that's traditionally been taught for decades and worry about things like teaching. This article evaluates how some people disagree with the teaching and reading of this book in educations systems.

** Movie Poster **

//Flowers for Algernon// should NOT be considered a banned book. The only reason it is even banned is because it contains "explicit sexual content." Although there are sexual scenes in //Flowers for Algernon//, none of them are explicit. Parents are responsible for their own children. If they did not want their child to read a book they did not approve of, that's their choice; but most teachers provide alternatives in these situations. In middle school, our teacher made us read //Flowers for Algernon//. The story she made us read was not the original novel; it was a condensed version in a literature book. The book told the story and kept it PG-13 without all of the "explicit sexual descriptions." It all depends on the student's maturity. The actual novel contains words such as retarted, sex, and whore that are said throughout the book and some adults may not approve of kids reading them. //Flowers for Algernon// helps children understand that people with disabilities are people also. Reading this first-person account gives them a view of how a person with intellectual disabilities feels. Seeing the bakery workers making fun of Charlie through Charlie's eyes teaches them how wrong it is to be cruel to those who are different.