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‘Magic Tree House’ Author, ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ among hundreds of Tennessee book bans (pen.org)

submitted 2 months ago by bytesonbike@discuss.online to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world

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Magic Tree House author Mary Pope Osborne, children’s poet Shel Silverstein and Calvin and Hobbes cartoonist Bill Watterson have joined Judy Blume, Sarah J. Maas, Eric Carle and Kurt Vonnegut on a mind-boggling list of hundreds of books purged from some Tennessee school libraries.

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[-] dhork@lemmy.world 42 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

These people are going after anything that might imply nudity at all. I seem to remember Calvin had an immense hatred of baths. So once his mom finally got him in, poof, that now has to go, because he's naked under all that water.

I'm surprised they don't just ban all visual art that depicts humans, since everyone is naked under their clothes.

[-] ICastFist@programming.dev 30 points 2 months ago

A small kid asking for a porn movie??? BAN THAT SHIT!!!!

Calling satanic powers?? JESUS FUCKING CHRIST BAN THIS HERETICAL SHIT!!!!!!

[-] Zahille7@lemmy.world 20 points 2 months ago

I always loved Calvin's snowman hijinks. And Spaceman Spiff. And all the "I'M HOOoooOOOOooome!"

[-] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 16 points 2 months ago

I don't think that's it. It's named after philosophers, the people banning aren't always stupid. I bet Calvin seems like a left wing propagandist to them too.

[-] dhork@lemmy.world 24 points 2 months ago

You're not wrong, in general. But in this specific case, in Tennessee, it's specifically about the nudity.

Any materials that “in whole or in part” contain any “nudity, or descriptions or depictions of sexual excitement, sexual conduct, excess violence, or sadomasochistic abuse” are inappropriate for all students and do not belong in a school library.

It's "nudity" of any type, which puts the Venus de Milo in the same category as Brazzers.

[-] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 months ago

Thanks for clarifying. I was giving them more credit than was due.

[-] ouRKaoS@lemmy.today 6 points 2 months ago

So the Bible is inappropriate for all students and there's several parents I need to report...

[-] Krauerking@lemy.lol 6 points 2 months ago

I was about to jump in and defend the heck out of Shel Silverstein but it's based on a broad sweeping nudity ban?

That's fair. That man was an accidental children's book author and the best kind of weirdo.
The ban is dumb but his inclusion less so.

[-] gabbath@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

I said before but my guess is that with Shel they saw the title "A Boy Named Sue" and automatically banned him.

[-] Zahille7@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

Geez... God forbid there's a copious amount of bubbles or something covering anything if Calvin ever does jump back out of the bath

[-] blockheadjt@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 months ago

There are strips where he's running around naked and you see his butt

this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2025

545 points (100.0% liked)

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