TIL Australia banned a book about a dog because it talked too much about death

I was looking up banned books last month for a class project and found out 'The Book Thief' got flagged in parts of Australia for its themes but the real shocker was a kids book called 'The Dead Bird' that was pulled from shelves. Has anyone else run into weirdly specific bans that feel more about discomfort than actual harm?

2 comments

2 Comments

skyler_anderson6512d agoTop Commenter

Whoa wait, that's wild about the dog book. I read somewhere that in like the 1970s Australia banned 'The Rabbits' by John Marsden for being too sad about colonization but that one is actually a kids picture book. I swear some of these bans feel like adults just didn't want to have a tough conversation with their kids. Like yeah death is uncomfortable but pretending it doesn't exist in a story about a pet seems way weirder to me than just reading the book and talking about it. I remember hearing about 'The Sad Book' by Michael Rosen getting complaints in some schools because it talks about his son dying. People get so scared of feelings.

xenarobinson12d ago

Right?! My school banned a book about a kid whose goldfish died. So dumb.