The Prohibition of the Anthology A Light in the Attic

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Recommended: Literary criticism of shel silverstein

Controversy Over A Light in the Attic
Introduction
A Light in the Attic is a collection of one hundred and thirty-one children's poems by Shel Silverstein. It is ranked fifty-one on the American Library Association's list of the one hundred most frequently challenged books (2014).
Why A Light in the Attic was Banned
A Light in the Attic was under immediate suspicion by many people simply because the author was Shel Silverstein. Silverstein had a very interesting career, including working for Playboy, writing children's literature, being a lyricist, and finally, being a playwright. Many people had a hard time dealing with Silverstein's previous employment for Playboy. Even Silverstein saw himself as an adult humorist (Nathan, 2008).
A Light in the Attic as a whole was not the problem, The trouble was lying in certain poems such as “How Not to Have to Dry the Dishes” and “Little Abigail and the Beautiful Pony”. In the poem “How Not to Have to Dry the Dishes” the reader is instructed to drop a dish so that their parents will not want them to do the dishes again. Likewise, in “Litt...

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