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Example: [Collected via e-mail, September 2008] This is the list of books Palin tried to have banned. As many of you will notice it is a hit parade for book burners.This information is taken from the official minutes of the Wasilla Library Board.When the librarian refused to ban the books, Palin tried to get her fired. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony BurgessA Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’EngleAnnie on My Mind by Nancy GardenAs I Lay Dying by William FaulknerBlubber by Judy BlumeBrave New World by Aldous HuxleyBridge to Terabithia by Katherine PatersonCanterbury Tales by ChaucerCarrie by Stephen KingCatch-22 by Joseph HellerChristine by Stephen KingConfessions by Jean-Jacques RousseauCujo by Stephen KingCurses, Hexes, and Spells by Daniel CohenDaddy’s Roommate by Michael WillhoiteDay No Pigs Would Die by Robert PeckDeath of a Salesman by Arthur MillerDecameron by BoccaccioEast of Eden by John SteinbeckFallen Angels by Walter MyersFanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure) by John ClelandFlowers For Algernon by Daniel KeyesForever by Judy BlumeGrendel by John Champlin GardnerHalloween ABC by Eve MerriamHarry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. RowlingHarry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. RowlingHarry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban by J.K. RowlingHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. RowlingHave to Go by Robert MunschHeather Has Two Mommies by Leslea NewmanHow to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas RockwellHuckleberry Finn by Mark TwainI Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya AngelouImpressions edited by Jack BoothIn the Night Kitchen by Maurice SendakIt’s Okay if You Don’t Love Me by Norma KleinJames and the Giant Peach by Roald DahlLady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. LawrenceLeaves of Grass by Walt WhitmanLittle Red Riding Hood by Jacob and Wilhelm GrimmLord of the Flies by William GoldingLove is One of the Choices by Norma KleinLysistrata by AristophanesMore Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin SchwartzMy Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher CollierMy House by Nikki GiovanniMy Friend Flicka by Mary O’HaraNight Chills by Dean KoontzOf Mice and Men by John SteinbeckOn My Honor by Marion Dane BauerOne Day in The Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander SolzhenitsynOne Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken KeseyOne Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia MarquezOrdinary People by Judith GuestOur Bodies, Ourselves by Boston Women’s Health CollectivePrince of Tides by Pat ConroyRevolting Rhymes by Roald DahlScary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones by Alvin SchwartzScary Stories in the Dark by Alvin SchwartzSeparate Peace by John KnowlesSilas Marner by George EliotSlaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice BurroughsThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark TwainThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark TwainThe Bastard by John JakesThe Catcher in the Rye by J.D. SalingerThe Chocolate War by Robert CormierThe Color Purple by Alice WalkerThe Devil’s Alternative by Frederick ForsythThe Figure in the Shadows by John BellairsThe Grapes of Wrath by John SteinbeckThe Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine PatersonThe Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret AtwoodThe Headless Cupid by Zilpha SnyderThe Learning Tree by Gordon ParksThe Living Bible by William C. BowerThe Merchant of Venice by William ShakespeareThe New Teenage Body Book by Kathy McCoy and Charles WibbelsmanThe Pigman by Paul ZindelThe Seduction of Peter S. by Lawrence SandersThe Shining by Stephen KingThe Witches by Roald DahlThe Witches of Worm by Zilpha SnyderThen Again, Maybe I Won’t by Judy BlumeTo Kill A Mockingbird by Harper LeeTwelfth Night by William ShakespeareWebster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary by the Merriam-Webster Editorial StaffWitches, Pumpkins, and Grinning Ghosts: The Story of the Halloween Symbols by Edna BarthOrigins: One of the many political rumors swirling around Alaska governor Sarah Palin after her selection as the 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee had to do with the subject of books: That during her tenure as the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, she had wanted to remove certain books from the city's public library, or had tried to have some books censored, or had banned a lengthy list of books (as reproduced above). According to the Anchorage Daily News, around the time Sarah Palin first assumed the mayorship of Wasilla back in 1996, she initiated some speculative discussions with the city's librarian about the possibility of removing some objectionable books from the public library: In December 1996, [city librarian Mary Ellen] Emmons told her hometown newspaper, the Frontiersman, that Palin three times asked her — starting before she was sworn in — about possibly removing objectionable books from the library if the need arose. When the matter came up for the second time in October 1996, during a City Council meeting, Anne Kilkenny, a Wasilla housewife who often attends council meetings, was there. Like many Alaskans, Kilkenny calls the governor by her first name. Sarah said to Mary Ellen, 'What would your response be if I asked you to remove some books from the collection? Kilkenny said. I was shocked. Mary Ellen sat up straight and said something along the line of, 'The books in the Wasilla Library collection were selected on the basis of national selection criteria for libraries of this size, and I would absolutely resist all efforts to ban books.'Palin didn't mention specific books at that meeting, Kilkenny said. Palin herself, questioned at the time, called her inquiries rhetorical and simply part of a policy discussion with a department head about understanding and following administration agendas, according to the Frontiersman article.According to that same article, no evidence has been uncovered that any books were actually censored or removed from Wasilla's library as a result of these discussions: Were any books censored [or] banned? June Pinell-Stephens, chairwoman of the Alaska Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee since 1984, checked her files and came up empty-handed. Pinell-Stephens also had no record of any phone conversations with Emmons about the issue back then. Emmons was president of the Alaska Library Association at the time.Given that, as yet, there is no documentation of any books having been banished from the Wasilla library by Mayor Palin, or even of which books she may have had in mind when she broached the subject, whence comes the considerable register of tomes now being circulated as the list of books Palin tried to have banned? The purging of the selections enumerated here from a public library would surely outrage any educator or book lover, with the listing including classics of literature by authors from William Shakespeare to William Faulkner, works by popular contemporary writers such as Stephen King and J.K. Rowling, and even such seemingly bland reference works as Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary. One obvious clue that this list must have been cobbled together from some source other than discussions that may have taken place in Wasilla in 1996 is that several of its entries (most notably the books in J.K. Rowling's popular Harry Potter series, which began in 1997) hadn't yet been published back then. In fact, versions of this list have been circulating since at least as far back as 1998, and is actually a catch-all collection of titles said to be books banned at one time or another in the United States. Political debate over why Mayor Palin was inquiring about banning books has become a major presidential campaign issue in 2008, with different parties involved in the dispute providing conflicting information: Taylor Griffin, a spokesman for the McCain campaign, said that Palin asked the head librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, on three occasions how she would react to attempts at banning books. He said the questions, in the fall of 1996, were hypothetical and entirely appropriate. He said a patron had asked the library to remove a title the year before and the mayor wanted to understand how such disputes were handled.Records on the city's Web site, however, do not show any books were challenged in Wasilla in the 10 years before Palin took office.Palin notified Emmons she would be fired in January 1997 because the mayor didn't feel she had the librarian's full support. Emmons was reinstated the next day after public outcry, according to newspaper reports at the time.
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