Facts about the Most Banned Book in the World

Banned books are the type of books that are prohibited by the government or law for free access to everyone. It may contain content that can disturb the reader mentally. There are several famous banned books around the world that are restricted to use for certain reasons. Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, Vladimir Nabakov’s Lolita are some of the most banned books of all time.

What Book Series Has Been Banned in Several Countries?

Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark by Alvin Schwartz is by far the most banned book in the world. Alwin Schwartz started his career as a journalist and worked in the Binghamton Press from 1951 to 1955. Later, he joined a research corporation, and also he started spending more time writing. He then published one of his first-ever books called A Parent’s Guide For Children’s Play. He then was actively involved in collecting information for his book Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark. His research skills helped him collect much information for his book as it was mostly written based on folklore.

The charcoal and the ink artworks in the book were originally illustrated by Stephan Gammell who won a Caldecott Medal for his illustrations in Karen’s Ackerman’s Song And Dance Man in 1989. Even though his creative artwork was largely appreciated it was one of the major reasons why Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was considered the most banned book in the world. His illustrations were considered unpleasant by the parents and also told that they gave nightmares to children. Later, when a newer version of the book was released in order to celebrate its 30th anniversary, it disappointed the fans of the book as Gammell’s illustrations were removed and Brett Helquist’s new illustrations were updated. But it wasn’t satisfying and was a big disappointment for the people who grew up reading the book.

The Most Banned Book in History

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was basically a combination of folklore and urban legends. It contains many short stories including the most famous “The Red Spot”, “The Hook”, “Harold”, etc. This book has reached heights and a movie called Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was released based on this book in 2019. The first part of the book was released in 1981 and it is called Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. The other two parts of the book called More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and More Tales to Chill Your Bones were released in 1984 and 1991.

This book was considered one of the most banned books in history after complaints and criticisms from several social groups and parents as they contained content that was inappropriate for children. The books were removed from the libraries but some of them can still be found. All three parts of the book had collectively sold more than 7 million copies and have been appeared in many children’s bestseller lists. This book also appeared on the American Library Association’s list for about two decades.