B&W BLOG EXCLUSIVE: Sarah Palin speaks about the banning of books!

Poet Joy Harjo has posted on her blog a list of books that Sarah Palin tried to get banned while she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.

NOW! In an exclusive to this blog, Sarah Palin explains why she requested the following books be banned:

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner: "For a book about dying there's no prayer or heaven or hell! Or that's what I've been told by people who've read it."

Carrie by Stephen King: "I was disturbed by the cruel girls who dumped pig blood on Carrie because they were too much like me . . . I mean King is the anti-Christ."

Canterbury Tales by Chaucer: "People are fooled into thinking this book is a classic. It's just plain smutty, that's what it is!!! Or that's what I've been told by people who've read it."

Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite: "How dare they live in sin! Wait a minute, I don't believe in same-sex marriage. Um . . . ."

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller: "See As I Lay Dying."

East of Eden by John Steinbeck: "While I like the idea that Eden has an East, which suggests Alaska is the Eden of the U.S., which it certainly is--the book is blasphemous because it's about Eden but contains no Adam and Eve. The movie wasn't too bad, though."

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling; Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling: "'Potter' sounds too much like 'potty.'"

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: "Huckleberry Finn broke the law by aiding a runaway slave! Do we want a felon to be a role-model for today's youth?"

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl: "This book is totally inappropriate because it's about a young man obsessed with breasts. See: 'really love your peaches want to shake your tree.'"

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman: "Two words: Homo-sexual."

Lysistrata by Aristophanes: "This very, very, very old play (not that I have anything against the aged) has two strikes against it: It's a woman's obligation to engage in intercourse with her husband whether she want to or not! And, I hear this play is anti-war."

My Friend Flicka by Mary O’Hara: "Horses should not be shot like they're moose or something!"

One Day in The Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn: "The public libraries are trying to undermine all American stands for by sneaking in books by foreign Russians."

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey: "Jack Nicholson is not in it."

Our Bodies, Ourselves by Boston Women’s Health Collective: "Reading this will encourage teen out-of-wedlock pregnancy."

Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs: "This author neglected to include Creationism for fair and equal treatment."

The Color Purple by Alice Walker: "Even though I couldn't find it, I've been told there's lesbianism in here. And by black women to boot!"

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood: "Now, I'm really not against this book. I think it's an excellent vision for the future. I can't remember why I wanted to ban it, but I take it back."

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee: "This book is as anti-Christian as they get. There's even a character named 'Boo.'"

Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary by the Merriam-Webster Editorial Staff: "Too many unnecessary words."