To Ban or Not to Ban

In the Song of Solomon, the sensual and the spiritual come together.

In January 2010, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary was banned in a California elementary school.

Yes, the dictionary.

Merriam Webster showed real audacity, nerve and insensitivity by providing a clear, concise definition of a certain sex act.

"It's just not age appropriate," said a district representative.

But the dictionary wasn't alone. Other books recently removed include:

* Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? The Texas Education Board banned this beloved children's book in January 2010. It seems author Bill Martin has the same name as an obscure Marxist theorist, and no one bothered to check if they're actually the same person. They aren't.

* The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. This moving diary of a Holocaust victim was pulled from a Virginia school last year for "sexually explicit" and "homosexual" themes.

* Two Ernest Hemingway classics. A Farewell to Arms was banned for sexual content, while For Whom the Bell Tolls was deemed pro-Communist.

* A Light in the Attic by Shel...