Have you read them?

"Where's Waldo?" was banned? 12 surprisingly controversial titles

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When you think of banned books, you might imagine something edgy, problematic, or revolutionary. But what if we told you that Where’s Waldo?, Charlotte’s Web, and even Little Red Riding Hood have faced censorship? We've collected some stories about the most innocent-looking titles being banned or challenged. Do you think you can guess why they were?

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How could a well-known fairy tale like Little Red Riding Hood be banned? It came down to one added detail: an illustration.

The edition illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman, published in 1983, was deemed inappropriate for children due to a seemingly minor element—Little Red Riding Hood was shown carrying a bottle of wine for her grandmother.

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Martin Handford’s interactive book series—where readers had to find Waldo (or Wally) hidden within highly detailed scenes—became a worldwide sensation in the 1980s. However, one controversial illustration landed one of the books on a banned list in the US for 10 years.

Here’s why: one of the scenes, set on a beach, portrayed a small drawing of a lady showing a bit too much skin. That edition had to be revised and reapproved before it was allowed back in US schools and libraries.

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Roald Dahl’s fantasy novel about a young boy embarking on a surreal journey inside a gigantic peach was published in the 1960s and became a beloved classic.

However, in 1986, a school district in Wisconsin temporarily banned the book after objections from a religious group. The main complaint was a poem in which a spider was described as "licking her lips"—a phrase they claimed was sexually suggestive, despite the fact that spiders don’t even have lips.

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Another beloved classic from the 1960s, Louise Fitzhugh’s Harriet the Spy was groundbreaking for its portrayal of a flawed, curious, and fiercely independent young female protagonist.

Harriet broke the mold of the tidy moral lessons found in earlier children’s literature—a shift that, of course, some parents disliked. Over the decades, especially in the 1980s and 1990s, the book was challenged in various school districts for allegedly promoting rudeness, lying, and disobedience.

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First published in 1952, Charlotte’s Web is a touching and philosophical children’s book. It tells the story of a pig named Wilbur and his unlikely friendship with a wise spider, Charlotte, who saves him from slaughter using messages woven into her web.

Still, this beloved classic was banned in parts of Kansas in 2006 for a surprisingly structural reason: religious objections to animals talking. In another instance, the book was challenged for mentioning death and for its supposedly "morbid" tone.

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In the story, the Lorax speaks for the trees, warning against the destruction of nature at the hands of greedy industry. But this environmental message didn’t sit well with everyone.

In 1989, a school district in Laytonville, California, removed The Lorax from its reading list after local logging companies and some parents complained. They argued that the book portrayed the forestry industry in an unfairly negative light—potentially turning children against the economic backbone of their region.

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Anne Frank’s diary has undoubtedly moved generations. First published in 1952, it has been translated into more than 70 languages.

And yet, the unabridged edition of this profound document has faced challenges. In 2010, for example, a school in Culpeper County, Virginia, removed it from its curriculum after a parent objected to references to Anne’s exploration of her body and her emerging sexuality.

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Even L. Frank Baum’s beloved fantasy novel has faced censorship. In the 1950s and ’60s, several libraries—including some in Florida and Chicago—banned the book.

Critics argued that it was "ungodly" due to its inclusion of witches and magic. Some claimed the story promoted "negativism" and "theosophy," while others objected to Dorothy’s strong-willed nature, which they believed encouraged young girls to think for themselves and solve problems without the help of men.

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Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are was banned by many libraries and schools when it was first released. This tale of a child’s fantastical escape into a land of wild creatures was considered too dark and scary by some psychologists and parents.

Others objected to Max’s behavior—particularly a scene in which he yells at his mother and is sent to bed without dinner.

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Shel Silverstein’s picture book tells the story of a boy and a tree. Over the years, the tree gives everything to the boy—its apples, branches, and trunk—until nothing is left. Readers have debated for decades whether it is a fable of unconditional love or a cautionary tale of exploitation.

This debate has led to censorship in some circles. The book has been banned or challenged for allegedly promoting selfishness on the part of the boy and self-sacrifice to the point of self-destruction on the part of the tree.

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This 1960s picture book tells the story of a young donkey named Sylvester who finds a magic pebble that grants wishes. One day, in a panic, he wishes to become a rock to escape danger—and becomes trapped in that form for months.

However, in the 1970s, the book was banned in several US schools and libraries, including some in Illinois and California, mainly because police in the story were depicted as pigs. Some law enforcement groups protested, claiming the imagery was anti-police.

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Another title by Dr. Seuss made the list! It may sound unbelievable, but Green Eggs and Ham was banned in China for about 30 years due to political concerns.

The ban claimed that the book contained "early Marxist ideas" and could be interpreted as promoting rebellion against authority. The notion that someone persistently tries something unconventional and ends up liking it was seen by censors as a subversive message.

You can’t make these up

What if your surname became a verb? People who entered the dictionary

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When words appear disconnected from the object they refer to, it’s usually a case of namesakes: The term may refer to their inventor, as in the case of the "Ferris wheel" and "diesel;" to early discoverers, like the case of "nicotine;" or to victims of communal bullying, like "boycott" or "silhouette." Let’s dive into the stories of surnames that made it through the centuries and into our dictionaries.

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That little symbol on your phone? It's actually a wink at a 10th-century Viking king. Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson earned his nickname possibly from a dead tooth that appeared darkened. He was best remembered for uniting parts of Norway and Denmark into one country.

When Swedish comms company Ericsson developed its new wireless technology, they named it Bluetooth after him. The logo we know so well combines the Nordic runes for H and B.

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What is a silhouette but a vague, lean outline of something richer? The reason why Étienne de Silhouette’s name became entwined with the art form is in the history of France.

He was the country’s finance minister during part of its turbulent 18th century. His policies to promote austerity were so heavily mocked that his name became forever linked to anything that was reductive, cheap, and lacking personality.

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Isn’t "Ferris Wheel" a rather whimsical name for the ride? That’s because it carries the name of its inventor. Named after George Washington Gale Ferris Jr., the American engineer who designed the first Ferris wheel for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.

Organizers demanded something to rival the Eiffel Tower, and Ferris answered with a 264-foot steel observation wheel that carried 60 passengers per car.

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Charles Boycott was an English veteran and land agent living in Ireland. He chose the wrong community in which to enforce high rent prices and suggest evictions. When he did, the entire town united to give him the silent treatment: no shops, no mail; even workers walked out on him.

The isolation strategy was so effective that he fled the country, and his name became synonymous with the treatment he had received.

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Jean Nicot never smoked a cigarette in his life. As France's ambassador to Portugal in 1560, he sent tobacco leaves to Catherine de' Medici as a headache remedy. The "medicinal herb" became wildly popular, and Linnaeus later named the plant Nicotiana tabacum in his honor.

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Franz Mesmer had 18th-century Europe spellbound with his "animal magnetism" treatments. He is considered the father of hypnosis! His patients would sit around magnetic tubs holding iron rods, convinced that it was a way to absorb invisible, healing energy.

His theory was eventually debunked, but the trance-like states he induced were real enough to give us the verb "mesmerize."

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Louis Pasteur revolutionized food safety. In the 1860s, when the French chemist discovered that heating liquids destroyed microorganisms and enzymes, he forever transformed the process of extending the shelf life of food, like milk and wine.

Ironically, Pasteur initially focused on saving France's wine industry. Today, his process prevents millions of foodborne illnesses annually.

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Luigi Galvani was an Italian scientist who studied the effects of electricity on frog legs. His method became synonymous with stimulating or spurring something into action, much like a jolt of electricity does.

His experiments with animal electricity not only gave us "galvanize," but also inspired Mary Shelley's Frankenstein!

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You would never guess that this now popular chic garment is named after a British officer. But woolen, button-front military jackets were a symbol of the brigade led by James Brudenell, the 7th Earl of Cardigan.

During the Crimean War, he led the Charge of the Light Brigade. History has widely marked him as incompetent and accused him of splurging on costly uniforms. But at least his legacy in the world of comfortable fashion is undeniable.

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Rudolf Diesel's 1893 combustion engine was supposed to empower small businesses against industrial monopolies. Instead, it became the workhorse of global industry.

The German inventor mysteriously vanished at sea in 1913, but his name came to refer to the fuel used to power his engines, which originally ran on peanut oil.

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Poor John Duns Scotus! Although his name became a symbol of dumbness, he wasn’t dumb at all. A Scottish philosopher, linguist, and theologian in the early 14th century, he taught a group of followers who were called Dunsmen or Duns.

They wore pointed hats because they thought they served to "funnel wisdom." Scotus was once one of the sharpest minds of the Middle Ages, but eventually the ideas fell out of fashion, and the hats became symbols of stupidity.