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There's something very odd about calling the act of declining to shelve a particular volume in a particular school library "banning a book". As if a local decision made based on local values is somehow Fahrenheit 451.
I have a hard time getting worked up if Mississippi doesn't teach Huck Finn. It'd be nice if our education system was in such good shape that something like that was a real problem. But there are much more fundamental, much more structural things that need addressing before Beloved's merits as a summer reading assignment should be debated.
My children (if and when there are any) will read freely from any printed work, with me as a guide and mentor. On the other hand, their Internet usage will be severely restricted via technological means until they reach sufficient savvy to defeat the lock themselves. This plan achieves several parenting goals at once, and I like it a lot.
My high school library got a LOT of traction out of its "banned books" display. Most of us read most of those books, and only because of the aura of scandal that the display generated for them.
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