John Steinbeck banned the book from the county's publicly funded schools and libraries. It was burned in Salinas on two different occasions. In 2003, a school board in Mississippi banned it on the grounds of profanity. According to the American Library Association Steinbeck was one of the ten most frequently banned authors from 1990 to 2004, with "Of Mice and Men" ranking sixth out of 100 such books in the United States. The award of the 1962 Nobel Prize for Literature to Steinbeck was controversial in the United States. The award citation lauded Steinbeck "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as
Lenny and Carl relationship. In another episode, "'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky", various characters look at the stars to "see into their souls". Lenny sees Carl's face in the sky, who also sees his own face. At times, Carl gets annoyed at Lenny. In "Mountain of Madness", when Carl learns that he is paired with Lenny in a team-building exercise on a power plant retreat, his irritated response is, "Aw, nuts. I mean... aw, nuts." In the non-canon episode "Behind the Laughter", Lenny and Carl are constant companions, and Bart had apparently paid the two to kiss one another. A running