September 30-October 6 is Banned Books Week! It’s a celebration of the freedom to read under the protection of the First Amendment. Visit our Banned Books Week InfoGuide.
Find out more about banned books on the American Library Association site (ALA) and the Banned Books Week site. You can participate in the Banned Books Virtual Read-Out by creating videos on the virtues of the freedom to read. They will be featured on a dedicated YouTube channel.
According to the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, these were the most challenged books of 2011. How many have you read?
1) ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series) by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: Offensive language; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group.
2) The Color of Earth (series) by Kim Dong Hwa
Reasons: Nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group.
3) The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
Reasons: Anti-ethnic; anti-family; insensitivity; offensive language; occult/satanic; violence.
4) My Mom’s Having A Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy by Dori Hillestad Butler
Reasons: Nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group.
5) The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: Offensive language; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group.
6) Alice (series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Reasons: Nudity; offensive language; religious viewpoint.
7) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Reasons: Insensitivity; nudity; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit.
8) What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones
Reasons: Nudity; offensive language; sexually explicit.
9) Gossip Girl (series) by Cecily Von Ziegesar
Reasons: Drugs; offensive language; sexually explicit.
10) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Reasons: Offensive language; racism.
