Every year since 1982, the last week of September has kicked off Banned Books Week for libraries and bookstores around the nation, celebrating the freedom to read. Participating libraries and bookstores put up displays containing banned books. The week was so designated in 1982 to draw attention to the spike in challenges to books being in libraries, schools, and bookstores. Books by classic authors such as Mark Twain and John Steinbeck to well known writers of today such as Maya Angelou are not immune. According to the American Library Association (ALA) 513 books were challenged in 2008 with a reporting rate around 30% (meaning the true number is more than 1,500).
Nazis burning books.
“Banned Books Week is the only national celebration of the freedom to read. It was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than a thousand books have been challenged since 1982. The challenges have occurred in every state and in hundreds of communities. People challenge books that they say are too sexual or too violent. They object to profanity and slang, and protest against offensive portrayals of racial or religious groups–or positive portrayals of homosexuals. Their targets range from books that explore the latest problems to classic and beloved works of American literature.” From: http://bannedbooksweek.org
Top 10 Challenged Titles:
The following are the top challenged titles according to the ALA across the nation in 2008:
| Title | Author | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| And Tango Makes Three | Richardson & Parnell | anti-ethnic, anti-family, homosexuality, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to age group |
| His Dark Materials trilogy | Pullman | political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, and violence |
| TTYL, TTFN, L8R, G8R | Myracle | offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group |
| Scary Stories Series | Schwartz | occult/satanism, religious viewpoint, and violence |
| Bless Me, Ultima | Anaya | occult/satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, and violence |
| The Perks of Being a Wallflower | Chbosky | drugs, homosexuality, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, suicide, and unsuited to age group |
| Gossip Girl | von Ziegesar | offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group |
| Uncle Bobby’s Wedding | Brannen | homosexuality and unsuited to age group |
| The Kite Runner | Hosseini | offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group |
| Flashcards of My Life | Harper | sexually explicit and unsuited to age group |
Source: American Library Association
Mapping Book Bans & Challenges
Lest you think such challenges are limited to another time or a specific place in the nation, the Google map hosted at bannedbooksweek.org demonstrates the geographic range of bans and challenges for the years 2007-2009.
View Book Bans and Challenges, 2007-2009 in a larger map
Source: http://bannedbooksweek.org
Vote for the Worst Banned Book
You can also go vote (via goodreads.com) for the most outrageous book to be banned. This list is a little disturbing, as it shows bans or challenges to books like To Kill a Mockingbird, 1984, Alice’s Adventure’s in Wonderland, The Catcher in the Rye, The Grapes of Wrath, Lord of the Flies, and may other acknowledged classics of literature.
Vote for the worst book ban at goodread.com.
Source: http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1360.Best_Banned_and_or_Censored_Books_or_Worst_to_have_banned_
Sponsorship
Banned book week is sponsored by ‘fringe’ groups such as the American Library Association, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the Association of American Publishers, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the National Association of College Stores and endorsed by the Center for the Book of the Library of Congress.
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