Banned Books Week 2010
This is Banned Books Week, running today through October 2nd. An annual event sponsored by the American Library Association, the American Booksellers Association and other organizations with a deep interest in our inherent freedom to read, these books that have been challenged or outright banned somewhere in the US in the past year are celebrated. This year’s Top Ten (in terms of number of attempts at banning):
1. TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R (series), by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: Nudity, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs
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2. And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
Reasons: Homosexuality
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3. The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Anti-Family, Offensive Language, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs, Suicide
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4. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Reasons: Racism, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group
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5. Twilight (series) by Stephenie Meyer
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group
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6. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group
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7. My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Reasons: Sexism, Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs, Suicide, Violence
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8. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things by Carolyn Mackler
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group
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9. The Color Purple Alice Walker
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group
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10. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
Reasons: Nudity, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group
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For a list of hundreds more challenged books, go to http://tiny.cc/xp9b4
So, how can you make a stand against ignorance and narrow-mindedness? Read a banned book this week.
September 25, 2010
Posted in: Tales of a Bookseller
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6 Responses
Well, we are big fans of TANGO in this family, and at least four of the others are perennial favorites of mine.
Learning about evil (racism in Harper Lee’s classic) is the best way to combat it. If enough people read TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, maybe they will learn how to deal with folks who try to ban books.
Thanks for this post! I’ll be looking back through “To Kill A Mockingbird.”
Jenny, isn’t TANGO just the best? What’s not to love about penguins?
Great choice, Brenda!
Wonderful topic, Lelia. Saw your post on Sisters in Crime and am spreading the word on FB, Twitter, etc.
Every time I read To Kill a Mockingbird, I find something I hadn’t seen before. I love the days that I’m called to sub and find the lesson plans call for reading a chapter or two.
I doubt I could write anything as good as TKAM, but I’ll bet if I put my mind to it I could write something that someone would want to ban. Maybe I’ve hit on a new form of promotion.
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