Top Ten Challenged Books for 2010 (US)

The Office for Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association (ALA) has released the Top Ten Challenged Books for 2010. 
  
1. "And Tango Makes Three" by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
Reasons: Homosexuality, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group

2. "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: Offensive language, Racism, Sex Education, Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group, Violence

3. "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
Reasons: Insensitivity, Offensive Language, Racism, Sexually Explicit

4. "Crank" by Ellen Hopkins
Reasons: Drugs, Offensive Language, Sexually Explicit

5. "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
 Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group, Violence

6. "Lush" by Natasha Friend
Reasons: Drugs, Offensive Language, Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group

7. "What My Mother Doesn’t Know" by Sonya Sones
Reasons: Sexism, Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group

8. "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America" by Barbara Ehrenreich
Reasons: Drugs, Inaccurate, Offensive Language, Political Viewpoint, Religious Viewpoint

9. "Revolutionary Voices" edited by Amy Sonnie
Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit

10. "Twilight" by  Stephenie Meyer
Reasons: Religious Viewpoint, Violence

Read one or more of these for our "Banned Book Challenge" or find more lists on the sidebar.  The challenge runs until June 30.

Book Burning Fans Flames of Hatred

Rev. Terry Jones, the pastor of a small non-denominational congregation in Gainesville, Florida has been threatening to burn 200 copies of the Koran, the Islamic holy book tomorrow, the anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre. Jones, the author of a book entitled Islam is of the Devil and the Dove World Outreach Center intended to create a bonfire on the church property.

Islamics and Christians alike are condemning the burning, along with world leaders and US generals who say this act could endanger US troops.

Yesterday, under growing pressure, Jones announced that he was calling off plans and implied that he had made a deal with the organizers of the construction of an Islamic centre near Ground Zero to agree to move the location if the Koran burning was cancelled. However, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf denied having spoken to Jones, stating, "I am surprised by their announcement. We are not going to toy with our religion or any other. Nor are we going to barter. We are here to extend our hands to build peace and harmony."

Today, the church's two websites were taken down by the web-hosting company Rackspace, on the grounds that the church has violated the terms of service with regard to a clause that forbids content that is "excessively violent, incites violence, threatens violence, or contains harassing content or hate speech; and creates a risk to a person's safety or health, creates a risk to public safety or health, compromises national security, or interferes with a investigation by law enforcement." Copies of Pastor Jones' book were available for order through the web site. To date, the church's Facebook page (Facebook account needed to view page) "International Burn A Koran Day" is still available along with many other group pages condemning the act.

CBS News and a number of other investigative reporters are now looking into the financial state of the church, mortgages, and the ebay store which is run out of church buildings, perhaps bringing more attention to the 50-member congregation and their pastor than was expected.

The American Library Association plans to read publicly from the Koran -- a reaction to the planned book burning -- from the steps of their headquarters in Chicago tomorrow at 1 p.m. Banned Books Week will launch on September 25 with readings from the Qur’an.

Update: While the pastor ended up not burning the Koran, a number of book burners around the world took up his cause. Pastor Terry Jones was also charged for the extra policing services needed because of his threat.

American Library Association's Top Ten for 2009

The American Library Association (ALA) has released the 2009 Top Ten List of Most Frequently Challenged Books, as well as the Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books for 2000-2009.
Good/Transparency has created an interactive viewer of the 2009 Top Ten Most Frequently Challenged books that is very well done.

The top 10 titles most challenged titles of 2009 were:

TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R (series) by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: Nudity, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs

And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson

Reasons: Homosexuality

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

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Reasons: Racism, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

Twilight (series) by Stephenie Meyer

Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group

The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

Reasons: Sexism, Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs, Suicide, Violence

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler

Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

Reasons: Nudity, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

The new books to the list are Twilight (series) by Stephenie Meyer and My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult.

The titles dropped from the list were:

• His Dark Materials Trilogy (Series) by Philip Pullman


• Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz


• Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya


• Gossip Girl (Series) by Cecily von Ziegesar


• Uncle Bobby’s Wedding by Sarah S. Brannen


• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini


• Flashcards of My Life by Charise Mericle Harper

How has the list compiled? According to the ALA,

For nearly 20 years, the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has collected reports on book challenges. A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school, requesting that materials be removed or restricted because of content or appropriateness. In 2009, OIF received 460 reports on efforts to remove or restrict materials from school curricula and library bookshelves.

Read a book from this list for the Banned Book Challenge which runs until June 1. Register today.

Judith Krug with author Judy Blume. Photo: Freedom to Read Foundation






An article by Sarah Long, Columnist for the Daily Herald out of Chicago is a fitting memorial to Judith Krug, the longtime director of the American Library Association's Freedom to Read Foundation. Krug passed away on April 11, 2009. Long explains that Krug fought censorship on behalf of libraries for more than 40 years. She moved librarianship from a quiet commitment to freedom to read to an overt, organized, policy-based movement based on that commitment.

Robert P. Doyle, executive director of the Illinois Library Association, expressed it this way:

It wasn't that Judith just generated media attention, which she did. Rather she set about the arduous task of coalition building. She reached out to publishers, booksellers, authors, school administrators, teachers, journalists and lawyers both individually and through their associations. She built coalitions based on a common belief in free expression and commitment to intellectual freedom. At ALA, she worked tirelessly with members to fight censorship efforts. Krug evolved a sort of 'case law' of precedents and policies and set up structures of support for libraries and individuals who were involved in censorship incidents.

In 1982, Krug created Banned Books Week which will be celebrated the last week in September in the US. It is sponsored by a coalition of organizations including the American Booksellers Association, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, American Society of Journalists and Authors, Association of American Publishers, National Association of College Stores and the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

Banned Books Week in the US

Banned Books Week in the United States is September 27 - October 4, 2008. Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. It is the 27th anniversary of this annual ALA event which is is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, American Library Association, American Society of Journalists and Authors, Association of American Publishers, National Association of College Stores, and is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

Visit the ALA (American Library Association)web site for ideas on how to commemorate the week, resources, and for lists of banned or challenged books.

For Kids

The American Library Association (ALA) has a publication called Kids, Know Your Rights. It is subtitled A Young Person’s Guide to Intellectual Freedom and it is directed at children. Although it is more relevant to the United States, there are aspects that might be helpful for classroom situations. It explains the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights for US children, as well as the role and responsibility of the library when one of their books is challenged.

Below is an excerpt:

An opinion is a belief in something. Everyone has
the right to have any opinion on any topic. Sharing
different opinions with others leads to new ideas. The
freedom to speak your opinion is protected by the
Constitution, and the freedom to learn from someone
else’s opinion is a privilege you should protect. When
you listen to others’ opinions, you may change your
mind, or you may believe in your own opinion even
more. It is impossible to know everything, and most
things we learn come from someone else. Always feel
free to speak and always be willing to listen. If you
respect and support other people’s rights to share their
ideas and beliefs, they will in turn respect and support
your rights. One of the greatest gifts we can give is to
listen and to appreciate each other’s differences.
Freedom of Speech is both a great freedom and a
great responsibility.

A list of titles for further reading is included. Both fiction and non-fiction titles for children are included.

Lowry on "The Giver"

Reporter Robert Trussell of The Kansas City Star recently spoke to Lois Lowry, author of The Giver and 33 other titles.

The Giver continues to be listed on the American Library Association's list of 100 Most Challenged Books. The Giver won the 1994 Newbery Medal for children's literature. Twice it has been adapted for the stage. Both a musical and a movie are in development.

According to Lowry the people who would censor the book are few in number but very vocal.

The book is now in 22 languages, and as far as I know...the U.S. is the only country in which it’s undergone these challenges and controversies....So in Serbia it’s fine. In France it’s fine. In Germany they use it to introduce German children to the study of totalitarianism as a way of understanding what happened under Hitler.

It is a book about the loss of collective memory. One person in each generation inherits the responsibilities of becoming the Receiver of Memory.

Lowry was inspired in part by her experience with her mother and father.
My parents at the time were very elderly and both in a nursing home....(My mother) was extremely fragile, blind and on oxygen, but her memory was intact. She liked to talk about events in her life, including some tragic ones. My father was physically healthy but had lost his memory. So I began thinking about memory and how we use it...and how dangerous it would be if we could control it.

She sees the irony in having written a book that is about the protection of free speech that has almost constantly been on the most-challenged book list.

So why do so many people find the book objectionable?

I’ve been dealing with this for some years now, and I still don’t have an answer...They point to two passages in the book. If they would read the book and if they had any intelligence, they could put those passages in context.

So why would the book be challenged so often in the U.S. and nowhere else?

I don’t have an answer to that...but in recent years we’ve all observed a movement towards more conservative and...fundamentalist thought coming forward. But Christian churches use it a lot, and Jewish people give it as a bar mitzvah gift. So it covers all bases.

Lowry firmly believes that good books can’t harm young readers.

I think even literature that includes harsh reality, which good literature often does, has a role in the lives of young people.

Thanks to Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog, here are excerpts and a link to Lowry's Newbery Award speech.

I think the 1990 Newbery freed me to risk failure....The Newbery Committee was gutsy too. There would have been safer books. More comfortable books. More familiar books. They took a trip beyond the realm of sameness, with this one, and I think they should be very proud of that.

And all of you, as well. Let me say something to those of you here who do such dangerous work.

The man that I named The Giver passed along to the boy knowledge, history, memories, color, pain, laughter, love, and truth. Every time you place a book in the hands of a child, you do the same thing. It is very risky.

But each time a child opens a book, he pushes open the gate that separates him from Elsewhere. It gives him choices. It gives him freedom. Those are magnificent, wonderfully unsafe things.

Recent Banned Book List

In my travels through cyberspace, I happened upon yet another list of banned or challenged books, this one provided by Baker Books. I will add this to the sidebar but since it is AlA's Banned Book Week, I figured a number of people will be looking for information on book bans and challenges in 2006.

Critical Thinkers Don't Miss the Point

Yesterday marked the beginning of the American Library Assocation's Banned Books Week. In an article for the Charlotte Observer, one teacher eloquently talks about why she hopes her students are reading banned books. It is her opinion that many books that are challenged are "intensely moral ones," a view that may challenge people who favour the banning of books to look more closely at the issue.

Teacher Kay McSpadden believes that "regardless of the specific charge against a book, the underlying issue is almost always an offense to the reader's sense of cultural propriety. " She goes on to argue that, "People who challenge books worry not only that their culture is slipping beyond their control, but they believe that books can have a pernicious effect on readers."

She acknowledges the power of words to hurt or heal, but weighs that against the principle of free speech and the ability of people in a democracy to make informed decisions for themselves. She believes that students will "get it."

Students who have the freedom to read and who have been encouraged to think critically don't miss the point. They can see through the temporal issues of culture to the eternal concerns of what it means to be human, and they discover their own humanity in the words of people close and far, known and unusual.

I say, "Well said!"

Good Timing

Ursula K. Le Guin is no stranger to banned book lists. "Lathe of Heaven" has hit the banned book lists over the years. Read up on the "Lathe of Heaven" at Wikipedia. Le Guin, one of science fiction's greatest writers, has received many honors for her many novels, including six Nebula and five Hugo Awards, the National Book Award, the Pushcart Prize, the Newbery, the Pilgrim, the Tiptree, and citations by the American Library Association.

She has explored themes which may incite a negative reaction to her books. They include Taoist, anarchist, feminist, psychological and sociological themes. As with many Science Fiction writers, her political message is not always welcome. Science Fiction is often about the near future and how the events of the present will impact it negatively. It is a warning for those of us who live at present to guard that which we hold dear -- and often that includes free speech. According to a Buffalo News article by Sally Fiedler, the release of her new novel "Voices," is timed to coincide with ALA's Banned Book Week - Sept. 23 to 30.

The main characters in "Voices" help save a people from losing the stories and poems that make up their cultural heritage when priests order all books to be destroyed. The enemies are supersitious fanatics who believe in demons which can be called up through the written word. They fear knowledge and truth. They focus their attention on Oracle House in which the last undestroyed books are hidden. They believe it to be full of demons. Like the Book People in Fahrenheit 451 who memorize books in order to keep them, the lore of a people is left in the keeping of a few people -- one of them being a poet who, in a sense, brings the words to life as he recites the words of the ancient texts for the people on the street. In bringing the words alive, he brings life and hope to the people.

Read the review by teenreads.com and consider reading this book in celebration of Banned Books Week.

Strange Bedfellows?

Google and the ALA (American Library Association have teamed up to give people a look inside many banned books. To search the full text of a book, use Google Books. You may find the banned book itself or books that mention that particular book. Give it a try during the last week of September which is Banned Book Week.

Vote for a Banned Book

Vote online for your favourite banned book at the American Library Association's website. This could be an activity to encourage during the last week of September which is Banned Book Week.