Top 10 for 2007

The American Library Association (ALA) has released its list of the 10 Most Challenged Books of 2007.

And Tango Makes Three, written by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell takes top spot for the second year in a row. This award-winning children’s book is about two male penguins caring for an orphaned egg, a story based on a true situation at New York's Central Park Zoo.

There are three books that are new to the list including:
Olive’s Ocean by Kevin Henkes
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
TTYL by Lauren Myracle

A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school, requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness. In 2007 the OIF received 420 reports on efforts to abolish materials from school curriculum and library bookshelves.

Below is the complete list and reasons cited:
1. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
Reasons: Anti-Ethnic, Sexism, Homosexuality, Anti-Family, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group

2. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Violence

3. Olive’s Ocean by Kevin Henkes
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language

4. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
Reasons: Religious Viewpoint

5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Reasons: Racism

6. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language,

7. TTYL by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

8. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Reasons: Sexually Explicit

9. It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
Reasons: Sex Education, Sexually Explicit

10. The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

Author Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye and Beloved which have been on the top ten list for many years have been bumped off by new challenges. Morrison's books have been challenged for sexual content and offensive language.

Caged Bird Will Remain in School

In a previous post the proposed banning of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was reported. To follow up on this story, the book will remain in the classroom, according to Bob Nelson, a reporter in the Fond de Lac area. In his web log, he thinks back on his own high school education.

I've never read the book, but can sympathize with students who are assigned a book to read with little say about it. Having said that I'm now glad that I had no choice in the matter when I was in high school myself. "Lord of the Flies," "A Tale Of Two Cities," "A Seperate Peace," "Black Like Me," and "The Jungle" were just a couple of assigned books I can remember reading. Each of them had an impact in their time and something to say.

I found it interesting that FdL Reporter received a flurry of email concerning the proposed banning.

They noticed in California and in Florida and in every state in between. They noticed outside of our borders, in places like England and Canada. We know this because, in the first 24 hours after the story's publication in The Reporter, our e-mail box was flooded by more than 350 comments representing every stripe and color of the faith and/or political spectrum.

I'm with Bob Nelson, that not having read this particular book, I think I need to add it to my list of "should read" just to see what all of the fuss is about.

Why Does the Caged Bird Sing?

The Associated Press covered a story about the proposed banning of Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The book is Angelou's biography and it includes passages that talk about this U.S. poet laureate's rape and subsequent unwanted pregnancy.

As is the case with many challenges, the children of the Fond du Lac, WI parents who wish to have the book removed from the curriculum have been provided with an alternate novel. One family wishes to have the book removed and would impose their restrictions on the children of all of the students using this novel.

Joe Pentek, English teacher defends the use of this book,

I felt as a teacher of the book that the students were mature enough to handle the concepts of the book and look beyond the images portrayed to a deeper meaning and the effects of what Angelou went through. What better place to discuss adversity than in a classroom setting?

Read about a former challenge along with excerpts of what parents in the past found offensive.

SparksNotes