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BANNED BOOKS WEEK  - It comes around every year in September.

cover those eyes and that mouth  100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2000-2007

  10 most challenged books of 2008

 10 most challenged books of 2007

 more information on banned books

Read Banned Books!

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 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2000-2007 - from the American Library Association

1 Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling
2 Alice series - Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3 The Chocolate War - Robert Cormier
4 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
5 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
6 Scary Stories - Alvin Schwartz
7 Fallen Angels - Walter Dean Myers
8 It’s Perfectly Normal - Robie Harris
9 And Tango Makes Three - Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
10 Captain Underpants - Dav Pilkey
11 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
12 The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison
13 Forever - Judy Blume
14 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
15 The Perks of Being A Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky
16 Killing Mr. Griffin - Lois Duncan
17 Go Ask Alice - Anonymous
18 King and King - Linda de Haan
19 Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
20 Bridge to Terabithia - Katherine Paterson
21 The Giver - Lois Lowry
22 We All Fall Down - Robert Cormier
23 To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee
24 Beloved - Toni Morrison
25 The Face on the Milk Carton - Caroline Cooney
26 Snow Falling on Cedars - David Guterson
27 My Brother Sam Is Dead - James Lincoln Collier
28 In the Night Kitchen - Maurice Sendak
29 His Dark Materials series - Philip Pullman
30 Gossip Girl series - Cecily von Ziegesar
31 What My Mother Doesn’t Know - Sonya Sones
32 Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging - Louise Rennison
33 It’s So Amazing - Robie Harris
34 Arming America - Michael Bellasiles
35 Kaffir Boy - Mark Mathabane
36 Blubber - Judy Blume
37 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
38 Athletic Shorts - Chris Crutcher
39 Bless Me, Ultima - Rudolfo Anaya
40 Life is Funny - E.R. Frank
41 Daughters of Eve - Lois Duncan
42 Crazy Lady - Jane Leslie Conly
43 The Great Gilly Hopkins - Katherine Paterson
44 You Hear Me - Betsy Franco
45 Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut
46 Whale Talk - Chris Crutcher
47 The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby - Dav Pilkey
48 The Facts Speak for Themselves - Brock Cole
49 The Terrorist - Caroline Cooney
50 Mick Harte Was Here - Barbara Park
51 Summer of My German Soldier - Bette Green
52 The Upstairs Room - Johanna Reiss
53 When Dad Killed Mom - Julius Lester
54 Blood and Chocolate - Annette Curtis Klause

55 The Fighting Ground - Avi
56 The Things They Carried - Tim O’Brien
57 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry - Mildred Taylor
58 Fat Kid Rules the World - K.L. Going
59 The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things - Carolyn Mackler
60 A Time To Kill - John Grisham
61 Rainbow Boys - Alex Sanchez
62 Olive’s Ocean - Kevin Henkes
63 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest - Ken Kesey
64 A Day No Pigs Would Die - Robert Newton Peck
65 Speak Laurie - Halse Anderson
66 Always Running - Luis Rodriguez
67 Black Boy - Richard Wright
68 Julie of the Wolves - Jean Craighead George
69 Deal With It! - Esther Drill
70 Detour for Emmy - Marilyn Reynolds
71 Draw Me A Star - Eric Carle
72 Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
73 Harris and Me - Gary Paulsen
74 Junie B. Jones series - Barbara Park
75 So Far From the Bamboo Grove - Yoko Watkins
76 Song of Solomon - Toni Morrison
77 Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes - Chris Crutcher
78 What’s Happening to My Body Book - Lynda Madaras
79 The Boy Who Lost His Face - Louis Sachar
80 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
81 Anastasia Again! - Lois Lowry
82 Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret - Judy Blume
83 Bumps In the Night - Harry Allard
84 Goosebumps series - R.L. Stine
85 Shade’s Children - Garth Nix
86 Cut - Patricia McCormick
87 Grendel - John Gardner
88 The House of Spirits - Isabel Allende
89 I Saw Esau - Iona Opte
90 Ironman - Chris Crutcher
91 The Stupids series - Harry Allard
92 Taming the Star Runner - S.E. Hinton
93 Then Again, Maybe I Won’t - Judy Blume
94 Tiger Eyes - Judy Blume
95 Like Water for Chocolate - Laura Esquivel
96 Nathan’s Run - John Gilstrap
97 Pinkerton, Behave! - Steven Kellog
98 Freaky Friday - Mary Rodgers
99 Halloween ABC - Eve Merriam
100 Heather Has Two Mommies - Leslea Newman

Out of 3,869 challenges reported to or recorded by the Office for Intellectual Freedom, as compiled by the Office for Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association. The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom does not claim comprehensiveness in recording challenges. Research suggests that for each challenge reported there are as many as four or five which go unreported.


10 most challenged titles of 2008
from the American Library Association, out of 513 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2008.

1. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
      Reasons: anti-ethnic, anti-family, homosexuality, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to age group

2. His Dark Materials trilogy, by Philip Pullman
      Reasons: political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, and violence

3. TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R (series), by Lauren Myracle
      Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group

4. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
       Reasons: occult/satanism, religious viewpoint, and violence

5. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
       Reasons: occult/satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, and violence

6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
        Reasons: drugs, homosexuality, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, suicide, and unsuited to age group

7. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar
        Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group

8. Uncle Bobby's Wedding, by Sarah S. Brannen
         Reasons: homosexuality and unsuited to age group

9. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
          Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group

10. Flashcards of My Life, by Charise Mericle Harper
          Reasons: sexually explicit and unsuited to age group


10 most challenged books of 2007

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 and 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


information sites

Banned Books Week website at www.bannedbooksweek.org

American Library Association's Banned Books Week
This section of the ALA website is devoted to providing information regarding censorship and banned or challenged books.

Beacon For Freedom
Beacon for Freedom of Expression is an international database on censorship of books and newspapers, and literature on freedom of expression, produced by the Norwegian Forum for Freedom of Expression.

Censored
This site comprise an extensive, organized, and in most cases annotated directory of Internet and print resources on various aspects of censorship and free expression.

Free Expression Network
The Free Expression Network (FEN) is an alliance of organizations dedicated to protecting the First Amendment right of free expression and the values it represents, and to opposing governmental efforts to suppress constitutionally protected speech.

National Coalition Against Censorship
This page is an advocacy webpage that focuses on censorship in all types of media, including art, television, radio, textbooks, etc.



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