Banned Books Week 2012: Majority of Challenges Initiated Locally by Parents
Censorship is alive and well, as highlighted by Banned Books Week — you might be surprised by who the most vocal challengers of books are.
The importance of the First Amendment and the concept of "intellectual freedom" might not always be readily apparent to most kids, but Banned Books Week is a great opportunity to make those lessons come alive for children—and adults.
Banned Books Week is held annually during the last week of September. The year, Sept. 30 through Oct. 6, 2012, is an occasion for libraries and bookstores across the U.S. to help folks realize just how real and ongoing a problem censorship is.
More than 11,000 books have been challenged — though not necessarily successfully censored — since 1982, the inaugural year of Banned Books Week. According to the American Library Association, the vast majority of challenges to books are initiated locally by parents, likely in well-meaning attempts to protect their children.
Last year, there were 326 challenges reported to the ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom, based on everything from offensive language to violence, insensitivity, religious viewpoint and sexual explicitness. In addition to those challenges, the ALA estimates that as many as 60 to 70 percent of challenges may go unreported.
Over the past year, the 10 most challenged titles were:
- ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series) by Lauren Myracle
- The Color of Earth (series) by Kim Dong Hwa
- The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
- My Mom's Having A Baby! A Kid's Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy by Dori Hillestad Butler
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
- Alice (series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
- What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones
- Gossip Girl (series) by Cecily Von Ziegesar
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Among banned and challenged classics you’re likely familiar with are:
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
- The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker
- Ulysses by James Joyce
- The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
- Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell
- The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
- Beloved and Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
- In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
If you’re interested in celebrating Banned Books Week as part of a lesson for your kids — or simply to feel like a rebellious reader — check out these additional resources:
- Mapping Censorship, a visual representation of places books have been challenged in the US, created from cases documented by the ALA and the Kids’ Right to Read Project
- Virtual Read-Out, a worldwide celebration of the freedom to read, featured on a dedicated Banned Books Week YouTube channel
- State-by-state listing of BBW events
- Banned Books Week on Facebook and Twitter
- Free BBW downloads from the ALA, like badges and Facebook cover art
Do you think books should be banned from schools, bookstores or libraries? Tell us what you think in comments.
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Marne M
7:55 am on Sunday, September 30, 2012
I wonder which, if any, of these books are banned in our local school systems? I know that I read "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Of Mice and Men" in high school, but that was in Minnesota.
I don't see any reason to ban books, though I don't have a problem restricting them to an age-appropriate audience. There are books my daughter is capable of reading that I wouldn't want her to read simply because they would frighten to her or expose her to adult concepts we haven't discussed yet. But it's my job as a parent to monitor what she is reading, not the job of a school library or (even worse) a bookstore. By the time she is old enough to attend either by herself (she's only six now) I don't know that I would be worried about any of those titles, certainly not the classics -- some of the more modern works I haven't read.
I also think it's important for parents to keep up with young adult literature, so that they know what their kids are reading. If she's reading it, then I want to be reading it too, so that we can talk about things if I think it's necessary.
Deanna Allen
12:52 pm on Sunday, September 30, 2012
I don't support banning books, but I would like to see some kind of rating system on YA books, especially, similar to the rating system for movies and video games just so parents are more aware. I've read "The Hunger Games" and it has quite a bit of violence in it — violence that shocked me and I'm 28 and read paranormal trash novels where violence and death is the norm. I guess violence perpetrated by children and teens forced into a fight to the death is a bit scarier to me. But I would hope parents would be aware of what their children are reading, just like I hope they are aware of their children's Internet activity. And if a rating system for books isn't feasible, I hope parents take it upon themselves to know what their children are reading.