Banned Books Week: Books That Get Banned

All week I've been talking about Banned Books Weeks, some of the things that are going on and why you should care. (You should, you know.) But what I haven't talked about yet are actual books. So today I'm going to share some of the most banned and/or challenges books in America, according to the ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom.

The ten most challenged classic books are:

1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
6. Ulysses by James Joyce
7. Beloved by Toni Morrison
8. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
9. 1984 by George Orwell
10. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

Seriously? The Great Gatsby, The Grapes of Wrath, and To Kill a Mockingbird? Too bad the general public (and kids in particular) are too feeble to read about the excesses and immorality of the rich in the 1920s, the hardships experienced by average families during the Great Depression, and the appalling reality of racial injustice in the early half of the 20th century. Thanks for protecting us from that, censors.

And, if that weren't bad enough, new books are challenged, too. (Shocked, aren't you?)

Here are some of the more recent books on the challenge list:

1. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
2. His Dark Materials trilogy, by Philip Pullman
3. TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R (series), by Lauren Myracle
4. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar
5. Uncle Bobby's Wedding, by Sarah S. Brannen
6. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
7. Flashcards of My Life, by Charise Mericle Harper
8. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler
   
9. What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
   
10. Captain Underpants (Series), by Dav Pilkey
    

Oh, the horror of gay penguins, bored/spoiled/overindulgent rich kids, and a fantasy world of parallel universes are totally going to warp me into some kind of misfit. Here's why not: What does it matter to me if two boy penguins want to shack up? I'm never going to be rich enough to do overindulge that much. And I'm pretty sure my beliefs can stand strong against the influence of a fantasy novel.

Jeesh, I mean what do censors think is going to happen? A kid reads The Golden Compass and then their soul suddenly pops out of their body and takes the form of a parrot? Really? If that happens, I wanna know about it. Because that's news.

Okay, I think I'm done with the snark for now. Later.

Hugs,
TLC