1. ALA Banned Books Week Sept. 30–Oct. 6, 2012 The American Library Association (www.ala.org) celebrates Banned Book Week each Septemberwww.ala.org

2. What is Banned Books Week? Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship.

3. Definitions Censorship: The removal, suppression, or restricted circulation of literary, artistic, or educational materials on the grounds that they are morally or otherwise objectionable (Reichman, 1988). Selection: The right to choose certain books and reject other for use with children on the basis of literary quality and knowledge of child development and psychology. Does not insist upon removing the rejected books from the shelves for everyone else (Jalongo & Creany, 1991).

4. What Does Banned/Challenged Mean? A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others (www.ala.org)www.ala.org When a book is banned, it has been removed or censored.

5. How are books challenged? Individuals, organizations, or institutions may challenge a book. The organization to whom the challenge has been made then reports the challenge to the Office of Intellectual Freedom, where it is added to the database on reported challenges. The OIF uses this database to create its “top” lists and to provide resources to libraries, schools, and institutions.

6. Private Parts are Off Limits in Either Fiction or Non-Fiction

7. Captain Underpants Insensitivity Being unsuited to age group Encouraging children to disobey authority

8. Walter the Farting Dog Uses the word “fart” and “farting” 24 times

9. Harry Potter Series Wizardry and Magic Portrays Authority Figures as “stupid”

10. Witchcraft/Wizardry

11. Scary/Violent Scenes/Themes

12. References to Gay and Lesbian Families

13. Anti-Authority

14. Offensive Language

15. Careful how you choose characters

16. Censorship is not just for fiction! Too depressing!

17. Julie of the Wolves Sexual content Offensive language Violence Socialist, evolutionist, and “anti-family” themes Unsuited for age group

18. The Chocolate War The Most Challenged Book of 1998 Offensive Language Unsuited to age group

19. A Light in the Attic Too dreary Too negative

20. The Giving Tree: Sexist

21. The Lorax Being an “allegorical political commentary”

22. Top Ten Challenged Authors 1990-2004 1.Alvin Schwartz 2. Judy Blume 3. Robert Cormier 4. J.K. Rowling 5. Michael Willhoite 6. Katherine Paterson 7. Stephen King 8. Maya Angelou 9. R.L. Stine 10. John Steinbeck

23. Top 25 Challenged Books, 2000-2009 (14 were also on the 1990-1999 top 100 list, but 7 were not yet published) Harry Potter (series), J.K. Rowling Alice series, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor The Chocolate War, Robert Cormier And Tango Makes Three, Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou Scary Stories (series), Alvin Schwartz His Dark Materials (series), Philip Pullman ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series), Myracle, Lauren The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky Fallen Angels, Walter Dean Myers It’s Perfectly Normal, Robie Harris

24. Captain Underpants (series), Dav Pilkey The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison Forever, Judy Blume The Color Purple, Alice Walker Go Ask Alice, Anonymous Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger King and King, Linda de Haan To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee Gossip Girl (series), Cecily von Ziegesar The Giver, Lois Lowry In the Night Kitchen, Maurice Sendak Killing Mr. Griffen, Lois Duncan

25. Top Ten Challenged Books 2011

26. Top 10 Challenged Books 2011 ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle Reasons: offensive language; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group The Color of Earth (series), by Kim Dong Hwa Reasons: nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins Reasons: anti-ethnic; anti-family; insensitivity; offensive language; occult/satanic; violence My Mom's Having A Baby! A Kid's Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy, by Dori Hillestad Butler Reasons: nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie Reasons: offensive language; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Reasons: nudity; offensive language; religious viewpoint Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley Reasons: insensitivity; nudity; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones Reasons: nudity; offensive language; sexually explicit Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily Von Ziegesar Reasons: drugs; offensive language; sexually explicit To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee Reasons: offensive language; racism

27. Are They Just Bad Books? Newbery Winners: –The Higher Power of Lucky (2007) –The Giver (1994) –Hatchet (1988 honor book) –The Great Gilly Hopkins (1979 honor book) –Julie of the Wolves (1973) “Classics” –Huckleberry Finn –Of Mice and Men –To Kill a Mockingbird –The Catcher in the Rye

28. Challenged, Restricted, Removed, or Banned, May 2010-May2011 The Absolutely True Story of a Part Time Indian Speak The Flamingo Rising The Notebook Girls: Four Frieds, One Diary, Real Life Forever in Blue, the Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood My Mom’s Having a Baby Betrayed The Perks of Being a Wallflower The Awakening The Hunger Games Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Ann Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

29. Water for Elephants Snow Falling on Cedars The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time The Dead Man in Indian Creek Get Well Soon Snakehead Brave New World Stolen Children The Koran Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India Vegan Virgin Valentine What’s Happening to My Body? Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth’s Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa Shooting Star Writer’s Voice: Selected from Borrowed Time: An AIDS memoir

30. Tweaked: A Crystal Meth Memoir Song of Solomon ttyl Twenty Boy Summer The Body of Christopher Creed The Catcher in the Rye Push Pit Bulls and Tenacious Guard Dogs We’ll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star Bone One of Those Hideous Books Where Mother Dies Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology Slaughterhouse-Five Jubilee Paint Me Like I Am: Teen Poems