Saturday, September 25th is the beginning of Banned Books Week [2], a week dedicated to celebrating the freedom to read by highlighting some of the books that faced censorship over the years.
The American Library Association [3] compiles lists of challenged books each year including a list of classic titles, many of which may surprise you. These titles come from reports on book challenges, which are "formal written requests to remove a book from a library or classroom because of an objection to the book’s content."
Here are the top 5 from the Top 100 novels of the 20th century [4]. On the full list you will see a number of bold titles; you can read more about why these bold titles were challenged here [5].
- The Great Gatsby [6] by F. Scott Fitzgerald [7]
- The Catcher in the Rye [8] by J.D. Salinger [9]
- The Grapes of Wrath [10] by John Steinbeck [11]
- To Kill a Mockingbird [12] by Harper Lee [13]
- The Color Purple [14] by Alice Walker [15]
Here are five of the Top 10 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2009 [16]:
- TTYL [17]; TTFN [18]; L8R, G8R [19] (series), by Lauren Myracle [20]
- And Tango Makes Three [21] by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson [22]
- The Perks of Being A Wallflower [23] by Stephen Chbosky [24]
- To Kill A Mockingbird [25] by Harper Lee [13]
- Twilight (series) [26] by Stephenie Meyer [27]
So if you are in the market for a new read, try out a banned or challenged book and celebrate with us!
- Nonfiction [28]
