Banned Books Week Day 2!

Banned Books Week is one of my favorite theme weeks for libraries.  Teens are smart cookies--they know what is wrong or right--and they choose to act or not act on it regardless of the books they read.  I can't think of any time, in my own life, or watching others, where what they read directly affected their actions.  If you read The Hunger Games, I don't believe you are going to try to overthrow the government and kill your friends.  If you read Where the Wild Things Are, I don't believe you will succumb to witchcraft.  However, there are people who DO think that will happen. And those people challenge these books and try to get them taken out of schools and libraries.

Here are the most frequently challenged books of JUST last year, 2014:

1)      The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: anti-family, cultural insensitivity, drugs/alcohol/smoking, gambling, offensive language, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group, violence. Additional reasons: “depictions of bullying”

2)      Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi
Reasons: gambling, offensive language, political viewpoint. Additional reasons: “politically, racially, and socially offensive,” “graphic depictions”

3)      And Tango Makes Three, Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
Reasons: Anti-family, homosexuality, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group. Additional reasons: “promotes the homosexual agenda”

4)      The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
Reasons: Sexually explicit, unsuited for age group. Additional reasons: “contains controversial issues”

5)      It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris
Reasons: Nudity, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group. Additional reasons: “alleges it child pornography”

6)      Saga, by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples
Reasons: Anti-Family, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group. Additional reasons:

7)      The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited to age group, violence

8)      The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: drugs/alcohol/smoking, homosexuality, offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group. Additional reasons: “date rape and masturbation”

9)      A Stolen Life, Jaycee Dugard
Reasons: drugs/alcohol/smoking, offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group

10)  Drama, by Raina Telgemeier
Reasons: sexually explicit

Teens, you are SO intuitive.  You can choose what you, personally, can handle in literature.  Choose wisely--don't just read crap to rebel, but find a book you will genuinely enjoy and soak up the words.