Celebrate Your Right to Read at Gwinnett Library During Banned Book Week

By Wendy Ann Mitchell (Patch Staff)

Generally held the last week of September, Banned Books Week celebrates the right to choose books freely without censorship.

The American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom has recorded over 10,000 book challenges since beginning to document cases in 1990. A challenge is a formal, written complaint requesting a book be removed from library shelves or school curriculum.

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Many of the books that top the list are children’s books. In 2013, the top banned book in America was Dave Pilkey’s “Captain Underpants,” most frequently challenged for potty language and toilet humor.

Check out the American Library Association’s top 10 banned books of 2013:

Top 10 out of 307 challenges as reported by the Office for Intellectual Freedom

Captain Underpants (series), by Dave Pilkey

• Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited for age group, violence

The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison

• Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, violence

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie

• Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

Fifty Shades of Grey, by E.L. James

• Reasons: Nudity, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

• Reasons: Religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group

A Bad Boy Can Be Good for A Girl, by Tanya Lee Stone

• Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit

Looking for Alaska, by John Green

• Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky

• Reasons: drugs/alcohol/smoking, homosexuality, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

Bless Me Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya

• Reasons: Occult/Satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit

Bone (series), by Jeff Smith

• Reasons: Political viewpoint, racism, violence

According to the ALA, “Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community –- librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types –- in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.”

For more information on getting involved with Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read, please see Ideas and Resources,Calendar of Events, and the new Banned Books Week site.

Photo: BannedBooksWeek.org