"Captain Underpants" series Makes Banned Books Week List

”Captain Underpants” and “Fifty Shades of Grey” made the list.

The “Captain Underpants” series by Dav Pilkey and “Fifty Shades of Grey” by E.L. James were two of the most challenged titles last year, according to the American Library Association. The association released their list of the 10 most challenged books for Banned Books Week, typically held the last week of September.

Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to read, and it highlights the value of free and open access to information.

The annual event brings together 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, according to the association.

Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than 11,300 books have been challenged since 1982 according to the American Library Association. There were 307 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2013, and many more go unreported.

The 10 most challenged titles of 2013 were:

1. Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey
   Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited for age group, violence
2. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
   Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, violence
3. 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
4. Fifty Shades of Grey, by E.L. James
   Reasons: Nudity, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
5. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
   Reasons: Religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group
6. A Bad Boy Can Be Good for A Girl, by Tanya Lee Stone
   Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit
7. Looking for Alaska, by John Green
   Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
   Reasons: drugs/alcohol/smoking, homosexuality, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
9. Bless Me Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
   Reasons: Occult/Satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit
10. Bone (series), by Jeff Smith
    Reasons: Political viewpoint, racism, violence

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.

Click here for hours, location and more info at the Reading Public Library.

On the American Library Assocaition’s website, Pilkey explains in a video how a person can express concern about a book without undermining the freedom to read of those around by making a simple change.