Controversial Books

Every year school libraries across America are asked to remove books from their shelves. This is called a challenged book. A parent disapproves of the subject matter, and an objection is taken before the school board for removal. If the challenge is accepted, then the book is banned. Today, very few challenge cases are won because of librarians. The list of banned books include popular teen books such as Twilight and The Hunger Games. The list is generated by the Office for Intellectual Freedom from reports of libraries, schools, and media. The office states that only 20% - 25% of the challenged books are reported. For the 2010 list, there were 348 reports of challenged books. The following is a list for 2010.

1. "And Tango Makes Three" by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson Reasons: Homosexuality, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group
2. "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: Offensive language, Racism, Sex Education, Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group, Violence
3. "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
Reasons: Insensitivity, Offensive Language, Racism, Sexually Explicit
4. "Crank" by Ellen Hopkins
Reasons: Drugs, Offensive Language, Sexually Explicit
5. "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group, Violence
6. "Lush" by Natasha Friend
Reasons: Drugs, Offensive Language, Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group
7. "What My Mother Doesn’t Know" by Sonya Sones
Reasons: Sexism, Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group
8. "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America" by Barbara Ehrenreich
Reasons: Drugs, Inaccurate, Offensive Language, Political Viewpoint, Religious Viewpoint
9. "Revolutionary Voices" edited by Amy Sonnie
Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit
10. "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer

Reference:'
American Library Association. (2011). "And Tango makes three" waddles its way back to the number one slot as America’s most frequently challenged book ." Retrieved on June 21, 2011 from http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pr.cfm?id=6874.