Banned-Book Week Comes to an End

Sponsored by the American Library Association, Banned Book Week was created to shed light on the importance of non-censorship in today's literature. So many titles have been banned throughout the years due to varying subject matter, but here are a list of titles that were the most challenged in 2008:

The "Top Ten Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2008" reflect a range of themes, and consist of the following titles:

1. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter ParnellReasons: anti-ethnic, anti-family, homosexuality, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to age group


2. His Dark Materials trilogy, by Philip Pullman. Reasons: political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, and violence


3. TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R (series), by Lauren Myracle. Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group


4. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz. Reasons: occult/satanism, religious viewpoint, and violence


5. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya. Reasons: occult/satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, and violence


6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky. Reasons: drugs, homosexuality, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, suicide, and unsuited to age group


7. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar. Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group


8. Uncle Bobby's Wedding, by Sarah S. Brannen. Reasons: homosexuality and unsuited to age group


9. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group


10. Flashcards of My Life, by Charise Mericle Harper. Reasons: sexually explicit and unsuited to age group

I'm surprised that Bless Me Ultima is still on the list, but not at all shocked about TTYL. Explicit sexual discussion are throughout that novel, and thank the good Lord that I perused it in Barnes and Noble before adding to my 8th grade shelves! Look at the cover of the book and you tell me if you would think it was full of raunchiness! You definitely CAN NOT judge teen novels by their covers! I understand that censorship is against constitutional rights...yada, yada, yada, but when you are a MINOR, I truly believe that parents should have some sort of say in what their children are reading. Granted, most teen books are not G-rated, but as a teacher and parent, I refuse to put material on my shelves that I would cause me to blush while reading!