Ten Most Challenged Books of 2011

| Tasha

ALA has released their list of the top 10 most challenged books in 2011.  There were 326 challenges reported to ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom.  I’m intrigued about the changes in the list this year: no Harry Potter, no Tango Makes Three. 

Here, just in time for the 30th Anniversary of Banned Books Week are the top ten:

   

  1. ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
    Reasons: offensive language; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
  2. The Color of Earth (series), by Kim Dong Hwa
    Reasons: nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
  3. The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins
    Reasons: anti-ethnic; anti-family; insensitivity; offensive language; occult/satanic; violence

  

 

4.  Mom’s Having A Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy, by Dori Hillestad Butler
Reasons: nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

5.  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: offensive language; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

6. Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Reasons: nudity; offensive language; religious viewpoint

   

7.  Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Reasons: insensitivity; nudity; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit

8. What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
Reasons: nudity; offensive language; sexually explicit

9. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily Von Ziegesar
Reasons: drugs; offensive language; sexually explicit

10. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Reasons: offensive language; racism

3 thoughts on “Ten Most Challenged Books of 2011”

  1. I think Harry Potter has just been the target of book banners for so long that they decided to move on to other (easier?) targets. I’m really confused about the reasons listed for The Hunger Games series to be challenged. Granted, I only read the first book, but at what point does it become anti-ethnic and occult/satanic?
    And of COURSE To Kill a Mockingbird is still on the list because all of the people challenging books still haven’t sat down and read it to figure out that only the BAD GUYS are racist. In fact, To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the best books out there for teaching why racism is, in fact, BAD.
    Anyway, thanks for posting the list!

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  2. Some people must stay up all night figuring out what to ban next. Small minds object to great books like To Kill a Mockingbird…one of the greatest books ever written.

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