The ALA's 2011 List of Challenged Books

CO301D Final Project: Banned and Challenged Books

Here we go, the official ALA Top Ten List of Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2011 (for those too lazy to watch the awesome video I made):


1) ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
Offensive language; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group


2) The Color of Earth (series), by Kim Dong Hwa
Nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group


3) The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins
Anti-ethnic; anti-family; insensitivity; offensive language; occult/satanic; violence


4) My Mom’s Having A Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy, by Dori Hillestad Butler
Nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group


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


6) Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Nudity; offensive language; religious viewpoint


7) Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Insensitivity; nudity; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit


8) What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
Nudity; offensive language; sexually explicit


9) Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily Von Ziegesar
Drugs; offensive language; sexually explicit


10) To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Offensive language; racism



Adolescent literature is a complicated matter, though at any age there are challenged books. Societal members, especially parents, approach the ALA (American Library Association) with the intention of banning a book because they deem it “unfit.” These books are challenged for a variety of reasons but the top four are; the book was sexually explicit, there was offensive language, religious viewpoints, and finally “unsuited to age group.” Are these books truly “unsuited” for the age groups? Should they be banned? And finally, why is it so important?

I grew up in a largely religious (mostly Christian), white, middle class area. There were many times that I hated it. Most of the time actually. Aside from skiing, I had one release, one escape. And that was to read. I grew up reading. My parents read to me from the day I was born and continued. When I learned to read myself, there was no stopping me. I took the books once read to me and then read them for myself, finding new stories inside. Reading has always been a part of who I am.

So what does my love of reading have to do with a college class's final project? Well, I always read whatever I wanted to. My parents didn't hold me back. I was reading high school leveled reading in early middle school. Clearly, I forced my parents to have the sex talk earlier than they had intended. My parents always challenged me to find my own beliefs, my own ideas. In reading it was no different. Harry Potter? No problem. Wicked? Sure, why not. I never heard of a challenged book. I didn't think it was possible, after all, there is free speech? Right? Right?

My first encounter with a former banned book, frequently "challenged" book was Catcher in the Rye, an interesting book for sure. After reading it, however, I didn't understand why it had been banned. I'd read worse literature before, books that hadn't even been challenged that I knew of. I didn't even realize that Twilight, yes, Twilight had been on the 2010 list of challenged books as being sexually explicit.

To me, the act of challenging a book, trying to ban it in classrooms, libraries, communities, is sacrilege. Might as well just burn them. No really, please don't. So let's start from the top. What is a banned book? A banned book "is one that has been censored by an authority—a government, a library, or a school system. A book that has been banned is actually removed from a library or school system," (infoplease). The American Library Association has thousands of applications to challenge a book a year.

Censorship is a huge debate, here in the United States, ranging from Television to school newspapers. While Free Speech truly is a thing here, we also have to give it to idiots who want to ban books. So you can see my opinions on it, and if not here's a snapshot —I think it's nuts. But what are some other opinions?

"Censorship indeed takes away someone's access to information, but as long as the side that's left is the side that's good, then it should definitely be enacted, even if only to prevent children from getting at evil books like The Catcher in The Rye, and LaVey's Satanic Bible. Censorship limits thought, but if you take that stance, then prosecuting criminals limits their freedoms. Censorship should be used as a proactive criminal justice system, taking the ideas of Naked Lunch and others like it out of people's heads for good." Or how about "There are many, many things that the world would be better off if they could be banned. Islam, for a start, and all other religions that damn people to hell (like Christianity). Liberal propaganda. Texts defending the right to sodomy or trying to normalise it. Attacks on the family. Anti-christian materials. Pornography. Occultism. Darwinism, and other pseudosciences that destroy God. I would be happy to see all of those banned. However, there is no earthly authority that I would trust to write or to enforce the list of banned materials - there is too much potential for corruption, and without such an authority there is no option but to allow everything. This is why the first ammendment exists - of course the founders knew there were many things that should be banned, but they also realised that government cannot be trusted to do this. Better to just put up with this cultural pollution and to fight it where possible than to risk creating a position with the power to ban the bible and hoping it's only ever occupied by good people. All we can do as Christians is fight to silence and surpress unholy speech and those who continue to make it on a case-by-case basis, to keep it as quiet as possible." And lastly this one because I can't tell if it's a troll or not..."Alll books should be banned that do not include god." These opinions are courtesy of...Conservapedia...yeah that just happened.

Frankly sometimes I do wonder what it would be like if we actually banned all these books from every school and library. And then I shudder out of my nightmare and begin to read. For my Adolescent Lit class, yes the one I created this blog for, I read a couple of the books on that list. Yes they are challenging (not in the way that it is hard to read, but that the material challenges your thinking), but isn't that what literature is all about? Learning something. Challenging yourself to think in new ways.

I'd like to offer a message to those out there that think that books like these should be challenged (especially those like Harry Potter though it is no longer on the list), I read Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. In its entirety. I am a liberal person. I am Democrat through and through. Yet Atlas Shrugged is not on the challenged book list. Nope, even though it had many of the same elements as those up top there, it is championed as great literature. So I challenge you to read a book that is the complete opposite of what you believe, what you grown up believing, and have discovered to be your own beliefs. You don't have to like it, but you have to read it. I surely do not agree with Ayn Rand, I personally think she's nuts, but I'm not trying to ban her work.

Throughout history there has been a war between those who wish to ban and those who believe in their rights to believe. It is not just Adolescent Literature that has taken a hit. James Joyce, Mary Shelley, Mark Twain, Washington Irving, Darwin, Shakespeare, oh so much Shakespeare, has been banned in the past and present.

So what do you believe. Do you believe in creating a padded world of solid, Christian, family values, or do you believe in reading the cold hard truth of this world? Not every book is a champion among literature. I wholeheartedly hate the Twilight series, but it shouldn't be banned.

Banned Book week is a fairly famous, protest on reading banned books. This year it is to be celebrated September 30th-October6th. I've just heard of it, and I like it. According to the website, bannedbooksweek.org, "This year marks the 30th anniversary of Banned Books Week and the theme is '30 years of Liberating Literature.' Check back frequently to find out more information about Banned Books Week events and this year's Banned Books Virtual Read-Out." 

I end this rant, this raving about the power of books, and leave you with two messages. First, I will take it upon myself as a future teacher of English, that I will not hide my students from the books that are "challenged." And lastly, I leave you with a quote from Kurt Vonnegut, the renowned Science Fiction author;

"All these people talk so eloquently about getting back to good old-fashioned values. Well, as an old poop I can remember back to when we had those old-fashioned values, and I say let's get back to the good old-fashioned First Amendment of the good old-fashioned Constitution of the United States -- and to hell with the censors! Give me knowledge or give me death!"


BIBLIOGRAPHY:


1. "Banned Books Week." Banned Books Week. 1 Aug. 2011. Web. 07 May 2012.              <http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/>.


2. "Debate: Should Certain Books Be Banned from Libraries?" - Conservapedia. 11 Aug. 2011. Web. 08 May 2012. <http://www.conservapedia.com/Debate:_Should_certain_books_be_banned_from_libraries%3F>.


3. "Frequently Challenged Books of the 21st Century." ALA. American Library Association, 2012. Web. 2 May 2012. <http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/21stcenturychallenged>.


4. Infoplease. Infoplease. Web. 09 May 2012. <http://www.infoplease.com/spot/banned-kids-books.html>.


5. Gordon, Mandi. "Censored Quotes About Banning Books{a Must Read for Anyone That Likes Freedom}." Gather.com. Gather, 9 Nov. 2007. Web. 7 May 2012. <http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977172841>.