Banned Books Week Coming Up!
Banned Books Week is celebrated during the last week of September by booksellers, librarians, authors, readers, students and other friends of free expression.
Banned Books Week was started in 1982 by the American Library Association, the American Booksellers Association, the Association of American Publishers and the National Association of College Stores to raise awareness of censorship problems in the United States and abroad. For the past 25 years, it has remained the only national celebration of the freedom to read.
Book censorship of all kinds – even book-burning – continues today. Challenges may come from parents, teachers, clergy members, elected officials, or organized groups, and arise due to objections to language, violence, sexual or racial themes, or religious viewpoint, to name just a few. In 2008, the ALA counted 513 challenges. Many other cases go unreported. One high school principle recently tore pages out of a book of poetry! An organization in Fayetteville, Arkansas is trying to ban 55 books - primarily on religious grounds. This one hits close to home for me as I attended vollege at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and lived in that lovely Ozark town for a number of years.
The following is a list of some recent authors and books which have been the subject of banning or attempted banning. This is going on TODAY folks!
Banned Books Week - September 26 - October 3, 2009
Alphabetical by Author
A
Paula by Isabel Allende
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
The Inferno by Dante Alighieri
Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sing by Maya Angelou
B
One More River by Lynne Reid Banks
Am I Blue? Coming Out from the Silence? By Marion Diane Bauer
Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Cultureby Michael A. Bellesiles
Girl Goddess, #9, I Was a Teenage Fairy and Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block
Deenie and Forever by Judy Blume
Doing It by Melvin Burgess
Family Values: Two Moms and Their Son by Phyllis Burke
Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs
C
My Father’s Scar by Michael Cart
The Homo Handbook--Getting in Touch With Your Inner Homo by Judy Carter
Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution by David Carter
Dance on My Grave by Aidan Chambers
Postcards from No Man’s Land by Aidan Chambers
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Ricochet River by Robin Cody
Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
I am the Cheese by Robert Cormier
We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
Skull of Truth by Bruce Coville
Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse
Athletic Shorts and Ironman by Chris Crutcher
Stotan! by Chris Crutcher
Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher
D
Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Dandicat
The Teenage Guy’s Survival Guide by Jeremy Daldry
My Brother Has AIDS by Deborah Davis
Lost Prophet: The Life of Bayard Rustin by John D'emilio
Between Lovers, Cheaters and The Other Woman by Eric Jerome Dickey
Deal With It! by Esther Drill
Daughters of Eve by Lois Duncan
E
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
F
Eight Seconds by Jean Ferris
The Sissy Duckling by Harvey Fierstein
Life is Funny by E.R. Frank
The Trouble With Babies by Martha Freeman
My Heartbeat by Garret Freymann-Weyr
G
Good Moon Rising and Holly’s Secret by Nancy Garden
Grendel by John Gardener
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
The Drowning of Stephan Jones by Bette Greene
H
King & King by Lindade Haan and Stern Nijland
Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Hunphrey by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
Hey, Dollface by Deborah Hautzig
The Misfits by James Howe
GLBTQ: The Survival Guide for Queer and Questioning Teens by Kelly Huegel
J
How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale by Jenna Jameson
Breaking Boxes by A.M. Jenkins
K
Pinkerton, Behave! by Steven Kellogg
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
L
What I Know Now by Rodger Larson
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
One Fat Summer by Robert Lipsyte
Anastasia Again by Lois Lowry
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Extreme Elvin by Chris Lynch
M
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich
Gays/justice: A Study of Ethics, Society, and Law by Richard D. Mohr
Beloved, The Bluest Eye, and Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
N
The Alice Series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
P
Choke by Chuck Palanuik
Mick Harte was Here by Barbara Park
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Captain Underpants by Dav Pilky
Hot Zone by Richard Preston
R
On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God by Louise Rennison
Coming Out in College: The Struggle for a Queer Identity by Robert A. Rhoads
Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers
Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A. by Luis J. Rodriguez
Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
S
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Rainbow Boys and Rainbow High by Alex Sanchez
Push! by Sapphire
Shadow Club by Neil Shusterman
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
America (The Book) by Jon Stewart
Double Date by R.L. Stine
Sophie's Choice by William Styron
T
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
V
My Two Uncles by Judith Vigna
W
Peter by Kate Walker
Montana 1948 by Larry Watson
This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff
Black Boy by Richard Wright
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