The Book Rack
Novel Ideas
October 2014 Newsletter
 
Did You Know?
Each year, the American Library Associations's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) gathers reports from libraries, schools and media from across the country on complaints/challenges about certain books. Instead of trying to share the list of banned books so readers will avoid them, the OIF publicizes the list in an attempt to end censorship and ensure free access to information.
The Lure of the Forbidden

Ahh there's something enticing about the forbidden.  

 

Ever have someone tell you 'no, you can't do that or have that?' Does it make you want it more?  Consider this - would Juliet have been as alluring if she had a different last name? And would that rascally pigeon want to drive the bus or stay up late if Mo Willems said he couldn't? 

 

For as long as books have been written, there have been groups challenging their content. Most reasons are due to religious viewpoints, sexual content, violence or age inappropriateness. In 2013, the OIF received 307 complaints (with the Captain Underpants series receiving the most the last two years) about books available in public libraries and bookstores or assigned in classrooms.  

 

Now if something being banned just fuels your desire to find out what is so dangerous or elicit, check out this list of books that have been challenged over the last 25 years: 

  • The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (the most frequently challenged book) 
  • Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
  • The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
  • Looking for Alaska by John Green
  • The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
  • Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
  • The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
  • To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  • Twilight (series) by Stephenie Meyer
  • The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
  • My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
  • The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things by Carolyn Mackler
  • The Color Purple by Alice Walker
  • The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
  • The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
  • Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
  • Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
  • Harry Potter (series) by J.K. Rowling
  • The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
  • Forever by Judy Blume

  • The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

  • The Giver by Lois Lowry
  • Bridge To Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
  • Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
  • A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

  • The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

  • The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

  • The Pigman by Paul Zindel

  • Deenie by Judy Blume

  • Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

For more books that have been placed on the 'naughty list' and the reasons why, visit the American Library Association website. 

 

What's Happening This Month?
October 6 -  ALA Founded in 1876. The American Library Association was founded to celebrate free speech (or free write) and defend the freedom to read.

October 12-18 - Teen Read Week. Libraries throughout the nation will be focuses on adolescent literacy this week with a theme of Turn Dreams into Reality.

October 13 - Columbus Day. Consider spending your day off at the movies with the adaptions of Mazerunner, This is Where I Leave You, If I Stay, A Walk Among the Tombstones, Gone Girl and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day which may all still be in theaters.

October 31 - Halloween. After you trick or treat, make sure you curl up with some chocolate and a scary book to get the hair tingling on the back of your neck. Consider The Exorcist (William Peter Blatty), Ghost Story (Peter Straub), American Psycho (Bret Easton Ellis), Dracula (Bram Stoker). You may be banning these from your nightstand after a few sleepless nights!  

If You Liked...

If you would like to expand your reading list to include some of the most challenged authors, here are lists from the last few years (duplicates were deleted):  

 

2012: Dav Pilkey, Sherman Alexie, Jay Asher, E.L. James, Ellen Hopkins, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Patricia Polacco, John Green, Luis Alberto Urrea, Alvin Schwartz, Dagberto Glib

 

2011: Lauren Myracle, Kim Dong Hwa, Chris Crutcher, Carolyn Mackler, Robert Greene, Sonya Sones, Dori Hillestead Butler, Sherman Alexie, Suzanne Collins, Aldous Huxley, Harper Lee, Eric Jerome Dickey, Cecily von Ziegesar

 

2010: Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, Judy Blume, Ann Brasheres,  Laurie Halse Anderson, Natasha Friend

 

2009: Alex Sanchez, P.C. Cast, Robert Cormier, Stephen Chbosky, Richelle Mead, John Steinbeck

 

2008: Philip Pullman, Jim Pipe, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Rudolfo Anaya 

 

2007: Robert Cormier, Mark Twain, Toni Morrison, Kevin Henkes, Lois Lowry,  Joann Sfar

 

Click here to find authors dating back through 2001.

 

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