America’s Most Censored Books
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A book featuring gay penguin fathers is the one most likely to be censored in school libraries.
On Monday, the American Library Association released its annual list of book challenges recorded by ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.
The association noted that 80 percent “of the 2014 Top Ten List of Frequently Challenged Books reflect diverse authors and cultural content.”
The prize-winning autobiographical novel “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie came in at number one for being “anti-family” and having “offensive language” and “sex education.”
The graphic novel “Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi was number two. Political viewpoint was cited as one of the reasons. The picture story “And Tango Makes Three” by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell about two gay penguins received the third-most complaints for having anti-family and homosexual themes.
Other books most likely to be censored included Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye,” Robie Harris’ “It’s Perfectly Normal,” Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner,” and Jaycee Dugard’s “A Stolen Life.”
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Khary A April 13th, 2015 at 4:04 pm
Persepolis that book/movie was awesome, funny and smartly written. Marjane Satrapi, hell of a writer.
fahvel April 14th, 2015 at 4:33 am
heil!!!!
tracey marie April 14th, 2015 at 6:40 am
It still amazes me how people feel that their interprtation of a book is what should determine whether others should read it
Ronald L April 14th, 2015 at 8:28 pm
I’m a elementary school librarian and I want to add just a little nuance to this discussion.
(and, I should add, not all librarians agree with me.)
For a public elementary school library, there is an issue of age appropriateness. Of course, I would not subscribe to Playboy or put KKK literature on the shelves. But it goes to more subtle decisions.
I have lots of religious books but will not put on any book that proselytizes or attacks one of our children’s religion.
I would collect a book that positively portrays LGBT characters but not a polemic for or against them. This principle applies to many types of people including political, ethnic and religious orientation.
Young children are just not able to process those kinds of books. This is not censorship. If we were a ;public library, I’d put those books in the adult section. But we don’t have an adult section.
CHOCOL8MILK April 14th, 2015 at 8:44 pm
Per the Library of Congress, these are “Banned Books That Shaped America”. They’ve created an exhibit.
http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/censorship/bannedbooksthatshapedamerica