Mapping Censorship

In our ongoing coverage of Banned Books Week, we've highlighted challenged classics, shared last year's most frequently challenged books, and invited you to support intellectual freedom by taking part a virtual read-out.  Now it's time to take a look at censorship across America in a map showing bans & challenges nationwide from 2007-2011. 

The map shows that public debate about the appropriateness of books is as vigorous as ever, even here in the Mastics-Moriches-Shirley community.  Included on this nationwide map is a listing for William Floyd Middle School, where Lauren Myracle's TTYL was challenged in 2007.  This book, written in the form of instant messenger conversations, tells the story of three teenage girls as they begin 10th grade, and is controversial for its poor grammar, foul language, and sexual content.  Have you or your child read this book?  What do you think?

2010's Top 10 Most Often Challenged Books

Continuing our coverage of Banned Books Week... We've all heard about banned/challenged classics like The Catcher in the Rye, but are there still books that ignite controversy?  Apparently so.  Here are the top ten most challenged books of 2010.  Unsurprisingly, the books that inspire the greatest debate are for youth; of this list, one is a children's picture book and the rest are written for a teen readership.  Eight of the ten books are fiction; two are nonfiction.

1) And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
2) The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
3) Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
4) Crank, by Ellen Hopkins
5) The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
6) Lush, by Natasha Friend
7) What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones
8) Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich
9) Revolutionary Voices, edited by Amy Sonnie
10) Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer

Have you read any of these books?  What do you think?

Read Banned Books!

Banned Books Week (Sept 24 - Oct 1) is an annual celebration of the First Amendment and people's freedom to read.  Many works now considered classic literature were once banned from libraries across the country due to what some people deemed to be offensive content.  Why not judge for yourself?  Banned classics include:

1. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
4. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker

... and many others.  In fact, nearly half of Radcliffe's Rival/Modern Library's Top 100 Novels appear on the list of banned and challenged books.  Banned Books Week starts today; happy reading!