In our enlightened world, people are still trying to ban books. The American Library Association (ALA) has just released its list of the 10 books which Americans tried hardest to ban in 2010.
- "And Tango Makes Three
" by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
Reasons: Homosexuality, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group - "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
" by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: Offensive language, Racism, Sex Education, Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group, Violence - "Brave New World
" by Aldous Huxley
Reasons: Insensitivity, Offensive Language, Racism, Sexually Explicit - "Crank
" by Ellen Hopkins
Reasons: Drugs, Offensive Language, Sexually Explicit
Note: Crank is available for the Kindle - "The Hunger Games
" by Suzanne Collins
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group, Violence
Note: The Hunger Games is also available for the Kindle - "Lush
" by Natasha Friend
Reasons: Drugs, Offensive Language, Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group
Note: Lush (Kindle version) - "What My Mother Doesn’t Know
" by Sonya Sones
Reasons: Sexism, Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group
Note: What My Mother Doesn’t Know (Kindle version) - "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
" by Barbara Ehrenreich
Reasons: Drugs, Inaccurate, Offensive Language, Political Viewpoint, Religious Viewpoint
Note: Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America (Kindle Version) - "Revolutionary Voices
" edited by Amy Sonnie
Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit - "Twilight
" by Stephenie Meyer
Reasons: Religious Viewpoint, Violence
Note: Twilight (Kindle version)
Do you agree or disagree? What books would you ban?
The State of America’s Libraries Report documents trends in library usage and details the impact of library budget cuts, technology use and the various other challenges facing U.S. libraries. The full report is available at http://tinyurl.com/alasalr2011. [Source, American Library Association]
Sources:
DayRiffer, Cowardly New World
Guardian, Brave New World among top 10 books Americans most want banned
American Library Assciation, "And Tango Makes Three" waddles its way back to the number one slot as America’s most frequently challenged book
While I may not like Twilight, the only reason I’d wish to ban it is so maybe those fans who read the books and nothing else would realize there is a whole world of other great books out there that are just as good if not better than Twilight.
Michael wins the Internet. I’m sure that reading ONLY Harry Potter or ONLY Twilight is better than not reading at all, but there is sooo much more out there.