The Most Banned and Challenged Books of 2014

This came from the LA Times. Sometimes it’s good to be controversial, or at least different.

A memoir by a sexual assault survivor, a science fiction comic book and a children’s book about gay penguins were among the 10 most frequently banned or challenged books in the United States last year, according to the American Library Assn. (ALA).

The ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom today released its annual “Top Ten List of Frequently Challenged Books,” based on over 300 reports of community members attempting to have literature removed from libraries and school curricula. The organization notes that “attempts to remove books by authors of color and books with themes about issues concerning communities of color are disproportionately challenged and banned.”

Four of the books on the list are by writers of color: “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, “Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi, “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison and “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini.

Seven of the 10 books were challenged because they were “sexually explicit.” Among those books are two that deal with child sexual assault: Morrison’s novel “The Bluest Eye” and “A Stolen Life,” a memoir by Jaycee Dugard, who was kidnapped, raped and held prisoner for 18 years by a Mendocino couple.

“Homosexuality” is listed as the reason two of the books were banned or challenged: Stephen Chbosky’s perenially controversial “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” as well as “And Tango Makes Three,” Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell’s children’s book about two male penguins who form a relationship and raise a chick together. The book is based on a true story.

Read more here: The most banned and challenged books of 2014 – LA Times

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