Banned Books
According to the Office of Intellectual Freedom at least one book challenge is received every day, totally over 400 challenges each year. Challenges to books were up by 12% in 2008, compared to only a year earlier. It is rare for a book to actually be withdrawn from circulation, but it is estimated that approximately 85% of challenges to library materials go unreported. Many of the books that are considered inappropriate or offensive by some people are highly praised by others and may even have won a variety of awards. Many award winners are included in the list below.
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Sherman Alexie The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian Banned in a Missouri school district (2010) because of violence, language, and some sexual content. Retained in a Montana school district (2011) despite a parent’s objection that the book contained “obscene, vulgar and pornographic language.”
Awards: 2007 National Book Award, School Library Journal’s Best Books of 2007
Laurie Halse Anderson Speak
Banned from an eighth grade class in Arizona due to profanity and rape theme.
Awards: Michael L. Printz Honor Book, National Book Award Finalist, School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
Laurie Halse Anderson Twisted
Withdrawn from classroom use and the approved curriculum in a Kentucky high school (2009), but retained in the high school library and student book club based on complaints from parents that it contains foul language and cover topics, and that it was “inappropriate for coed discussion.”
Awards: ALA Best Book for Young Adults 2008
Julia Baskin, Lindsey Newman, Sophie Pollitt-Cohen, and Courtney Toombs
Reclassified from the young adult section to the adult nonfiction section at the Waukee, Iowa Public Library (2011) because of a complaint citing “foul language” and “cussing.”
Francesca Lia Block Baby Be-Bop Challenged for claims stating that specific words used in the book are derogatory and slanderous to all males.
Awards: ALA Best Books for Young Adults, Publisher’s Weekly Best Books of 1995
P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast Betrayed
Challenged in an Alaska school district’s high school library (2011) because, “It simply causes kids to think even more of things sexual.”
Stephen Chbosky The Perks of Being a Wallflower Challenged for sexual content, anti-family, and offensive language. One of the 10 most challenged books in 2009.
Awards: YALSA popular books for Young Adults
Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games
Challenged and presented to the Goffstown, N.H. school board (2010) by a parent claiming that it gave her 11-year-old nightmares and could numb other students to the effects of violence.
Awards: Publisher’s Weekly Best Books of the Year, 2008; New York Times Notable Children’s Book, 2008; Cybil Award for Fantasy and Science Fiction, 2008; School Journal’s Best Book, 2008; Booklist Editor’s Choice, 2008; California Young Reader Medal 2011
Caroline Cooney The Face on the Milk Carton Challenged for sexual content and challenge to authority.
Awards: International Reading Association’s Children’s Choices
Robert Cormier The Chocolate War
Cited for violence, language and sexual content. One of the 10 most challenged books in 2009.
Awards: Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, Margaret A. Edwards Award, Best of the Best Books for Young Adults
Robert Cormier I am the Cheese
Banned in several schools in Florida due to offensive language
Awards: Best of the Best Books for Young Adults
Chris Crutcher Athletic Shorts: Six Short Stories
Challenged for dealing with divorce, violence, AIDS and homosexuality
Awards: Best Books for Young Adults, Margaret A. Edwards Award, 100 All-Star Choices for Teens
Chris Crutcher Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes
A Wisconsin school board (2011) decided to keep the book as required reading for school freshman despite a parent’s complaint that the book was “pornography” and its language was “pervasively vulgar.”
Awards: Recognized by ALA as one of The Best Books for Young Adults, one of 50 books on YALSA’s Ultimate Teen Bookshelf
Removed from a Michigan summer reading program (2010) after parents complained about its “foul language.”
Awards: Joint winner of the 2004 Boeke Prize and winner of the 2003 Whitbread Book of the Year Award
Kevin Henkes Olive’s Ocean
Challenged for sexual content, and offensive language
Awards: Newberry Honor Book, ALA Best Book for Young Adults, ALA Booklist Editor’s Choice
Harper Lee To Kill a Mockingbird
Challenged due to racial themes and conflicting with community values. One of the 10 most challenged books in 2009.
Awards: Pulitzer Prize
Peg Kehret Stolen Children
Challenged but retained at a Pennsylvania school district (2011) despite a parental concern that the book was “too violent.”
Carolyn Mackler The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things
Challenged for sexual content, offensive language. One of the 10 most challenged books in 2009.
Awards: Amelia Bloomer List, Best Books for Young Adults
Carolyn Mackler Vegan Virgin Valentine
Challenged at an Texas junior high school(2011) by a parent who described one scene as “on the verge of pornography.”
Stephanie Myer Twilight (series)
Challenged for sexual content, religious viewpoint. One of the 10 most challenged books in 2009.
Awards: Best Books for Young Adults, Garden State Teen Book Awards, Georgia Peach Book Award
Walter Dean Myers Fallen Angels
Cited for racism, language and violence
Awards: Coretta Scott King Award, Margaret A. Edwards Award, School Library Journal Best Book
LaurenMyracle ttyl Retained in a Connecticut middle school library (2010). While some critics decry its style as “grammatically incorrect,” most who take exception point to its “foul language,” sexual content, and questionable sexual behavior.
Sarah Ockler Twenty Boy Summer
Challenged a Missouri school district (2010) because it is “soft-pornography” and “glorifies drinking, cursing, and premarital sex.”
Awards: YALSA Teens’ Top 10 Nominee, IndieNext Kids List pick, New Atlantic Booksellers Association Book Award early Nominee
Jodi Picoult My Sister’s Keeper
Challenged for sexual content, offensive language, and religious viewpoints. One of the 10 most challenged books in 2009.
Awards: Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Books Award, Alex Award
Carol Plum-Ucci The Body of Christopher Creed
Challenged but retrained in a Wisconsin school district ninth-grade curriculum (2010) despite concerns about its age
appropriateness.
Awards: Printz Honor, 2001; Edgar Award for Young Adults Nominee, 2001; YALSA Best Books for Young Adults Honoree, 2001;
Children’s Choice List Reader’s International Honoree, 2001; and numerous individual state awards, 1999 - 2005
Philip Pullman His Dark Materials Series
Challenged for religious viewpoint.
Awards: ALA Best Books for Young Adults, Carnegie Metal
J.K. Rowling Harry Potter Series
Challenged due to focus on wizardry and magic
Awards: National Book Award (England), Smarties Prize
Sapphire Push Challenged on an extracurricular reading list in a South Carolina school library (2011).
Awards: This novel was made into a critically acclaimed movie, Precious, in 2009 which received six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, for the 82nd Academy Awards and Sundance Film Festival praise.
Neal Shusterman Unwind
Withdrawn from classroom use and the approved curriculum due to foul language and cover topics.
Awards: Winner of the 2010 New Jersey Garden State Children’s Book Award Nominee
Shel Silverstein A Light in the Attic
Challenged as being too dreary and negative and encouraging children to be disobedient.
Awards: ALA Notable Children’s Book, School Library Journal Best Book, Library of Congress Children’s Book Award
John Steinbeck Of Mice and Men
Challenged racism, offensive language and violence
Awards: Best of the Century (Writer’s Digest poll), author won Nobel Prize for Literature for his works, Best Play New York Drama Critics Circle Award
Mark Twain The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Challenged as racist and for using racially offensive terminology
Awards: Parents’ Choice Silver Award for audio version
Alice Walker The Color Purple
Challenged for sexual and social explicitness, and race relations. One of the 10 most challenged books in 2009.
Awards: Pulitzer Prize
Malcolm X and Alex Haley Autobiography of Malcolm X
Challenged for presenting a racist view of white people
Awards: Anifield-Wolf Award for best books concerned with racial problems in the field of creative literature, Still Alive: Best of the Best Books for Young Adults
Paul Zindel The Pigman
Challenged for containing profanity and subject matter that sets bad examples for students.
Awards: Margaret A. Edwards Award
Compiled by Christine Fitzgerald, September 2011
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