BANNED BOOKS

Compiled by Agnieszka Rybak

One, who assumes that times when certain books were prohibited from reading are long over, is mistaken.

In the year 1650 the first book was banned in America, things do not differ that much in the literature world aside from the fact that books became available in electronic form. But what books are banned or censored one may and should ask. Banned books are controversial books that are challenged by government, religious organizations and individuals.

In the past, these books were burned and, even, possessing them was seen as an act of betrayal or heresy, which was punished with death, torture, or prison time in some cases.

According to the American Library Association (ALA), in 2006, there were 546 attempts to ban books from the shelves. The attempts were formally written complaints filed in libraries or schools requesting the removal from shelves of certain books because of their claimed inappropriateness. The ALA also reported that so far books were usually challenged or banned based on political, religious, sexual, or social grounds.

The American Library Association reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2008 that out of 513 challenges the 10 most challenged titles were:

• And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

Reasons: anti-ethnic, anti-family, homosexuality, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to any age group

• His Dark Materials a trilogy, by Philip Pullman

Reasons: political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, and violence

• TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R (series), by Lauren Myracle

Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group

• Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz

Reasons: occult/satanism, religious viewpoint, and violence

• Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya

Reasons: occult/satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, and violence

• The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky

Reasons: drugs, homosexuality, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, suicide, and unsuited to age group

• Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar

Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group

• Uncle Bobby's Wedding, by Sarah S. Brannen

Reasons: homosexuality and unsuited to age group

• The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini

Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group

• Flashcards of My Life, by Charise Mericle Harper

Reasons: sexually explicit and unsuited to age group

Although some titles we find today in libraries or in books stores are not considered controversial to you now, that might change soon. Without our intervention they might disappear from shelves forever because as soon as books are banned or challenged, they are not printed anymore and “magically” removed from shelves.

Therefore, the ALA every year, through its Banned Books Week event, encourages people, both young and adult to grab the banned books and get involved with the issue by staying inform, organizing a Banned Book event or spread the word about affairs. More ideas on how to get involved can be found on www.ala.org.