For the third consecutive year, the children's book And Tango Makes Three - about two boy penguins who care for an orphaned egg, so I guess you could also call it Tango Has Two Daddies if you were so inclined - tops the American Library Association's list of most frequently challenged books of 2008.
The top 10 and the reasons for people wanting to ban them, according to the ALA, are:
1. "And Tango Makes Three," by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
Reasons: Anti-Ethnic, Anti-Family, Homosexuality, Religious Viewpoint,
Unsuited to Age Group
2. "His Dark Materials Trilogy" (Series), Philip Pullman
Reasons: Political Viewpoint, Religious Viewpoint, Violence
3. "TTYL"; "TTFN"; "L8R, G8R" (Series), Lauren Myracle
Reasons: Offensive Language, Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group
4. "Scary Stories" (Series), Alvin Schwartz
Reasons: Occult/Satanism, Religious Viewpoint, Violence 5. "Bless Me, Ultima," by Rudolfo Anaya
Reasons: Occult/Satanism, Offensive Language, Religious Viewpoint, Sexually
Explicit, Violence
6. "The Perks of Being A Wallflower," by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: Drugs, Homosexuality, Nudity, Offensive Language, Sexually
Explicit, Suicide, Unsuited to Age Group
7. "Gossip Girl" (Series), by Cecily von Ziegesar
Reasons: Offensive Language, Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group
8. "Uncle Bobby's Wedding," by Sarah S. Brannen
Reasons: Homosexuality, Unsuited to Age Group
9. "The Kite Runner," by Khaled Hosseini
Reasons: Offensive Language, Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group
10. "Flashcards of My Life," by Charise Mericle Harper
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Unsuited to Age Group
Off the list this year are Robert Cormier's The Chocolate War (I loved that book back in the day, though not as much as I loved Cormier's I Am the Cheese, which completely freaked me out); perennial favorite Huckleberry Finn; Maya Angelou's I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings; Alice's Walker's The Color Purple. Read more about the ALA list here.
What about the Bible? It's got Violence, Religious Viewpoint, Homesexuality, Political Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group and Nudity, just to name a handful.
Posted by: Howard Cohen | April 16, 2009 at 05:00 PM
Anyone who suggests banning ANY of those books should have their thumbs cut off because they have obviously not evolved to the level of "primate."...That having been said, why isn't Origin of the Species on that list?
Posted by: patrick | April 20, 2009 at 02:23 PM