Columbia College Chicago
Library

October 3, 2012

Banned Books Week: Top 10 Challenged Books in 2011





Of the 326 titles challenged in 2011, the following books were in the Top 10 as reported by the American Library Association's Office of Intellectual Freedom:

  1. ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
    Reasons: offensive language; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
  2. The Color of Earth (series), by Kim Dong Hwa
    Reasons: nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
  3. The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins
    Reasons: anti-ethnic; anti-family; insensitivity; offensive language; occult/satanic; violence
  4. My Mom's Having A Baby! A Kid's Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy, by Dori Hillestad Butler
    Reasons: nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
  5. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
    Reasons: offensive language; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
  6. Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
    Reasons: nudity; offensive language; religious viewpoint
  7. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
    Reasons: insensitivity; nudity; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit
  8.  What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones
    Reasons: nudity; offensive language; sexually explicit
  9. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily Von Ziegesar
    Reasons: drugs; offensive language; sexually explicit 
  10. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
    Reasons: offensive language; racism
Want to know about more other books which have been subjected to challenges such as the Harry Potter series, Catcher in the Rye, or The Color Purple?   Find the most challenged books in the 21st Century here

For more specific information about book challenges since 2004-2005 (i.e. the who, what, when, where and whys), see the Yearly Lists of Challenged and/or Banned Books here (bottom of page). 

No comments: