Part two of Challenged Books: A definition and a list of 20 most challenged books

Q: What is a book challenge?
A: According to Media & Culture: Mass Communication in a Digital Age, It's a formal request made by an individual or group to have a book removed from a school or public library.  Here are the Top
20 Banned Books
1.The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger
3.The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
4.To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
6.Ulysses by James Joyce
7.Beloved by Toni Morrison
8.The Lord of the Flies William Golding
9.1984 by George Orwell
10.The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
11.Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
12.Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
13.Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
14.A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
15.Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
16.Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
17.Animal Farm by George Orwell
18.The Sun Also rises by Ernest Hemingway
19.As I lay dying by William Faulkner
20.A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

Top ten frequently challenged books of 2015

1. Looking for Alaska, by John Green Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group.
2. Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James
   Reasons: Sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and other (“poorly written,” “concerns that a group of teenagers will want to try it”).
3. I Am Jazz, by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings
   Reasons: Inaccurate, homosexuality, sex education, religious viewpoint, and unsuited for age group.
4. Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out, by Susan Kuklin
   Reasons: Anti-family, offensive language, homosexuality, sex education, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group, and other (“wants to remove from collection to ward off complaints”).
5. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon
   Reasons: Offensive language, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group, and other (“profanity and atheism”).
6. The Holy Bible
   Reasons: Religious viewpoint.
7. Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel
   Reasons: Violence and other (“graphic images”).
8. Habibi, by Craig Thompson
   Reasons: Nudity, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group.
9. Nasreen’s Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan, by Jeanette Winter
   Reasons: Religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group, and violence.
10. Two Boys Kissing, by David Levithan
    Reasons: Homosexuality and other (“condones public displays of affection”).

It's getting close to that time of year again . Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read .I think it's important to not take these books off the library shelf because we don't agree with the views expressed in them.  As a former preschool teacher and current parent, I feel that we should be able to let the books remain and just disagree without the censorship per se. I personally don't want me kids to exist in a bubble and not have the crtical thinking skills to disagree. By censoring books you are depriving them of the opportunity to do just that.


  As a writer I cherish freedom of speech as my first amendment right as a American citizen so I don't think censorship is the answer.  Next week I will post the criteria that usually gets a book challenged. Until then enjoy your week!