Banned Book Week 2010

Yes, friends, it is that time of year again when we remember how precious freedom of speech and press (and publishing) really is- and how precarious it can be.

And what have we to be banned in the past year? Here is the list of most banned/challenged books of 2009 (Link):

ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: nudity, sexually explicit, offensive language, drugs, and unsuited to age group

And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
Reasons: homosexuality

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: drugs, homosexuality, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, suicide, and unsuited to age group

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Reasons: racism, offensive language, unsuited to age group

Twilight (series), by Stephanie Meyer
Reasons: sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group

Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
Reasons: sexaully explicit, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group

My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult
Reasons: sexism, homosexuality, sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group, drugs, suicide, violence

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler
Reasons: sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group

The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
Reasons: sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group

The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
Reasons: nudity, sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group

And let us not forget some that have been banned in the past, (as seen on Yahoo!) such as:

• Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary
• American Heritage Dictionary (1969)
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin. The Texas Board of Education banned the book, in January 2010, because it thought the book was written by the same Bill Martin who penned the non-children's book Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation

And, taking the cake of irony:

• Fahrenheit 451 - The classic book about book burning. It was still on the Top 100 at #69 for the 2000-2009 decade.