that in this third millenium that we still have need for something like the amercian library association`s banned books week
looking through the list 100 most frequently challenged books of 1990 – 2000, i get a strange sense of doom. some of the books on the list, i grew up with and actively encourage my children to read.
random sampling from the list:
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
what the fuck is going on?
according to the ala website:
“Between 1990 and 2000, of the 6,364 challenges reported to or recorded by the Office for Intellectual Freedom (see The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books):
1,607 were challenges to sexually explicit material (up 161 since 1999);
1,427 to material considered to use offensive language; (up 165 since 1999)
1,256 to material considered unsuited to age group; (up 89 since 1999)
842 to material with an occult theme or promoting the occult or Satanism,; (up 69 since 1999)
737 to material considered to be violent; (up 107 since 1999)
515 to material with a homosexual theme or promoting homosexuality, (up 18 since 1999) and
419 to material promoting a religious viewpoint. (up 22 since 1999)
Other reasons for challenges included nudity (317 challenges, up 20 since 1999), racism (267 challenges, up 22 since 1999), sex education (224 challenges, up 7 since 1999), and anti-family (202 challenges, up 9 since 1999).
Please note that the number of challenges and the number of reasons for those challenges do not match, because works are often challenged on more than one ground.
Seventy-one percent of the challenges were to material in schools or school libraries.2 Another twenty-four percent were to material in public libraries (down two percent since 1999). Sixty percent of the challenges were brought by parents, fifteen percent by patrons, and nine percent by administrators, both down one percent since 1999).”
am i going to have to start secreting books for my children to read?
it`s too nice a day for me to get this worked up.
Technorati Tags:
banned books week, american library association
