National Banned Books Week

Stolen heavily from APL's Elissa Kane:

The Albany Public Library invites you to join us in celebrating National Banned Books Week, next week, the only national celebration of the freedom to read.

Launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries, more than a thousand books have been challenged since 1982. People challenge books that they say are too sexual or too violent. They object to profanity and slang, and protest against offensive portrayals of racial or religious groups - or positive portrayals of gays and lesbians.

According to the American Library Association, more than 400 books were challenged in 2007. The 10 most challenged titles were:

1. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell - Children's picture book - Two male penguins at the Central Park Zoo fall in love and start a family by taking turns sitting on an abandoned egg until it hatches.

2. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier - Young Adult fiction - A high-school freshman who refuses to participate in the annual fund-raising chocolate sale is forced to defend his convictions.

3. Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes - Young Adult fiction - On a summer visit to her grandmother's cottage by the ocean, twelve-year-old Martha gains perspective on the death of a classmate, on her relationship with her grandmother, on her feelings for an older boy, and on her plans to be a writer.

4. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman - Young Adult fiction - Accompanied by her daemon, Lyra Belacqua sets out to prevent her best friend and other kidnapped children from becoming the subject of gruesome experiments in the Far North.

5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain - Young Adult fiction - A nineteenth-century boy, floating down the Mississippi on a raft with a runaway slave, becomes involved with a feuding family, two scoundrels pretending to be royalty, and Tom Sawyer's aunt, who mistakes him for Tom.

6. The Color Purple by Alice Walker - Adult Fiction - The lives of two sisters--Nettie, a missionary in Africa, and Celie, a southern woman married to a man she hates--are revealed in a series of letters exchanged over thirty years

7. TTYL by Lauren Myracle - Young Adult fiction - Chronicles, in "instant message" format, the day-to-day experiences, feelings, and plans of three friends, Zoe, Maddie, and Angela, as they begin tenth grade.

8. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou - Adult memoir - The poet recalls the anguish of her childhood in Arkansas and her adolescence in northern slums.

9. It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris - Young Adult non-fiction - Providing accurate, lucid, unbiased answers to nearly every conceivable question children may have about sexuality, It's Perfectly Normal is here to help.

10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky - Young Adult fiction - A series of letters to an unknown correspondent reveals the coming-of-age trials of a high-schooler named Charlie.

I'm so proud that they're all available right here at the Albany Public Library!!!

APL has great Banned Books displays with many titles pulled together for your easy perusal.