Top Ten Challenged Books: 2008

Top Ten Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2008 via PLA Blog by Kathleen Hughes on 4/21/09

This year, as in many years past, it's mostly the kids. Congratulations to Kite Runner for representing adults!

The ALA’s Top Ten Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2008 reflect a range of themes, and consist of the following titles:

1. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
Reasons: anti-ethnic, anti-family, homosexuality, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group

2. His Dark Materials trilogy, by Philip Pullman
Reasons: political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, violence3.

3. TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R (series), by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

4. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
Reasons: occult/satanism, religious viewpoint, violence

5. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
Reasons: occult/satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, violence

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

7. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

8. Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, by Sarah S. Brannen
Reasons: homosexuality, unsuited to age group

9. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

10. Flashcards of My Life, by Charise Mericle Harper
Reasons: sexually explicit, unsuited to age group.

Amazon Attempts to Censor "adult" materials

Warning: Language is "ripe" at the link we swiped this from: Amazon Rank via Smart Bitches, Trashy Books on 4/12/09

"Amazon seems to be stripping the sales figures and accompanying rankings from GLBTQ books, erotica, and romance novels, particularly those with what they term “adult content.”"

This will drop sales for those items. And it looks like the metafilters they are using are not even accurate

Further: Amazon.com Delisting Books via Romantic Times BOOKreviews by RT Book Reviews on 4/13/09"

"The article shows how the policy seems to be uneven, even de-ranking one version of THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY but not another (and really? THAT book is unacceptable?). Authors are finding their books de-listed without even being contacted about it."

We here at Libraryland Roundup recommend online ordering from anywhere else.