Banned Books Week: What, When, Where and Why of Challenged Books

Over this recent past decade, 5,099* challenges were reported to the Office for Intellectual Freedom.

• 1,577 challenges due to "sexually explicit" material;
• 1,291 challenges due to "offensive language";
• 989 challenges due to materials deemed "unsuited to age group";
• 619 challenged due to "violence"' and
• 361 challenges due to "homosexuality.

http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10 

So double the number of books challenged for violence were challenged for sexuality. It's always amazed me how parents will let kids watch murder fests but god forbid there was sex and nudity in a film. Looks like it maybe the same for books. 

Most Challenged books 1990-99

1. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
2. Daddy’s Roommate, by Michael Willhoite
3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
4. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
6. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
7. Forever, by Judy Blume
8. Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
9. Heather Has Two Mommies, by Leslea Newman
10. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

http://www.ala.org/bbooks/100-most-frequently-challenged-books-1990%E2%80%931999

Most Challenged books 2000-09

1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
2. Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
4. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
5. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
7. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
8. His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
9. ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky

http://www.ala.org/bbooks/top-100-bannedchallenged-books-2000-2009

Most challenged Classics

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, by William Golding
9. 1984, by George Orwell

http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/classics

At least 46 of the 100 books on the Radcliffe top 100 novels of the 20th Century have been challenged

To see where books have been challenged, check this link out. It happens all over the United States.