It’s Banned Books Week! From The American Library Association’s website: “Each year, the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom compiles a list of the top ten most frequently challenged books in order to inform the public about censorship in libraries and schools. The ALA condemns censorship and works to ensure free access to information.”

This year, the focus of Banned Books Week is young adult books. BBW National Committee Chair Judith Platt explains, "Young Adult books are challenged more frequently than any other type of book....This Banned Books Week is a call to action, to remind everyone that young people need to be allowed the freedom to read widely, to read books that are relevant for them, and to be able to make their own reading choices." Look for Banned Books Week events in your area.

Based on 311 challenges, here are the top ten most challenged books of 2014.

1. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
   Reasons: anti-family, cultural insensitivity, drugs/alcohol/smoking, gambling, offensive language, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group, violence
   Additional reasons: “depictions of bullying”


2. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
   Reasons: gambling, offensive language, political viewpoint
   Additional reasons: “politically, racially, and socially offensive,” “graphic depictions”


3. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
   Reasons: Anti-family, homosexuality, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group
   Additional reasons: “promotes the homosexual agenda”


4. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
   Reasons: Sexually explicit, unsuited for age group
   Additional reasons: “contains controversial issues”


5. It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
   Reasons: Nudity, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
   Additional reasons: “alleges it child pornography”


6. Saga by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples
   Reasons: Anti-Family, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group


7. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
   Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited to age group, violence


8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
   Reasons: drugs/alcohol/smoking, homosexuality, offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group
   Additional reasons: “date rape and masturbation”


9. A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard
   Reasons: drugs/alcohol/smoking, offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group


10. Drama by Raina Telgemeier
    Reasons: sexually explicit

Here’s how the Horn Book reviewed 2014's most challenged children’s and young adult books.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
by Sherman Alexie; illus. by Ellen Forney
Middle School, High School     Little     232 pp.
9/07     978-0-316-01368-0     $16.99     g

The line between dramatic monologue, verse novel, and standup comedy gets unequivocally — and hilariously and  triumphantly — bent in this novel about coming of age on the rez. Urged on by a math teacher whose nose he has just  broken, Junior, fourteen, decides to make the iffy commute from his Spokane Indian reservation to attend high school in Reardan, a small town twenty miles away. He’s tired of his impoverished circumstances (“Adam and Eve covered their  privates with fig leaves; the first Indians covered their privates with their tiny hands”), but while he hopes his new school will offer him a better education, he knows the odds aren’t exactly with him: “What was I doing at Reardan, whose mascot was an Indian, thereby making me the only other Indian in town?” But he makes friends (most notably the class dork Gordy), gets a girlfriend, and even (though short, nearsighted, and slightly disabled from birth defects) lands a spot on the varsity basketball team, which inevitably leads to a showdown with his own home team, led by his former best friend Rowdy. Junior’s narration is intensely alive and rat-a-tat-tat with short paragraphs and one-liners (“If God hadn’t wanted us to masturbate, then God wouldn’t have given us thumbs”). The dominant mode of the novel is comic, even though  there’s plenty of sadness, as when Junior’s sister manages to shake off depression long enough to elope — only to die,  passed out from drinking, in a fire. Junior’s spirit, though, is unquenchable, and his style inimitable, not least in the take-no-prisoners cartoons he draws (as expertly depicted by comics artist Forney) from his bicultural experience. ROGER SUTTON
reviewed in the September/October 2007 issue of The Horn Book Magazine

And Tango Makes Three
by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson; illus. by Henry Cole
Preschool, Primary     Simon     32 pp.
06/05     0-689-87845-1     $14.95

Two male penguins at the Central Park Zoo court, build a nest, and raise their (adopted) daughter Tango. Highly anthropomorphized to maximize the sentimental but noteworthy lesson on family diversity, the story gains depth from the biological reality of same-sex penguin partnering. Gentle illustrations of the smiling penguin family add appeal, if not scientific accuracy, to this book based on a true story. DANIELLE J. FORD
reviewed in the Fall 2005 issue of The Horn Book Guide

It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health
by Robie H. Harris; illus. by Michael Emberley
Intermediate, Middle School     Candlewick     99 pp.
9/14     978-0-7636-6871-6     $22.99
Paper ed. 978-0-7636-6872-3     $12.99

The original Horn Book review described this invaluable resource as an "unassuming, coherent, comprehensive explanation of sex in all its complicated glory." The frank and nonjudgmental discussion is illustrated with anatomically correct cartoon drawings. This twentieth-anniversary edition includes a broader definition of the term gender; expanded information about using the internet; and updated information about contraception, abortion, sexual abuse, and STDs, including HIV/AIDS. Ind.CYNTHIA K. RITTER
new edition reviewed in the November/December 2014 issue of The Horn Book Magazine

Drama
by Raina Telgemeier; illus. by the author; color by Gurihiru
Intermediate, Middle School     Graphix/Scholastic     238 pp.
9/12     978-0-545-32698-8     $23.99
Paper ed. 978-0-545-32699-5     $10.99     g

Like Telgemeier’s previous graphic novel, Smile (a 2010 Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book), this new one will appeal to a wide range of readers. Seventh-grader Callie Marin loves musical theater, and though she isn’t much of a singer (which she good-naturedly proves to all in a hilarious scene), she expresses and fulfills her passion by working as a set designer for the school drama club. Her second year on stage crew turns out to be fraught with drama, on and off the set. Not only is the musical a love story, but in real life Callie has a crush on eighth-grader Greg, whose younger brother (and fellow stage-crew member) has a secret crush on Callie. Greg, however, is dating Bonnie, who dumps him for her costar in the play, West, who eventually dumps her for the boy whom Callie has just begun to like. Then Greg asks Callie out. Phew! But Telgemeier handles it all with aplomb and, despite the romantic drama, nothing happens beyond a few innocent kisses. She gets her middle-school characters just right — from kids who, like Justin, are gay and know it (“Gay? You can say it! I don’t mind”) to those who, like Callie, wouldn’t recognize a gay guy if he clasped his hands and squee-ed over musical auditions, as Justin does when they first meet. As in Smile, Telgemeier’s graphic artist skills make this novel a pleasure to read and re-read; of special note is her thoughtful use of the page turn — for surprise, for a pause, for emotional effect. JENNIFER M. BRABANDER
reviewed in the September/October 2012 issue of The Horn Book Magazine

Don't miss Pat Scales's "What Makes a Good Banned Book?" (September/October 2009 Horn Book Magazine). We've also got review roundups of 2012's and 2013's most frequently challenged books.

Which banned book are you reading this week?