Banned Books Week - Sept. 23-30, 2006

Have you read the latest Harry Potter? Seen any of the movies? Did you read How to Eat Fried Worms when you were younger? Or James and the Giant Peach? Did your mom read you Where the Wild Things Are? Has your teacher assigned Of Mice and Men or To Kill a Mockingbird yet?

All these books have been challenged or banned. All of them are on the top 100 list of books banned most often during the 1990s.

According to the American Library Association, the 10 most challenged books of the 21st Century thus far (2000-2005) are:

1. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
2. "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier
3. Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
4. "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck
5. "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
6. "Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers
7. "It's Perfectly Normal" by Robie Harris
8. Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz
9. Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey
10. "Forever" by Judy Blume

The ALA has set up a survey website where you can enter information about a book you have enjoyed, or that meant a lot to you. Copy this address into your web browser:
https://cs.ala.org/websurvey/pio/challengedbook/index.cfm?CFID=64432943&CFTOKEN=56397095