September 30-October 6 is Banned Books Week, the 30th anniversary of an event celebrating the freedom to read. If you haven’t checked out the list of frequently challenged books, you might be surprised what’s on there. I’ve read quite a few of them and many are favorites of mine. It’s amazing what some people want to censor. Many of the books on the list are classics and other popular books (Brave New World, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Golden Compass, Harry Potter, The Handmaid’s Tale, just to name a few). 326 books were challenged in 2011.
Katie O’Sullivan, a Crescent Moon Press author-to-be, is hosting a series of posts on her blog about favorite banned books. I have a post up today about The Outsiders, which was one of my favorite YA novels growing up: http://katieosullivan.blogspot.com/2012/10/banned-book-outsiders.html.
What’s your favorite challenged book? Do you think certain books should be banned in libraries and schools?
Cindy Young-Turner 
I have too many favorites to choose one! Usually, I say To Kill A Mockingbird because it inspired me to go to law school, but I also love Slaughterhouse-Five, Catcher in the Rye, and so many others.
Those are all some of my favorites also! I agree, too many to choose just one. Thanks for stopping by!
I guess it’s not surprising that so many of those books are wonderful: only the most interesting books get banned!
We love The Witches by Roald Dahl, Lord of the flies by William Golding and A Wrinkle in Time. It seems that anything that challenges the mind and/or the imagination of standard thinking gets banned. It’s scary to think that broadening one’s mind is discouraged in any society nowadays. Thanks for the post, Cindy.
A Wrinkle in Time was a childhood favorite. I haven’t read The Witches but I saw the movie version way back. I’m sure the book is better. They usually are. It’s scary to think that books are still being challenged in schools and libraries.
Great post, CIndy, and thanks for being a guest on my blog as well!
Book “banning” seems like such an archaic idea, and yet look at how many books are still challenged today. My son had to read OF MICE AND MEN over the summer – I was shocked to see the super-long list of challenges for that classic, dating back to when it was first written.
There are so many great books on the list – and yes, it seems like if a book makes you THINK, someone wants it taken out of circulation.
Keep Reading 😉
Thanks, Katie. I agree, many of these are books that are challenged are ones that encourage people to question and think for themselves. What a concept!