I've been doing a little research about Banned Books Week, Sept. 22 through 29. Basically it's a nationwide movement put together by the American Library Association and a bunch of other pro-reading, anti-idiocy organizations to protest how freaking ridiculous it is that this country is banning books like Bridge to Terabithia (I think my fifth-grade teacher actually read that TO us) and The Lord of the Flies and Harry Potter. If you'd like to go read a more coherent mission statement than that one, afireinside.8m.com put together a nice comprehensive explanation. She also has a bunch of logos you can stick on your webpage, such as the one you'll notice if you'll kindly look to your left.

In case you're interested, according to the ALA, the list of most challenged books between 1990 and 2000 is:

Most Frequently Challenged Books for Children (1990-2000)


1. Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz

2. Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite

3. Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling

4. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

5. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman

6. It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris

7. Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

8. Goosebumps series by R. L. Stine

9. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson

10. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak



Most Frequently Challenged Books for Young Adults


1. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

2. Forever by Judy Blume

3. The Giver by Lois Lowry

4. My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

5. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck

6. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

7. The Goats by Brock Cole

8. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers

9. The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

10. The Pigman by Paul Zindel




Most Frequently Challenged Classics


1. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

2. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

3. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

4. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker

6. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

7. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

8. Beloved by Toni Morrison

9. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

10. Lord of the Flies by William Goldberg

Bah. Book banning: bad. People trying to do something about it: good.