`Twilight' series on list of challenged books
Stephenie Meyer, the hottest author for young peoplesince J.K. Rowling, has a new link to the creator of "Harry Potter": a place high on the list of books most complained about by parents and educators.
Meyer's multimillion-selling "Twilight" series was ranked No. 5 on the annual report of "challenged books" released Wednesday by theAmerican Library Association. Meyer's stories of vampires and teen romance have been criticized for sexual content; a library association official also thinks that the "Twilight" series reflects general unease about supernatural stories.
"Vampire novels have been a target for years and the `Twilight' books are so immensely popular that a lot of the concerns people have had about vampires are focused on her books," says Barbara Jones, director of the association's Office for Intellectual Freedom.
Christian groups for years have protested the themes of wizardry in Rowling's books, which don't appear on the current top 10.
Topping the 2009 chart was Lauren Myracle's "IM" series, novels told through instant messages that have been criticized for nudity, language and drug references. Last year's No. 1 book, "And Tango Makes Three," by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, is now No. 2, cited again for its story about two male penguins adopting a baby. Third wasStephen Chbosky's "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," for which the many reasons include drugs, suicide, homosexuality and being antifamily.
Also cited were such perennials as J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" (sexual content, language),Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" (language, racism), Alice Walker's "The Color Purple" (sexual content, language) and Robert Cormier's "The Chocolate War" (nudity, language, sexual content).
The ALA recorded 460 challenges in 2009, a drop from 513 the year before, and 81 books actually being removed. The ALA defines a challenge as a "formal, written complaint filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness."
For every challenge tallied, about four or five end up unreported, according to the ALA.
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Comments (7)
Cheryl Baumgartner12
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
Just wait a while Harold Some Parent will be sitting down Listening to Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit and suddenly decide that they can't have their little darlings reading a book about using drugs!!!!
Harold Baughman10
I wonder what comments "Alice In Wonderland" would receive today. HMMmmm
Lylette Primell6
Thoughts are Things
Hi Cheryl Love your post and comments sometimes I think we spend our energies unwisely worrying about some things that are not so live changing as we think.
Because of this the real threatening issues get side lined and very little attention.
Lylette
Monika Angel8
housekeeping
thanks for ur comment
Cheryl Baumgartner12
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
I often wonder about these challenged books and stories. I often find myself wondering if parents truly are so silly that they think taking a books off the shelves of the library will make the theme go away. I mean is taking Alice Walker books down going to make racism go away or just make it unrecognizable when future generations encounter it.
The other issue I have is when parents project their "adult" world view on to books and stories. Not too many years ago in Florida some parent were
Monika Angel8
housekeeping
thank you jfb :)
Joseph Botelho15
Working on one project at a time.
Some interesting books are named here, never realized some of the content it had. The Catcher and Rye as one of them must have over looked them parts or don't recall...but interesting....good article Monika...
all the best
jfb