Banned Books week, Sept 22-28: no sex or violence please, we're American

If it's a new school year, can book challenges be far off?

Banned Books Week is the national book community's annual celebration of the freedom to read. Libraries and bookstores around the country draw attention to the problem of censorship by mounting displays of challenged books and hosting a variety of events. The 2013 celebration of Banned Books Week will be held from September 22-28.  

Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than 11,300 books have been challenged since 1982. For more information on Banned Books Week, click here. 

According to the American Library Association, there were 464 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2012, and many more go unreported. The 10 most challenged titles of 2012 were:

1. Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey
   Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited for age group
   
   
2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
   Reasons: Offensive language, racism, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group
   
   
3. Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher
   Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited for age group
   
   
4. Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James.
   Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit
   
   
5. And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson.
   Reasons: Homosexuality, unsuited for age group
   
   
6. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini.
   Reasons: Homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit
   
   
7. Looking for Alaska, by John Green.
   Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group
   
   
8. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
   Reasons: Unsuited for age group, violence
   
   
9. The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls
   Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit
   
   
10. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
    Reasons: Sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, violence