Banned Books Week: Five of Top Ten Most Challenged Books of 2016

Every year, the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) compiles a list of the Top Ten Most Challenged Books in libraries and schools. The lists are based on information from media stories and voluntary challenge reports sent to OIF from communities across the United States. Surveys indicate that 82% to 97% of book challenges are not reported and receive no media coverage. Thus the Top Ten Most Challenged Books list should not be viewed as an exhaustive report.  In 2016, the OIF recorded 323 challenges.  Out of that Top Ten list, our library owns four and will acquire a fifth:

Number 10 on the list is Eleanor & Park, written by Rainbow Rowell. One of seven New York Times Notable Children’s Books and a 2014 Honor Book recipient of the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature, this  novel was challenged for offensive language. It can be found in our OverDrive e-book collection.

Number 6 on the list is Looking for Alaska by John Green. This 2006 Printz Award winner is a young adult novel that was challenged and restricted for a sexually explicit scene that may lead a student to “sexual experimentation.”  This book was the number 1 most challenged book in 2015, and number 7 in both 2012 and 2013, for reasons including offensive language and the inclusion of drugs/alcohol/smoking, as well as being sexually explicit and unsuited for age group. It can be found on the lower level of the Dick Smith Library, Curriculum Collection, call number EDUC PZ7 .G8233 LO 2005, and also in our OverDrive e-book collection.

Number 4 on the 2016 list is I Am Jazz, by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings, illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas. This picture book memoir was challenged and removed because it portrays a transgender child and because of language, sex education, and offensive viewpoints. It was also number 3 on the 2015 list for teh following reasons: inaccurate, homosexuality, sex education, religious viewpoint, and unsuited for age group.  It can be found on the lower level of the Dick Smith Library in the Curriculum Collection, call number EDUC HQ77.7 .H467 2014.

Number 2 on the 2016 list is Drama, written and illustrated by Raina Telgemeier. This 2013 Stonewall Book Award Honor-winning graphic novel for young adults was challenged because it includes LGBT characters, was deemed sexually explicit, and was considered to have an offensive political viewpoint. This book will be acquired for our library.  Drama was also number 10 on the list in 2014.

The most challenged book of 2016 is This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Jillian Tamaki. This young adult graphic novel was named both a 2015 Printz Honor Book and a 2015 Randolph Caldecott Award Honor Book, the latter designation for its illustrations. It was restricted, relocated, and banned due to LGBT characters, drug use, profanity, sexual explicitity with mature themes. It can be found on the Dick Smith Library lower level in the Curriculum Collection, call number EDUC PZ7.7 .T355 THI 2014.

Book Banning Attempt in Hood County in 2015

In the spring and summer of 2015, the Hood County Library (in nearby Granbury) was the focus of a challenge to two books.  Given that this (September 25 through October 1, 2016) is Banned Books Week, it's a relevant topic.

The two books, about acceptance and tolerance, were My Princess Boy and This Day in June.

My  Princess Boy, written by Cheryl Kilodavis, is subtitled "a mom's story about a young boy who loves to dress up" -- in this case, her four-year-old son.  The narrative is a bit pedantic, but there's an important message about compassion and tolerance. Suzanne DeSimone's illustrations are notable for the lack of features on the faces.  That might be so the reader or listener can imagine anyone's and everyone's faces on the characters - further promoting acceptance of others and one's own uniqueness.

This Day in June, written by Gayle E. Pitman, Ph.D., a professor of psychology, won the 2015 Stonewall Book Award - Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award, given annually to "English-language works of exceptional merit for children or teens relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience.'  This was the first time in the award's 44-year-history that a picture book won (or was even named an honor book).

The book portrays the sights, sounds, and emotions of a colorful gay pride parade with short rhyming text and intricate illustrations by Kristyna Litten.  Young children who look at this book will see a fun parade; older children and parents will see some of the subtler messages in the shirts and signs of parade participants and watchers (the latter generally rendered in simple outlines and pastels).

Pitman also included an interesting four-page reading guide that provides more background for the images in each of the double-page-spread illustrations, as well as a four-page "note to parents and caregivers" with ideas on using the book and talking to children of various ages about the issues it might bring up.

More than 50 people submitted challenges to the books to the Hood County Library in late May and early June, 2015.  The county's Library Advisory Board (whose members are appointed by the elected county judge and commissioners) held a public hearing to consider the book removal requests on June 8.

The board voted unanimously to recommend keeping the books. The library director, in an attempt to compromise with the complainants, moved This Day in June to the library’s adult collection, because of its reading guide.

Nevertheless, the complainants continued to voice their disapproval, so the Commissioners Court held a public hearing on July 15, 2015.  The meeting lasted nearly three hours and drew both supporters and opponents of the books, who were all allowed to speak for up to five minutes each.  About three fourths of those who spoke supported keeping the books.

Commissioners decided not to vote on the issue after the county attorney spoke.   She noted the courts would likely consider any attempts to remove, relocate, or restrict access to the books to be unlawful censorship, based on previous case law involving another Texas public library.

The decision not to vote meant the books will stay where they are.  Not surprisingly, this issue led to a review of all the library's policies (including collection development), but ultimately no major changes were made to those.

This is an example of a book challenge that did NOT result in a ban.  "Banned Books Week" is somewhat of a misnomer - but "Challenged Books Week" does not have quite the same ring to it.  Luckily, most books that are challenged in libraries and schools are not banned.

Libraries - especially public and academic libraries - should support the freedom to read.  Individuals (including parents for their young children) still have the right to choose what they read - just not to restrict the rights of others through censorship.


[My Princess Boy and This Day in June are available on the lower level of the Dick Smith Library in the Curriculum Collection, call numbers EDUC HQ1075 .K535 2010 and EDUC PZ8.3 .P5586836 TH 2014 respectively.]

This data is provided by the American Library Association, from Jan. 1, 2013 to Aug. 6, 2014.  It represents reported challenges, and does not for those that go unreported.

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