This is a direct link to PEN American on Banned Books Week, 24/09/2011-01/10/2011. The list of banned or frequently challenged books may be perused here , and they include,
1.The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
4. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
6. Ulysses, by James Joyce
7. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
8. The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
9. 1984, by George Orwell
11. Lolita, by Vladmir Nabokov
12. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
PEN American is asking writers and members to use the submishmash system to upload a 300 word piece along with a book recommendation to celebrate the week. There will be a virtual read-out at this youtube channel. Details and information of the week are available at the American PEN site.
2011 list : Check Out This Year’s Top Ten Most Banned or Challenged Books
1. And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
Reasons: homosexuality, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group
2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: offensive language, racism, religious viewpoint, sex education, sexually explicit, violence, unsuited to age group
3. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Reasons: insensitivity, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit
4. Crank, by Ellen Hopkins
Reasons: drugs, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit
5. The Hunger Games (series), by Suzanne Collins
Reasons: sexaully explicit, violence, unsuited to age group
6. Lush, by Natasha Friend
Reasons: drugs, sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group
7. What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
Reasons: sexism, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
8. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich
Reasons: drugs, inaccurate, offensive language, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint
9. Revolutionary Voices edited by Amy Sonnie
Reasons: homosexuality, sexually explicit
10. Twilight (series), by Stephenie Meyer
Reasons: sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, violence, unsuited to age
Chris Murray 