BANNED BOOKS WEEK, SEPTEMBER 27-OCTOBER 4

Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a growing number of challenges to books in schools, libraries, and bookstores. Banned Books week is sponsored by the American Library Association, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the Association of American Publishers, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the National Association of College Stores. It is also endorsed by the Center for the Book of the Library of Congress.

Since 1982, more than a thousand books have been challenged. These challenges have occurred in hundreds of communities in every state. The most frequently-cited reasons for challening a book are usually related to sexuality and violence. There are, however, a broad array of reasons for protesting the presence or use of a book, ranging from negative portrayals of certain groups to positive portrayals of others. Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, for example, have been challenged for perceived offensive portrayals of African Americans, and for their use of slang. More recently, by contrast, a number of children's and young adult books have been challenged for their positive portrayal of homosexuality.

Challenged books range from items we now regard as "classics," such as James Joyce's Ulysses Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, to Alice Walker's The Color Purple and Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Click here to view detailed lists of frequently-challenged books.