Community Corner

Banned Books: Can You Guess What's on the 10 Most Challenged List?

Banned Books Week, an annual event celebrating the freedom to read, runs Sept. 22-28

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Amanda Luevano, Patch StaffVerified Patch Staff Badge

This week marks Banned Books Week (Sept. 22-28), an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Did you know the American Library Association is urging readers to check out books that have been challenged?

What’s on that list? These 10 books were the most challenged in 2012, according to the Banned Books Week website:

  • "Captain Underpants" (series) by Dav Pilkey
  • "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie
  • "Thirteen Reasons Why" by Jay Asher
  • "Fifty Shades of Grey" by E.L. James
  • "And Tango Makes Three" by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
  • "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
  • "Looking for Alaska" by John Green
  • "Scary Stories" (series) by Alvin Schwartz
  • "The Glass Castle" by Jeanette Walls
  • "Beloved" by Toni Morrison
Banned Books Week started in 1982 and since then, more than 11,300 books have been challenged, according to the Banned Books Week website. The American Library Association reports that in 2012, 464 challenges were reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom.

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