Potter, Twain Books Challenged
N E W Y O R K, Sept. 13 -- Harry Potter made the list. So did The Catcherin the Rye and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The mostpopular children’s books? No. The ones adults most wanted removedfrom library shelves in the 1990s.
“This just proves no book is safe from censorship attempts,”said Judith Krug, director of the American Library Association’sOffice for Intellectual Freedom.
The top 100 titles were compiled and released in advance of the20th annual Banned Books Week, which runs Sept. 23-30. The ALA, theAmerican Booksellers Association and the American Society ofJournalists and Authors are among the sponsors.
The most disputed books were the popular Scary Storiestitles, horror tales by the late Alvin Schwartz. Objectionsincluded violence, cannibalism and causing children to fear thedark. A complaint from the school district in Campbell County,Wyo., said the books made kids believe “ghosts are actuallypossible.”
Issues Many Don’t Want to Address
Also in the top 10 were such classroom standards as MayaAngelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, J.D. Salinger’sThe Catcher in the Rye, John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Menand Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
“The fact that teachers assign them is one of the reasonsthere’s so much concern,” Krug said. “They deal with issues a lotof parents don’t want to know about.”
The Harry Potter series, which Christian groups have attackedbecause of its themes of witchcraft and wizardry, comes in at No.48. It was removed this year from a public school in BridgeportTownship, Mich.
According to the ALA, more than 5,000 complaints were recordedat school and public libraries in the 1990s. Krug said thatrepresents about 20 percent to 25 percent of all challenges,although she does note the annual number has declined slightly overthe past years.
“A lot of people are now spending more time thinking aboutInternet content,” she said.
Related Stories
ABC News Live