The American Library Association, as part of its 2012 State of America’s Libraries Report (which is theoretically supposed to be released today), put together its annual tabulation of the books most often challenged at libraries (which were then reported to the ALA).
The full list, which you can view after the jump, includes books ranging from the “Internet Girls” series (ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r), which is written entirely in textspeak (example: “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had” might be written out as “ur mah bff”), to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, a forward-looking novel that’s been terrorizing the gentility since its original publication in 1931.
Much like the MPAA’s sensitive sensibilities, most of the problems with the books on the list concern nudity, sexuality or some combination thereof. Though obvious exceptions, such as the pictured Hunger Games trilogy, manage to hold their own with good old-fashioned violence.
A word cloud of the reasons given for challenging the books
ALA’s 2011 top 10 most challenged books
- Internet Girls series (ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r), by Lauren Myracle
- The Color of Earth, by Kim Dong Hwa
- The Hunger Games triology, by Suzanne Collins
- My Mom’s Having A Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy, by Hillestad Butler
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
- Alice (series), by Phillis Reynolds Naylor
- Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
- What My Mother Doesn’t Know, Sonya Sones
- Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily Von Ziegesar
- To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
