During Banned Books Week, it is important to know as much as we can about banned and challenged books. One of the thins I try to do is not only to read the books being banned and challenged each year (it always seems there are at least a couple of new ones), I also order some titles and then give them away.

Where to begin? Here are the Top Ten Challenged Books from 2000-2009:

1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
2. Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
4. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
5. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
7. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
8. His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
9. ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky

If there is a book here you do not know, read it. Check to see which, if any, are missing from your school library. Make a donation of that title. (Note: some of the books are fine for elementary readers; others are more YA, and some are adult. Not all titles might be in ONE library. Practice collection development policies here). BTW, the preceding list is taken from the list of 100 Most Challenged Books from the last decade. The full list is here: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/top-100-bannedchallenged-books-2000-2009. And here is the list of challenged books from last year: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10#2016.



When a book is challenged, the first thing we need to do is READ. THE. BOOK. All too often, those who would challenge a book have not read the entire book. They see a sentence or two or someone tells them something about the book and, BAM, challenges occur. Arm yourself in advance. Know the books.