Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Alexie, Pilkey books among most ‘ challenged’
Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” is also among the 100most subjected to censorship efforts over the past decade.
NEW YORK » Filmmaker Ava DuVernay will be honored next month byMacDowell, which is presenting its inaugural Marian MacDowell Arts Advocacy Award to her media company and arts collective ARRAY.
The award is named for the co- founder of MacDowell, the century- old artist residency in Peterborough, N. H., where James Baldwin, Leonard Bernstein andmany others have been visiting fellows.
DuVernay, known for such acclaimed movies as “Selma” and “13th,” founded ARRAY in 2012 as a way of amplifying the work of women and people of color.
“I am touched that our narrative change collective ARRAY, which is built upon a mission to articulate and amplify stories from the widest range of art makers, is being honored in Ms. MacDowell’s name,” DuVernay said in a statement.
MacDowell will host a virtual ceremony on Oct. 19.
NEWYORK » Toni Morrison is on the list. So are John Green and Harper Lee. And John Steinbeck and Margaret Atwood. All wrote books that were among the 100most subjected to censorship efforts over the past decade, as compiled by the American Library Association.
Sherman Alexie’s prize- winning “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part- Time Indian” came in at No. 1, followed by Dav Pilkey’s “Captain Underpants” picture book series and Jay Asher’s young adult novel “Thirteen Reasons Why.” Objections raised by parents and other community members have ranged from explicit language and depictions of drug use in Alexie’s novel to Asher’s theme of suicide.
“A lot of the books on the list also reflect a growing trend in recent years to challenge books by people of color and books fromthe LGBTQ community,” said Deborah Caldwell- Stone, director of the library association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.
Examples includeMorrison’s “The Bluest Eye,” about a Blackgirl rapedbyher father; Alex Gino’s “George,” about a transgender child; and Justin Richardson’s and Peter Parnell’spicture book about two gay penguins, “And Tango Makes Three.”
The list was announcedMonday as the library association prepares to mark its annual Banned Books Week.
Green’s debut novel, “Looking for Alaska,” was ranked fourth, with others in the top 10 including E. L. James’ explicit blockbuster “50 Shades of Grey,” Raina Telgemeier’s graphic novel “Drama” and Lauren Myracle’s “Internet Girls” series.
As with its yearly snapshots of most challenged books, the ALA defines a “challenge” as a “formal, written complaint
filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness.” The list is based on news reports and on accounts submitted from libraries and others in the local community, although the ALA believes many challenges go unreported. The association does not formally count the number of times books are actually removed from a library shelf or from a school reading list.
The decade list overall is a mixture of old standards such as Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” andMark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” andmore recent works such as Stephen Chbosky’s “ThePerks of BeingaWallflower” and Suzanne Collins’ multimillion selling “The HungerGames,” which has been accused of being anti- family and promoting violence.
Others included were Atwood’s Dystopianclassic “TheHandmaid’s Tale,” Steinbeck’s “OfMice andMen” and J. D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye.”