Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 to celebrate the freedom to read.  September 25 was the official launch and it runs through October 2.  Banned Books Week was created in response to an increase in the number of books which were banned or people attempted to ban that year.  Since then over 1000 books have been banned or “challenged” in the US.  Reasons for the uproar include profanity, slang, offensive representations of racial or religious groups, and positive portrayals of homosexuals.  Of course no book is immune to this scrutiny, even (and probably especially) Manga. 

The American Library Association gathers statistics of all the books that are banned and challenged throughout the year.  Here are the top 10 titles off the list for 2000-2009:

1. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
2. Alice Series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
4. And Tango Makes Three by Richardson/Parmell
5. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
7. Scary Stories by Alvin Schwartz
8. His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman
9. TTYL; TTFN; L8TR, G8TR (Series) by Myracle, Lauren
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chibosky

Okay I can see why some of these books are targeted by, say, religious groups due to some of them being about witchcraft and things like that but Of Mice and Men?  Really?  Steinbeck is one of the greatest authors of all time… Sheesh…

Some other titles of interest:

14.  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

22.  Gossip Girl by Cecily Von Ciegesar

28.  Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

32.  Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya

35.  Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

50.  The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

74.  The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

 For the top 10 of 2009, Stephanie Meyers’ Twilight series came in at number five.  And what of the banned Manga?  According to the Anime News Network, since last year there have been several in the US and around the world.  Akira Toriyama’s Dragonball was banned by a public school system in Maryland in October of 2009.  Manabu Miyazaki, who creates manga about yakuza sued the Japanese police for removing his magazines from store shelves.  In May 2010, a high school parent in Albequerque challenged Takeshi Obata’s Death Note series for glamorizing murder.  The school district officials met and, despite her objections, voted unanimously against banning the manga.  Chalk one up for the first amendment!

[Sources:  Anime News Network, American Library Association ]

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