On the list of things that will crawl in through your child's bedroom window and steal his/her innocence, "library books" falls somewhere between "Elvis Presley's hips" and "an exhausting game of lawn tennis." Parents these days are much more concerned with protecting their children from the newfangled dangers like texting, sexting, the Internet, the sexy Internet, and Shia LeBoeuf. Which is why it's almost adorable to find out that there is still a core group of parents out there going to libraries, picking up copies of The Catcher In The Rye, taking them to the librarians, and whisper-yelling, "What about the children?!? Won't someone think of the children?!"
From The American Library Association:
For nearly 20 years, the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has collected reports on book challenges. A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school, requesting that materials be removed or restricted because of content or appropriateness. In 2009, OIF received 460 reports on efforts to remove or restrict materials from school curricula and library bookshelves.
The ALA’s Top Ten Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2009 reflect a range of themes, and consist of the following titles:
1. ttyl, ttfn, l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: Nudity, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs
2. “And Tango Makes Three” by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
Reasons: Homosexuality
3. “The Perks of Being A Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Anti-Family, Offensive Language, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs, Suicide