Top 100 Banned & Challenged Books of the Past Decade

The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has unveiled the Top 100 Most Banned and Challenged Books for the past decade. The new list is topped by these 20 titles:

1. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
2. Captain Underpants (series) by Dav Pilkey
3. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
4. Looking for Alaska by John Green
5. George by Alex Gino
6. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
7. Drama by Raina Telgemeier
8. Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James
9. Internet Girls (series) by Lauren Myracle
10. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
11. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
12. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
13. I Am Jazz by Jazz Jennings and Jessica Herthel
14. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
15. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
16. Bone (series) by Jeff Smith
17. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
18. Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan
19. A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss
20. Sex is a Funny Word by Cory Silverberg

If you have seen OIF’s top 10 challenged books lists over the last few years, many of the titles will be familiar. Read the full list of 100 titles here.

Celebrate Your Freedom to Read! Check out a book, ebook, or eaudiobook. Read a newspaper or magazine article. The BSC Library is your go-to resource.

Celebrate Your Freedom to Read!

Banned Books Week, September 27 – October 3, 2020

Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. It was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores, and libraries. Typically held during the last week of September, BBW highlights the value of free and open access to information. BBW brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.

2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction Winner

Best Novel – Hamnet: A Novel of the Plague, Maggie O’Farrell

Warwickshire in the 1580s. Agnes is a woman as feared as she is sought after for her unusual gifts. She settles with her husband in Henley Street, Stratford, and has three children: a daughter, Susanna, and then twins, Hamnet and Judith. The boy, Hamnet, dies in 1596, aged eleven. Four years or so later, the husband writes a play called Hamlet.

Check it out at the BSC Library!

The Women’s Prize for Fiction is a UK-based award honoring the best novel of the year written in English by a female author. The 2020 winner was announced on September 9.

Labor Day Holiday Hours

• Friday, September 4 — 7:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.
• Saturday, September 5 — CLOSED
• Sunday, September 6 — CLOSED
• Monday, September 7 — CLOSED