Coinciding with National Library Week, which kicked off yesterday, the American Library Association (ALA) has just released its 2012 State of America’s Libraries Report, including their annual list of the most frequently challenged library books of the year. A “challenge,” so we’re clear, is defined by the ALA as a “formal, written complaint filed with a library or school requesting that a book or other material be restricted or removed because of its content or appropriateness,” and there were a full 326 of them in 2011. Just like every year, there are some quasi-racy contemporary books on the chopping block, as well as some seemingly-random classics being attacked (honestly, who are these people still fighting Brave New World?). Click through to check out the most challenged books of 2011 — as well as the complaints leveled against them — and then celebrate Library Week by going out and borrowing one of the offensive tomes from your favorite branch.
1. ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle Offensive language; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
2. The Color of Earth (series), by Kim Dong Hwa Nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
3. The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins Anti-ethnic; anti-family; insensitivity; offensive language; occult/satanic; violence
4. My Mom’s Having A Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy , by Dori Hillestad Butler Nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
5. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian , by Sherman Alexie Offensive language; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
6. Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Nudity; offensive language; religious viewpoint
7. Brave New World , by Aldous Huxley Insensitivity; nudity; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit
8. What My Mother Doesn’t Know , by Sonya Sones Nudity; offensive language; sexually explicit
9. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily Von Ziegesar Drugs; offensive language; sexually explicit
10. To Kill a Mockingbird , by Harper Lee Offensive language; racism
[via GalleyCat]