According to the Banned Book Weeks site, the focus this year is on frequently challenged and banned comics and graphic novels. Surprisingly, the number one most challenged book, not just comic or graphic novel, both in 2012 and 2013 was Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants series. People who sought to have it banned did so on the basis of one or more of the following: offensive language, unsuited for age group, violence.
Supporters of Captain Underpants point out that the book series fills a need. It hooks reluctant readers on reading, especially boys. It tends towards potty humor, the protagonists are a pair of elementary school aged boys, and there are plenty of black and white illustrations. What's not for a young boy to like?
The other books in the top ten most challenged list for 2013 are as follows:
2. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
3. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
by Sherman Alexie
4. Fifty Shades of Gray by E.L. James
5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
6. A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl by Tanya Lee Stone
7. Looking for Alaska by John Green
8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
9. Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
10. Bone (series) by Jeff Smith
The data for 2014 is still being collected. Have you read any of the top 10 books? I've read some of Captain Underpants, but not the whole thing. Enough to know it would be funny to a kid. Let me know what you're thinking in the comments.
The data for 2014 is still being collected. Have you read any of the top 10 books? I've read some of Captain Underpants, but not the whole thing. Enough to know it would be funny to a kid. Let me know what you're thinking in the comments.
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