Bone Was 2013’s 10th Most Challenged Book
Jeff Smith’s Bone was the 10th most challenged book in 2013 according to a recently released American Booksellers Foundation list. The news comes as Banned Books Week kicks off on Sunday.
Graphic novels will gain the spotlight in this year’s awareness campaign according to Judith Platt, chair of the Banned Books Week National Committee, She said, “This year we spotlight graphic novels because, despite their serious literary merit and popularity as a genre, they are often subject to censorship.”
Smith illustrated the cover to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund’s Banned Books Week Handbook.
10 Most Frequently Challenged Library Books of 2013
1. Captain Underpants (series) by Dav Pilkey
Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited for age group, violence
2. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, violence
3. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
4. Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
Reasons: Nudity, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Reasons: Religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group
6. A Bad Boy Can Be Good for A Girl by Tanya Lee Stone
Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit
7. Looking for Alaska by John Green
Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: drugs/alcohol/smoking, homosexuality, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
9. Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
Reasons: Occult/Satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit
10. Bone (series) by Jeff Smith
Reasons: Political viewpoint, racism, violence