It's Banned Books Week. Go Read Something Subversive!

Can you believe that Banned Books Week is almost over? But you don't have to fear -- people are always trying to ban something,   somewhere, so you can still enjoy a banned book at your leisure. Here's a shopping list from the American Library Association's list of the 10 most banned or challenged books of 2013 -- and if you buy using the links here, a chunk o' the purchase price goes to support Yr Wonkette!

This year, the most frequently challenged book is, once again, the various adventures of Captain Underpants, Dav Pilkey's hilarious book series for elementary kids (and the 8-year-old booger joke aficionado in all of us). The Waistband Warrior is pretty much just pure silliness, but there are jokes about underpants and bodily functions; some parents also are all aflutter about the book's deliberate spelling mistakes, which will promote bad grammar. Go listen to Pilkey's interview with NPR from a couple years back, while you're at it. The ALA lists these reasons for objections to poor Captain Underpants: "Offensive language, unsuited for age group, violence."

And here are a bunch of other banned books, with purchase links for all but one that you know damned well why we're not linking (censorship!), along with the reasons they were challenged:

#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 RudolfoAnaya. Reasons: Occult/Satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit.

#10:  Bone  (series), by Jeff Smith. Reasons: Political viewpoint, racism, violence.

We're huge fans of Jeff Smith's Bone graphic novel series, and frankly, we're mystified how there's supposed to be any "racism" in that -- most of the characters aren't even human.

Happy reading, Wonkers!

[ WaPo ]