10 books banned in America this year

A list of the books people tried to ban in US schools in 2016 has been compiled by the American Library Association (ALA)

The most common reasons cited for book banning attempts were 'homosexuality' and 'unsuited for age group' - although one (see number two below) was because it was "poorly written"...

The ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom produces the annual list of 'Most challenged books', by compiling news coverage of banned books, and also reports from individuals.

'Challenges' are documented requests to remove books from libraries.

Here are the books and why people wanted them banned, according to the ALA.

1. Looking for Alaska, by John Green

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Green's website summarises this work of young adult fiction, which has been translated into over 30 languages and is regularly taught in American high schools.

Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words – and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet Francois Rabelais called the 'Great Perhaps'. Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy, Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.

This is the first novel from the author of the successful The Fault in Our Stars, and it was also one of the ALA's top 10 books for young readers.

Looking for Alaska topped the list for most ban requests because of 'offensive language' and for being 'sexually explicit, and 'unsuited for age group'.

2. Fifty Shades of Grey, by E L James

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This isn't that much of a surprise, even though the best seller, and motion picture series makes the subject matter so well known that banning the book seems redundant. People who like to ban things will ban them regardless of censorship's inefficacy.

Some of the reasons listed were 'sexually explicit', 'unsuited to age group', and 'concerns that a group of teenagers will want to try it'. These safety concerns aside, one person requested Fifty Shades be banned on the grounds that it was:

Poorly written

Everybody's a critic.

3. I Am Jazz, by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings

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This 2015 book has shot up the list, primarily for it's transgender subject matter. The book is based on Jazz Jenning's real life experiences as someone who had a 'girl's brain in a boy's body.'

The official reasons given for wanting to ban this item were: 'Inaccurate', 'homosexuality', 'sex education', 'religious viewpoint', and 'unsuited for age group'.

Because 'innacurate' is something that can be applied to something as subjective as one's identity.

4. Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out, by Susan Kuklin

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The fourth most complained about book was also about being transgender. The work of non-fiction covers Kuklin's interviews and photoshoots with six transgender or gender-neutral young adults.

The reasons given for banning this book include it being supposedly 'Anti-family' and because of 'offensive language', 'homosexuality', 'sex education', 'political viewpoint', 'religious viewpoint', 'unsuited for age group'.

Another reason was because a library:

Wants to remove from collection to ward off complaints.

A sad day for knowledge.

5. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon

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This book about childhood autism which has also become an award winning stage play, is the fifth most requested book to banned. The reasons are because of 'offensive language', 'religious viewpoint' and being 'unsuited for age group'.

The 'profanity and atheism' was another reason people objected to the book.

6. The Holy Bible

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Although the Bible is filled with violence, it's most likely that people have requested it be removed from libraries on the grounds of the first amendment to the US constitution. This free speech amendent formally seperates church and state in US law, and means that public money (such as might be spent on libaries in public schools) cannot be used to benefit any single religion.

The reasons given were principally 'religious viewpoint'.

7. Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel

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This graphic memoir focuses on Bechdel's young adulthood, and her closeted homosexual father. Being a graphic novel, one of the main reasons people have asked to ban this book is because of 'graphic images', but also 'violence'.

Bechdel's brief description of the plot from Amazon:

Meet Alison's father, a historic preservation expert and obsessive restorer of the family's Victorian home, a third-generation funeral home director, a high-school English teacher, an icily distant parent, and a closeted homosexual who, as it turns out, is involved with his male students and the family babysitter.

Attempts to ban the book from libaries have occured since its publication in 2006, including one attempt in Marshall, Missouri. The library briefly removed the book while they drafted a 'materials selection policy', before returning it and another banned work to circulation in 2007.

8. Habibi, by Craig Thompson

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Another graphic novel, and coincidentally it was another work by Craig Thompson that the Marshall Public Library temporarily took out of circulation alongside Fun Home.

Habibi tells the story of a Middle Eastern fable, the principle character of which 'Dodola' escapes being sold into slavery and rescues an abandoned baby 'Zan'. Their travels make up much of the drama, as does their changing relationship from surrogate family to romantic lovers.

The reasons given for wanting to ban the work were 'nudity', 'sexually explicit', and 'unsuited for age group'.

9. Nasreen’s Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan, by Jeanette Winter

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This book is about an Afghan grandmother who, in order to better the life of her orphaned granddaughter, enrols her in a secret school for girls.

Of course people have a problem with this story.

The reasons given for trying to ban this book were 'religious viewpoint', 'unsuited to age group', and 'violence'.

10. Two Boys Kissing, by David Levithan

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The title will have made most homophobes angry, and David Levithan's book Two Boys Kissing put people's backs up because of the 'homosexuality' that features in the tale of multiple young gay couples, whose story is narrated by a chorus of gay men lost to Aids.

One central part of a book is an attempt to beat the world record for longest kiss.

Levithan is also the author of Boy Meets Girl, and co-authored a book with fellow banned author John Green called Will Gray, Will Grayson.

Reasons for wanting to ban this work were 'homosexuality' and

Condones public displays of affection.

HT Pink News

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