| By Jacqueline Blais, USA TODAY
Harry Potter has done it again.
The latest list that he is topping is 2002's Most Challenged Books, issued by the American Library Association for Banned Books Week, Sept. 20-27.
Harry denouncers say the series "glamorizes the occult and will attract (readers) to satanism," says Beverley Becker of the library association.
Books that come under fire most often are extremely popular (Harry Potter, Captain Underpants), are stocked in the library or are assigned school reading (Bridge to Terabithia, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), Becker says.
Hundreds of books are questioned each year. The Top 10 Most Challenged Books for 2002 and the reasons cited for challenging them (www.ala.org/bbooks):
•1. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (wizardry and magic).
•2. Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group. "Unsuited to age group" usually means a younger child has access to a book in a library meant for older children.
•3. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier, which was also the Most Challenged Book of 1998 (offensive language, unsuited to the age group).
•4.I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (sexual content, racism, offensive language, violence, unsuited to age group).
•5.Taming the Star Runner by S.E. Hinton (offensive language).
•6.Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey (insensitivity, unsuited to age group, encourages children to disobey authority).
•7.Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (racism, insensitivity, offensive language).
•8.Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (offensive language, sexual content, occult, satanism).
•9. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor (insensitivity, racism and offensive language).
•10. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George (sexual content, offensive language, violence, unsuited to age group). | |
