Every year for the past 27 years the American Library Association sponsors Banned Books Week: The Freedom To Read
Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, this annual ALA event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted. BBW celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where the freedom to express oneself and the freedom to choose what opinions and viewpoints to consume are both met.
This year read a banned book week falls on:
Saturday 2009 September 26 – Saturday 2009 October 03
The American Library Association maintains a list of The Top 100 Banned Novels Of The 20th Century for your reading pleasure.
You can also view a Google Map of currently challenged books in the U.S. and click on a location to read about the book where people are attempting to ban it and why.
If you are feeling more on the edge, you can choose to read a book from the American Library Associations list of The Top Ten Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2008:
- And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
Reasons: anti-ethnic, anti-family, homosexuality, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to age group
- His Dark Materials trilogy, by Philip Pullman
Reasons: political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, and violence
- TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R (series), by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group
- Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
Reasons: occult/satanism, religious viewpoint, and violence
- Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
Reasons: occult/satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, and violence
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: drugs, homosexuality, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, suicide, and unsuited to age group
- Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group
- Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, by Sarah S. Brannen
Reasons: homosexuality and unsuited to age group
- The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group
- Flashcards of My Life, by Charise Mericle Harper
Reasons: sexually explicit and unsuited to age group
Happy forbidden reading! 
That map is loaded with false and misleading information. No books have been banned in the USA for about a half a century. See “National Hogwash Week.” It’s sad to see American Library Association propaganda so willingly rebroadcast.
Dan;
To be be clear the word the American Library Association uses on their site is “challenged” as in trying to remove from a library, but not yet successful ( perhaps due to things like Banned Book Week? ).
The phrase I used to refer to the map is:
“attempting to ban”
No, these books haven’t been banned… this is to keep people from trying to destroy art for other people because of swearing, homosexuality, or anything… and this promotes these often popular books because ALA believes this is wrong.