2020’s top banned books
Anti-racist messages aimed at kids drew the most challenges By Nara Schoenberg, Chicago Tribune
Published: April 18, 2021, 6:05am
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As recently as 2010, the award-winning teen novel “Looking for Alaska” topped the American Library Association’s list of books most often challenged by parents and community members, thanks largely to a single sex scene.
Just two years ago, eight of the 10 books on the ALA’s most-banned list featured LGBTQ topics.
But 2020 was a year like no other, and that was reflected in the books Americans tried to exile from classrooms and library shelves. Four of the top 10 most challenged or banned books of 2020 named by the American Library Association tackled issues highlighted by the Black Lives Matter movement, including anti-Black racism and allegations of police brutality.
As recently as 2010, the award-winning teen novel âLooking for Alaskaâ topped the American Library Associationâs list of books most often challenged by parents and community members, thanks largely to a single sex scene.
Just two years ago, eight of the 10 books on the ALAâs most-banned list featured LGBTQ topics.
But 2020 was a year like no other, and that was reflected in the books Americans tried to exile from classrooms and library shelves. Four of the top 10 most challenged or banned books of 2020 named by the American Library Association tackled issues highlighted by the Black Lives Matter movement, including anti-Black racism and allegations of police brutality.
American Library Association s Most-Challenged and Banned Book List: Photos businessinsider.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from businessinsider.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
What got books challenged or banned in 2020?
By Nara Schoenberg - Chicago Tribune
“Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You,” by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds.
As recently as 2010, the award-winning teen novel “Looking for Alaska” topped the American Library Association’s list of books most often challenged by parents and community members, thanks largely to a single sex scene.
Just two years ago, eight of the 10 books on the ALA’s most-banned list featured LGBTQ topics.
But 2020 was a year like no other, and that was reflected in the books Americans tried to exile from classrooms and library shelves. Four of the top 10 most challenged or banned books of 2020 named by the American Library Association tackled issues highlighted by the Black Lives Matter movement, including anti-Black racism and allegations of police brutality.
Elaine Thompson/AP Photo
The organization released its list of the 10 most challenged and banned books.
It included a children s book about a police shooting, which caused controversy in Minneapolis.
More Americans were challenging and seeking to ban books about racism and antiracism in 2020 than previous years, according to the American Library Association (ALA).
The group s 2020 Top 10 Most Challenged Books list, released this week, mirrored a growing conversation about race and racial equity in the US, Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, told Insider. This year and I think it reflects what our nation s growing concern with racial injustice and the incidents of police violence against black persons we ve seen an increase in challenges to antiracist books and books that criticized police violence, she said.