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Alice Beats Harry Potter as Most-Challenged Series

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor’s Alice series topped the list of the “Ten Most Challenged Books of 2003,” a ranking issued annually by the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. Drawing criticism for sexual content, offensive language, and age-inappropriateness, the Alice series toppled Harry Potter from its reign as most-challenged series, a position the J. K. Rowling saga has held since 1999.

Released February 13, the list also included, in order of number of challenges reported:

  • the Harry Potter series, for its positive portrayal of wizardry and magic;
  • Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, for offensive language;
  • Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture by Michael A. Bellesiles, for inaccuracy;
  • Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers, for racism, sexual content, offensive language, portrayal of drug use, and violence;
  • Go Ask Alice by Anonymous, for portrayal of drug use;
  • It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris, for gay-positive language, drawings of nude people, and sexual content;
  • King and King by Linda de Haan, for homosexuality; and
  • Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, for offensive language and references to occultism and satanism.

Notable for its absence were Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey, and Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—all of which had been among the most challenged titles for the past several years. Last year, OIF received reports of 458 challenges, which are defined as formal, written complaints filed with a library or school requesting the removal of materials because of content.

Posted February 20, 2004.

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