American Library Association
© ALAWASHINGTON (AFP) - The American Library Association (ALA) highlights the potty humored protagonist, who moves "faster than a speeding waistband" in its annual Banned Books Week, dedicated to works opponents want stripped from the shelves of public and school libraries.
Complaints reflect America's culture wars, often waged by conservative religious groups opposed to the portrayal of sex, vulgarity or homosexual lifestyles in children's fiction.
Even the classics have come under fire in the last year, according to ALA statistics : people have complained that John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" contains racism, violent language and sexism.
Maya Angelou's acclaimed autobiography "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" the story of growing up as an African American in the 1930s Depression, has been rapped by some parents as containing racism, homosexuality and offensive language unsuitable for children.
Complaints have been levelled at some works -- even though the expressed purpose of their author was to expose issues like racism and poverty.
The ALA says Banned Books Week which runs from September 24 to October 1, is designed to raise awareness among Americans about the threat to intellectual freedom and the dangers of censorship.
"We firmly believe it is the right and responsibility of parents to make decisions about what their child reads," Beverley Becker, associate director of the ALA office of intellectual property told AFP.
Librarians under the ALA banner say every parent has the right and responsibility to decide what their child reads -- but should not be allowed to outlaw books they decide are "unsuitable."
"We don't want them to go that next step and say, 'because this book is not suitable for my child, because I don't want my child to read Harry Potter, I don't think anyone else's kid should read Harry Potter either and I want it pulled out of the library,'" Becker said.
For the first time in five years, Harry Potter, with his brew of magic, and growing teenage angst has not made ALA's list of 10 most targeted books.
J.K. Rowling's boy wizard has been attacked in the past as inciting bad behavior and by religious conservative groups who accuse him of glorifying magic in manner detrimental to Christianity.
Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" has been attacked for its racial language, and its use as a text in schools has been questioned by those who view its potrayal of the "ugly truth" of racism and slavery, as contrary to modern standards.
Three of the most challenged books of 2004, Angelou's work, "King and King" by Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland, and "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," by Stephen Chbosky, were cited by critics for homosexual themes.
"The voices and stories of gays and lesbians cannot be silenced in our culture or on our bookshelves," said ALA President Michael Gorman.
In the past 10 years, books like "James and the Giant Peach" by Roald Dahl, "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, William Golding's "Lord of the Flies", "J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye" and Twain's "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" have all made the list.
The ALA, which is organising a host of events in libraries across America to mark Banned Books Week, said it received 547 challenges last year, up from 458 in 2003.
Robert Cormier's "The Chocolate War" topped the list drawing complaints from parents over its sexual context, language and religious viewpoint.
Conservative groups, which have in the past criticised the Banned Books week, did not immediately comment on Tuesday.
But one group, Mission America, has branded the week on its website as a "smokescreen of hypocrisy" and accused US libraries of censoring books which lay out the conservative, religious viewpoint on homosexuality.
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