'Twilight' series makes most challenged books list

My wife and her friends are like a lot of women these days. They're all big fans of the “Twilight” book series by Stephenie Meyer, which I admittedly have never read and don’t know much about, aside from what I’ve seen in the movie adaptations of the books.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the “Twilight” series, it’s about vampires in the Pacific Northwest and their interactions and relationships with the good folks that live in that part of the world. By all accounts, these books fall into the category of young adult fiction.

That was why I was more than a little surprised to find that the entire “Twilight” series made the American Library Association’s list of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2009.

Below you’ll find the complete list, and folks from the Monroeville area may be a little steamed to learn that Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” was No. 4 on the list. After the title and author of each book are the reasons cited for the challenges in parentheses.

1. “ttyl,” “ttfn,” “l8r, g8r” (series) by Lauren Myracle (Nudity, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs)

2. “And Tango Makes Three” by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson (Homosexuality)

3. “The Perks of Being A Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky (Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Anti-Family, Offensive Language, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs, Suicide)

4. “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper (Racism, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group)

5. “Twilight” (series) by Stephenie Meyer (Sexually Explicit, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group)

6. “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger (Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group)

7. “My Sister’s Keeper” by Jodi Picoult (Sexism, Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs, Suicide, Violence)

8. “The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things” by Carolyn Mackler (Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group)

9. “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker (Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group)

10. “The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier (Nudity, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group)

In the end, how many of these books have you read? What did you think about them? Were you offended by them? Which would you recommend to a friend? Let us know in the comments section below.