Bested by only
To Kill a Mockingbird, the popular
gay-themed novel Geography Club has been named
the second-most banned book by the American Booksellers
Association.
Every year the
association lists its Banned Books Book Sense Top Ten
Picks. The group's list precedes Banned Books Week, which
brings attention to issues of censorship in the United
States and starts on September 24.
"People don't
like to think that censorship is happening right now in
America because the very act of censorship is so
un-American," Geography Club author Brent Hartinger
said in a statement. "But it is happening, and gay
books are very frequently the ones being challenged."
Other books on
the list included Judy Blume's Forever and Lois
Lowry's The Giver. (The Advocate)