Banned Books Week is taking place from Sept. 25 to Oct. 1 this year, and is designed to celebrate our freedom to read... well, just about whatever you want. The official celebration was launched in 1982, in response to a surge in banned and challenged books. According to the American Library Association, over 11,300 books have been challenged by parents, schools, and librarians since then. When it comes to the banned books themselves, there are some notorious titles like the high school staple The Catcher in the Rye, which was banned for its pervasive use of profanity. But over the years, there have been a lot of books that have been challenged — some for really surprising reasons. Here are 12 books that you probably didn’t know were on that list:
