Sex is impermanent, but Judy Blume is forever.

Guess what, kids? It's Banned Books Week! (More info here) To celebrate, here are a few of the most challenged books of the past 15 years, with commentary where applicable.

(This is in roughly chronological order, and is via the ALA)

Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck.

The Adventures of Huck Finn, Mark Twain.

Meanwhile, over here in the real world, these are two of the books that put their illustrious authors within the pantheon. Huckleberry Finn is one of the giants among banned books alone.

The Bridge To Terabithia, Katherine Paterson

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

The Great Gilly Hopkins, Katherine Paterson

Again these are books considered well-loved classics by many, and award-winners.

On the other hand...

Sex, Madonna.

Ok, so this book seems kind of joyless and gratuitous to me. Still, banning it was just playing right into Madonna's hands.

Judy Blume, Forever.

I liked this book a lot.

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

J. D. Salinger, Catcher in the Rye

Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Goosebumps & Fear Street, R. L. Stine.

About these Stine series: They have to have gotten more kids to read than anything until the Harry Potter series (about which more in a moment).

Blubber: Judy Blume.
Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan

Again: Blume was like the great teacher so many of us wanted but rarely got. And Duncan was one of the best writers for young adults there's ever been.

Go Ask Alice -Anonymous.

The Harry Potter series, by JK Rowling.

I can't say this enough: I haven't read the Potter books, although I have seen all the movies, but I love anything that gets that many kids that excited about reading. Fantastic.

Maurice Sendak In the Night Kitchen

Is there anything happier than art by Maurice Sendak?

The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman

I haven't read this or seen the movie, but I take it as a matter of faith that anything the religious Right and Bill Donohue attacks must have something I would like in it.

Similarly, I haven't read--

And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson & Peter Parnell

--Based on the true story of the gay male penguin couple at the Central Park Zoo.

But Parnell, besides having been a producer and writer on "The West Wing," was also Aaron Sorkin's writing teacher, and has written many plays.

As always, what books the (brain-dead segments of our) country seeks to ban reveals the serious hang-ups of our society. The Chocolate War, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Golden Compass and And Tango Makes Three were still among the most-challenged books of the year in 2007.

This suggests to me that we're still hung-up about sex, race, religion, language, violence, nationalism, sexism, homosexuality, conservative definitions of what a "family" is and oversensitivity.

But I kind of knew that.

What it also suggests to me--and I kind of knew this too--is that we have absolutely no appreciation for context.

Is there offensive (at least to some) language in The Chocolate War? Yes. Is it language that even the most cloistered Catholic school student is unlikely to have heard by their teens? No. Is there violence? Yes. Is the violence treated lightly? Absolutely not.

How about Huck Finn? Is there racist language in it? Yes, but as the creator of this Mark Twain page points out,

since the action of the book takes place in the south twenty years before the Civil War, it would be amazing if they didn't use ["the N"] word.

But is the book itself racist? Again, absolutely not, and quite the contrary.

Here's the 2007 top 10 (again via the ALA). I think if I were a parent, I'd be looking into finding out more about these books, and getting some of them for my children.

10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

9. It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris

8) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

7. TTYL by Lauren Myracle

6. The Color Purple by Alice Walker

5) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain

4. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

3. Olive’s Ocean by Kevin Henkes

2. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

1. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson & Peter Parnell

And with the possibility of someone who had to ask whether it was ok to ban books becoming "a heartbeat away from the presidency"...I think this week and the ideas behind it matter more than ever.