According to its website, the American Library Association recently released its annual list of the top ten most challenged books in America. The list is compiled each year based on the number of reported complaints the ALA receives from schools and libraries. The holder of this year’s top spot is And Tango Makes Three, a book about two male Emperor Penguins that hatch and raise a baby chick at the New York Central Park Zoo. For the past five years, this book, written for children, has made a home on this list. Rounding out the top three are Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.

Long-time members of the annual list, The Color Purple, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Catcher in the Rye were spared inclusion this year. A variety of reasons, which portray American cultural and ideological concerns, for why these books are challenged are cited alongside each member of the list, including things like religious viewpoint, homosexuality, sexually explicit content, violence, and unsuitability for certain age groups.

“While we firmly support the right of every reader to choose or reject a book… those objecting to a particular book should not… restrict other readers’ right to access and read that book,” said Barbara Jones, director of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “…we must have free access to a diverse range of viewpoints on the human condition in order to foster critical thinking and understanding. We must protect… the freedom to read.”

Visit http://ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pr.cfm?id=6874 for the full list.