'Hunger Games' on Challenged List in Libraries
For the second year in a row "The Hunger Games" is on the American Libraries Association list of most challenged books for the past year.
According to reports from the Associated Press the American Libraries Association Office of Intellectual Freedom states that this year Susan Collins' "The Hunger Games" ranked third on the list.
The association defines a challenge as "a formal, written complaint filed with a library or school requesting that a book or other material be restricted or removed because of its content or appropriateness."
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But it may be more than the just the content that led to the increased complaints. Officials of the ALA have stated that it could have been due to the wide publicity and popularity of the trilogy which contributed.
Barbara Jones, director of the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom, broad base of appeal produced by "The Hunger Games" led to the a "closer criticism of the books."
"For instance, there was complaining about the choice of actors for the film. You had people saying someone was dark-skinned in the book, but not in the film, or dark-skinned in the film and not in the book. In general, a lot more people were aware of the books and that led to more kinds of complaint," according to AP.
But the books' author even admitted that the books may not be for all people and that some may find her work offensive due to the nature of the story.
"People were concerned about the level of violence in the books. That's not unreasonable. They are violent. It's a war trilogy," Collins said.
The ALA reported a total of 326 challenges which was down from the 348 challenges recorded last year. Officials from the ALA also stated that for every complaint filed there are others that go unrecorded.
