If you don't know where Waldo is, you're exactly where they want you...

The American Library Association has designated the last week in September as Banned Books Week. Take some time to exercise your first amendment rights by reading a book that has been challenged or banned. Those rights that allow you to read these books are the same rights that allow us to pursue the idea that people actually care what we have to say on our blogs.

Don't have time to read? Here are a couple of titles from the list of The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000 that won't take too much time out of your week:

25. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak

26. The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard

51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein

And the only thing surprising about this one being on the list is that it came in so far down:

88. Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford

The Forbidden Library is another great resource, compiling many books that have been banned or challenged in the U.S., as well as the reasons for which they were banned. While many books are banned because they deal with issues that tend to get the average uptight American's panties in a bunch (such as sex, drugs, or women voters), some surprising challenges include this one, which makes me embarrassed to be from the Metro Detroit area:

Zen Buddhism: Selected Writings. D.T. Suzuki. Doubleday. Challenged at the Plymouth-Canton school system in Canton, Mich. (1987) because "this book details the teachings of the religion of Buddhism in such a way that the reader could very likely embrace its teachings and choose this as his religion."

As you go through the lists on either site, you'll see a lot of favorites from your childhood. I know I did; and while I may have issues, as the professionals like to call them, I really doubt that I got them from reading How to Eat Fried Worms.