Banned Books Week's Top 10 Heroes Revealed You can't keep a good book down. That's the reason why booksellers, librarians, publishers, teachers and a huge community of avid readers around the world gather each year in the last week of September to champion suppressed literature and the freedom to seek and express ideas. Banned Books Week was first launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries, according to the American Library Association (ALA). Since then, more than 11,300 books have been challenged in libraries or schools. Even in 2012, the Office of Intellectual Freedom recorded 464 challenges, but the ALA estimates that up to 80 percent are never even reported. Among the literary works highlighted in this year's Banned Book Week, held Sept. 22 to 28 in the U.S., a list of top 10 challenged titles were plucked out of a catalogue of submissions from readers or various media reports around the world. See if you recognize any of the following heroes of this year's Banned Books fair: "Captain Underpants" (series) by Dav Pilkey Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited for age group "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie Reasons: Offensive language, racism, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group "Thirteen Reasons Why" by Jay Asher Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited for age group "Fifty Shades of Grey" by E. L. James Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit "And Tango Makes Three" by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson Reasons: Homosexuality, unsuited for age group "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini Reasons: Homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit "Looking for Alaska" by John Green Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group "Scary Stories" (series) by Alvin Schwartz Reasons: Unsuited for age group, violence "The Glass Castle" by Jeanette Walls "Beloved" by Toni Morrison Reasons: Sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, violence