"Twilight" books increasingly banned from public schools, libraries

The best-selling vampire-themed  "Twilight" series of books topped the 2009 list of books that were removed from school and library shelves, Reuters reported.

The banned books list was recently published by the American Library Association.

The young adult novel series "ttyl," by Lauren Myracle, which are written entirely in the style of instant messages, topped the list of pulled books.

According to Reuters, Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" series, which have been turned into a blockbuster film franchise, were fifth on the 2009 list -- their first year in the annual compilation. They were challenged for being sexually explicit, religious views and being unsuitable for their age group.

The "ttyl" series was challenged for nudity,  inappropriate language and drug use.

The ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom defines a challenge as a formal written complaint filed with a library or a school requesting that material be removed from bookshelves or a school curriculum. It received 460 such reports in 2009 and they come from a variety of sources. Few are successful.

Harper Lee's 1960 Pulitzer Prize winning classic "To Kill a Mockingbird" came fourth because of challenges on the grounds of racism and language.

This thing is a joke on so many levels. For starters, "To Kill a Mockingbird," one of the most important books of our time, is a tool for educating youngsters about racism. What adult moron would assert that it promotes racism? Scary to think that there are some very dumb people who are responsible for educating our children.

Of course, the kiddy pop "Twilight" series shouldn't even be mentioned in the same conversation as "To Kill a Mockingbird."  One is over processed junk food, the other is a gourmet meal prepared with great detail, care and imagination.

Lastly, these ratings will only make certain books more popular. Kids will only want to read them more if they're banned at libraries, or even just recommended to be banned. I liken it to the PMRC movement that led to warning labels on music. So many crappy band got rich off of that because kids were buying certain albums just to be religious. That will always be Tipper Gore's legacy.