Banned Book Week is celebrated on the final week of September and is organised by the American Library Association to celebrate the freedom to read.
They believe that everyone should be able to decide what to read for themselves, rather than have the decision made for them.
1. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) - Lewis Carroll
Banned in China in 1931 as General Ho Chien (the censor) believed that attributing human language to animals was an insult to humans. He feared that the book would teach children to regard animals on the same level, which would be "disastrous"!
2. Animal Farm (1945) - George Orwell
Orwell Struggled to get his book published due to the criticism of the U.S.S.R. Once it was published, it was naturally banned in the U.S.S.R and other communist countries. It was also banned in United Arab Emirates schools as late as 2002 due to the talking pigs, which goes against Islamic values.
3. Catch-22 (1961) - Joseph Heller
Banned in several USA states (Strongsville Ohio, Dallas Texas and in Snoqualmie Washington) because it has several references to women as "whores"
4. Frankenstein (1818) - Mary Shelley
Banned in South Africa 1955 for being "obscene" or "indecent"
5. Green Eggs and Ham (1960) - Dr. Seuss
Banned in the People's Republic of China in 1965 for its 'portrayal of early Marxism'. The ban was lifted after Dr. Seuss' death in 1991.
6. Harry Potter Series (from 1997) - J K Rowling
Banned in several schools due to it not adhering to Christian values as it contains 'cult and satanic subtext'.
7. Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928) - D. H. Lawrence
Temporarily banned in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia for 'violation of obscenity laws'; all bans were lifted by 1965.
8. Lolita (1955) - Vladimir Nabokov
Banned in France, United Kingdom, Argentina, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada for being "obscene."
9. Tropic of Cancer (1934) - Henry Miller
Banned in the U.S.A in the 1930s - 1960s for sexually explicit content and vulgarity. Also banned in South Africa until the late 1980s.
10. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) - Mark Twain
Banned in several libraries after publication as the book was considered too 'crude'.