Meet Lauren Myracle's TTYL, first in a trilogy referred to as the 'Internet Girls,' originally published in 2004 and the most frequently challenged book in American schools in 2011 according to the ALA.
TTYL was dinged for "offensive language; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group." (I love these little blurbs; like the box below the rating on the green screen before a movie trailer, they are warnings that work better as joke prompts.) "Religious viewpoint" is the really confusing one for me in case you have read TTYL and want to fill me in.
Allegedly this is also the first novel ever to be published entirely in instant-message conversation, a fact that makes me want to read it more than whether or not it is appropriate for The Children, frankly. Remember instant messages? Those were good times.
Myracle's name might be familiar to you from a National Book Award debacle last fall that was in no way her fault and which she handled with exceptional class. Myracle's book SHINE, about a high school hate crime, was originally announced as a nominee only to have had the committee rescind it because they meant the similarly titled CHIME. Not such a great day for the NBA.
Among the rest of the list, the HUNGER GAMES trilogy ("anti-ethnic"; "occult/ satanic") made #3, the big-brother/ big-sister manual MY MOM'S HAVING A BABY! ("nudity") is listed at #4 and TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD shows that some people are still offended by children in ham costumes at #10.
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