Stephenie Meyer’s ‘Twilight Saga’ Frequently Challenged

By Maryann Yin 

twilight.jpgNovelist Stephenie Meyer has joined J.K. Rowling on the list of the most frequently-challenged books. According to the 2009 American Library Association’s (ALA) list, the Twilight Saga was challenged for various reasons, including: “sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group.”

Several other young-adult authors join Meyer including Lauren Myracle’s Internet Girls series, Robert Cormier’s Chocolate War, and Carolyn Macker’s The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things. Myracle’s series captured the top spot for “nudity, sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group, drugs.” Meyer seems to be the only fantasy-genre author on the list.

The Guardian spoke with Angela Maycock from the Office for Intellectual Freedom. She explained: “‘It is the books which are read frequently which are frequently challenged–with all the hype around Twilight and the movies and the celebrities I was actually surprised Meyer’s books weren’t higher.'”


The ALA reported that Rowling’s Harry Potter series have been the most challenged books of the decade due to discontent and accusations of “satanism” as well as “anti-family themes.” Note that Ms. Rowling hasn’t made the top 10 list since 2003 despite the fact that the final Harry Potter installment was not published until 2007.