Banned Book Week is September 27 through October 3. Every day books are censored for any reasons ranging from "foul language" like "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain to "sexually explicit content" like "50 Shades of Grey," to "religious viewpoints" like the Holy Bible. Banned Book Week is an annual celebration to educate everyday people on how some of their favorite books can be challenged or banned and what about them made them worth challenging. So in honor of this week, here is my list of top banned or challenged books.

1. "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini

I originally read this in my high school senior AP English Literature class and I loved it. It has been challenged or banned on the reason of "homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoints and sexually explicit scenes." Personally, I loved that this book exposed me to a different side of an issue I had commonly heard about in my U.S. History classes.

2. "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley

This book looks at how to create a Utopian society around the concept of the assembly line (with Henry Ford serving as the equivalent of God). This was challenged on many principles including: sexually explicit content, drugs, suicide, and it portrayed the world in an incredibly negative light.

3. "Persepolis" by Marjane Satrapi

This is a graphic novel discussing ideas surrounding the life of a young girl who grew up amidst the Islamic Revolution in Iran. It has been challenged because of intense languages, themes and images.

4. "13 Reasons Why" by Jay Asher

This book handles the idea of a teen who has committed suicide and the implications behind it. For this reason it was challenged as too intense for certain readers.

5. "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson

This book looks at the effects of how a rumor that got the story wrong can affect one girl. It was challenged numerous times for reasons including: sexual immorality (on the basis that the book discusses sex not that the protagonist was raped), "soft porn" and religious beliefs.

6. The Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling

This was one of my favorite series growing up, and still is on my list of favorites. It has been challenged or banned on so many different claims, but the most popular being its portrayal of wizardry/witchcraft.

"Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neal Hurston

Zora Neal Hurson was one of the many writers to emerge from the Harlem Renaissance. Their Eyes Were Watching God is often considered her most popular book and has been challenged on the basis of language and sexual content.

8. "Go Ask Alice"

This memoir speaks of an anonymous voice of the challenges of drug and alcohol addiction and how hard it is to stay clean as well as the ambiguity of whether or not an overdose was accidental or intentional. It has been challenged on the basis of drugs, alcohol and sexually explicit content.

These are just a few of my favorite books that have been banned or challenged. To find more about banned or challenged books, go here, find a banned or challenged book you want to read and celebrate accordingly during Banned Book Week!