Most frequently challenged books

Last month, Harry Potter protesters in Alamogordo, N.M., burned piles of the books to show their disapproval, while middle schools in Grafton, Mass., banned Melba Pattillo Beals's 1994 book "Warriors Don't Cry" after a parent objected to a passage that describes a sexual assault. The following are the most frequently challenged books in 2000, according to the latest American Library Association list:

1. Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling, for occult/Satanism and antifamily themes.

2. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier, for violence and offensive language.

3. Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, for sexual content.

4. Killing Mr. Griffin, by Lois Duncan, for violence and sexual content.

5. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, for using offensive language, racism, and violence.

6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou, for being too explicit in the book's portrayal of rape and other sexual abuse.

7. Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers, for offensive language, racism, and violence.

8. Scary Stories series, by Alvin Schwartz, for violence and occult themes.

9. The Terrorist, by Caroline Cooney, for negatively portraying the Islamic religion and Arabs.

10. The Giver, by Lois Lowry, for being sexually explicit, having occult themes, violence.