The Books That Texas Banned

As first lady, Laura Bush made it a mission to encourage a love of reading, but in her home state of Texas books are often viewed with suspicion, including such classics as Nineteen Eighty-Four and Peter Pan.

In its annual review of state schools and libraries, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas this week identifies 62 titles that were removed from school libraries during the 2003-04 school year following objections from parents or teachers. Restrictions were placed on an additional 33 books, including George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, following objections from the parent of a ninth grade student.

Here - as with most books banned in Texas last year - the reason cited was inappropriate sexual content. Among the titles taken off the shelves were two sex education books for younger children.

However, some books were banned because they touched on topics deemed unsuitable for children, such as The Upstairs Room, the autobiography of Johanna Reiss, who survived the Nazi holocaust by going into hiding.

The school in Waco said the book was removed because of strong language and story content. Several books by and about African-Americans were also banned, including Richard Wright's coming of age story, Black Boy, after objections were raised to language and sexual content, and Alice Walker's Pulitzer-prize winning novel, The Colour Purple.