QUICK TAKES - April 16, 2009

“The Kite Runner,” Khaled Hosseini’s million-selling novel about friendship and betrayal between two Afghan boys, a book club favorite that became a feature film, was among the releases most likely to inspire complaints last year from parents, educators and others, the American Library Assn. reported today.

“The Kite Runner,” which includes a rape scene, has been criticized for offensive language and sexual content.

The association listed 513 challenges last year, an increase of 93 from 2007 but well below the 700 and higher annual totals in the 1990s. The group defines a challenge as a “formal, written complaint filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness.”

For the third year in a row, the most challenged book was “And Tango Makes Three,” Justin Richardson’s and Peter Parnell’s award-winning picture story about two male penguins who become parents. “Tango” was cited for being anti-family, pro-gay and anti-religion.