Doesn’t it seem that some books are banned or challenged for silly reasons? During the last week of September, the ALA encourages people to read books that have been banned. I know that’s a long time away, but I thought I’d jump on the meme wagon and highlight the books I’ve read from ALA’s 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000.

Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling (Well ok, only the first one SO FAR)
Forever by Judy Blume
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Giver by Lois Lowry
It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Sex by Madonna
Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (LOVED this book as a 7 year old kid! Oh the blasphemy!)
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
The Goats by Brock Cole
Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
Blubber by Judy Blume
Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
Final Exit by Derek Humphry
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
Deenie by Judy Blume
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
Cujo by Stephen King
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
Fade by Robert Cormier
Guess What? by Mem Fox
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Native Son by Richard Wright
Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday
Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Jack by A.M. Homes
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
Carrie by Stephen King
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
Family Secrets by Norma Klein
Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
Private Parts by Howard Stern
Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
Sex Education by Jenny Davis
The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

Hmm, so I haven't read TOO many off this list, but keep in mind that every year the list is somewhat different. What I find funny is that several of these books were assigned to me in elementary and middle school. But of course, the funniest thing is that WHERE'S WALDO? is on the list! What the hell is so controversial about finding a guy in a striped shirt amongst a crowd??

Posted at 8:58 AM |

Yea, I guess I’m not as much of a rebel! And dude, M, are you serious about A Wrinkle in Time?? Have you NOT read it??

I know I read it more than once, but I still can’t remember too much about it. Although, Amazon puts the reading level at age 9-12, so how much do I rock! Woo.

Oddly though, despite the sci-fi description Kev gave, it’s not really that type of book.

JC is in that book? Hehe, all I remember is some guy with red eyes and mind control. I never get religious undertones.

3 | Posted by: Jennifer on January 19, 2005 @ 10:25 AM

Um, I don’t really think you could consider her a Frog. She grew up in NYC, and while she did move to the French Alps around age 12, she attended an English boarding school.

I have signed copies of Wrinkle in Time, Wind in the Door, and Swiftly Tilting Planet. I wonder where my mom put them….

And Mona, that’s cool. Do they just sell any book that they’ve heard is or has been banned somewhere, or like top 100 of the year? I know lots of books were banned years ago that aren’t now, and vice versa.

6 | Posted by: Jennifer on January 19, 2005 @ 12:47 PM

Ok, maybe it KINDA is, but I’ll just quote someone who backs me up:

“Has the general appearance of being science fiction, but it’s not. There is a mystery, mysticism, an indefinable, brooding horror….[This book] is original, different, exciting.”
— Saturday Review

I don’t generally like sci-fi, but I liked this book. Therefore, it either must not be sci-fi, or I was a weird little kid. By this criteria, we must also conclude that the book is also not a religious allegory, as I dislike those as well.

8 | Posted by: Jennifer on January 19, 2005 @ 3:09 PM

LOL ok, well what about this review from the good folks at Amazon.com:

This is no superhero tale, nor is it science fiction, although it shares elements of both. The travelers must rely on their individual and collective strengths, delving deep within themselves to find answers.

Look, TWO internet sources can’t be wrong! ;)

10 | Posted by: Jennifer on January 19, 2005 @ 3:43 PM

I’m not sure really what you’re getting at. I mean, I can KINDA tell, but not really. Are you implying that people would want it simply because it’s not purely of one genre that someone dislikes? Because in your analogy, I do hate nuts and would hate them in any incarnation, no matter how diluted. So I could make that argument for sci-fi lit.

12 | Posted by: Jennifer on January 20, 2005 @ 9:46 AM