I felt a like I should do a bit more on the whole Banned Books Week thing, so instead of my usual 5, I'm going to point you to this handy-dandy list of the Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books of the Past Decade.
I'm bolding the books on this list that I've read.
1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
2. Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
4. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
5. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
7. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
8. His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
9. ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series), by Myracle, Lauren
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
11. Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers
12. It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris
13. Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey
14. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
15. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
16. Forever, by Judy Blume
17. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
18. Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
19. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
20. King and King, by Linda de Haan
21. To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
22. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar
23. The Giver, by Lois Lowry
24. In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak
25. Killing Mr. Griffen, by Lois Duncan
26. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
27. My Brother Sam Is Dead, by James Lincoln Collier
28. Bridge To Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
29. The Face on the Milk Carton, by Caroline B. Cooney
30. We All Fall Down, by Robert Cormier
31. What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
32. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
33. Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson
34. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler
35. Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging, by Louise Rennison
36. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
37. It’s So Amazing, by Robie Harris
38. Arming America, by Michael Bellasiles
39. Kaffir Boy, by Mark Mathabane
40. Life is Funny, by E.R. Frank
41. Whale Talk, by Chris Crutcher
42. The Fighting Ground, by Avi
43. Blubber, by Judy Blume
44. Athletic Shorts, by Chris Crutcher
45. Crazy Lady, by Jane Leslie Conly
46. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
47. The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby, by George Beard
48. Rainbow Boys, by Alex Sanchez
49. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
50. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
51. Daughters of Eve, by Lois Duncan
52. The Great Gilly Hopkins, by Katherine Paterson
53. You Hear Me?, by Betsy Franco
54. The Facts Speak for Themselves, by Brock Cole
55. Summer of My German Soldier, by Bette Green
56. When Dad Killed Mom, by Julius Lester
57. Blood and Chocolate, by Annette Curtis Klause
58. Fat Kid Rules the World, by K.L. Going
59. Olive’s Ocean, by Kevin Henkes
60. Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
61. Draw Me A Star, by Eric Carle
62. The Stupids (series), by Harry Allard
63. The Terrorist, by Caroline B. Cooney
64. Mick Harte Was Here, by Barbara Park
65. The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien
66. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred Taylor
67. A Time to Kill, by John Grisham
68. Always Running, by Luis Rodriguez
69. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
70. Harris and Me, by Gary Paulsen
71. Junie B. Jones (series), by Barbara Park
72. Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
73. What’s Happening to My Body Book, by Lynda Madaras
74. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
75. Anastasia (series), by Lois Lowry
76. A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
77. Crazy: A Novel, by Benjamin Lebert
78. The Joy of Gay Sex, by Dr. Charles Silverstein
79. The Upstairs Room, by Johanna Reiss
80. A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck
81. Black Boy, by Richard Wright
82. Deal With It!, by Esther Drill
83. Detour for Emmy, by Marilyn Reynolds
84. So Far From the Bamboo Grove, by Yoko Watkins
85. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, by Chris Crutcher
86. Cut, by Patricia McCormick
87. Tiger Eyes, by Judy Blume
88. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
89. Friday Night Lights, by H.G. Bissenger
90. A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L’Engle
91. Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George
92. The Boy Who Lost His Face, by Louis Sachar
93. Bumps in the Night, by Harry Allard
94. Goosebumps (series), by R.L. Stine
95. Shade’s Children, by Garth Nix
96. Grendel, by John Gardner
97. The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende
98. I Saw Esau, by Iona Opte
99. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume
100. America: A Novel, by E.R. Frank
I know, it's sad. There are a lot of classics on there I have not read, but I do plan on reading many of them.
So, how many books on the list have YOU read? Which ones are you surprised made the list?
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| Check out my awesome Threadless shirt, Fahrenheit 451 |
So I encourage you to READ, explore, and THINK. Make your own decisions.
Celebrate BOOKS!
For more Banned Books Week awesomeness, check out Le R and Tahereh's Banned Book Bonanza - where they and a bunch of other bloggers review their favorite banned books.
Have a lovely, lovely weekend, friends. I'll catch you on the flip side.
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12 comments:
1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 14, 16, 17!, 18, 19, 21, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 43, 46, 49, 51, 52?, 55, 57, 62, 66?, 69, 71, 74, 76, 80?, 88!, 90!, 91, 94, 97!, 99.
Exclamation points for the ones I loved, would not be the person I am today had I not read them. (? for ones I'm 98% positive I read, but don't remember.
Junie B. Jones really surprises me, the one I read aloud to my little cousin was in Hawai'i and it was adorable. Very realistic voice.
I had to read a lot of these in HS, or AP English, so I guess I had a pretty liberal education. But the Face on the Milk Carton? Maybe it's been a while since I read it, but I don't remember anything that might have been objectionable. Of course, I was a kid when I read it, so what did I know, right? ;)
Great post!
I've only read 8 books on that list. *hides in shame*
I agree with you about Fahrenheit 451. I remember reading it in school and having chills run down my back.
Dang, I am feeling pretty much like a loser right about now. I've only read a few of those books. *hangs head in shame*
Friday Night Lights!?!you've got to be shitting me.
a lot of the books I've never heard of, and a lot of the others surprise me by being on the list.
I suppose it's as hard to tell what will push people's "in bad taste" buttons as it is to tell what book will breakout unexpectedly.
although, hmm, there's often a correlation. These lists always make me think that the primary reason some books cause public ruckus is because they dared to be succesful without permission from the Committee of Good Taste and Exmplary Morals. if that makes sense?
It makes sense that A prayer for Owen Meany would be on the list, since Irving rips right into Christianity and the Messiah myth, although I thought The World According to Garp caused more outrage.
You really should read Kurt Vonnegut, his humor is so quirky it's impossible to describe. Slaughterhouse-5 is a good book to start with, although my favourite is Mother Night.
Bradbury -- Fahrenheit was cool, but I like his Martian shorts much more. if you haven't seen it already, then go to youtube and search for "Fuck me, Ray Bradury." is a fan video a woman made, quite funny. apparently Bradury liked it.
Tere- Wow! You've read many! You put me to shame! A lot of mine were for English classes too. The year we did Of Mice and Men, there was a brief issue when some parent (not from my honors class) objected to it because they thought it put women in a bad light or some REALLY strange/not what you'd expect reasoning.
Sandy- Well, if you've read the entire Harry Potter series, I think that technically counts as 7 books. So think of it like that! :) Besides, I didn't fair much better than you.
Ali- I haven't read that many either! I mean, a bunch of them, it's like what??? Catcher in the Rye, A Wrinkle in Time?! How have I not read these?!
David- Totally get what you mean. A lot of times, the reason people want to ban a book has very little to do with the actual content. Like a reason for banning To Kill a Mockingbird is "language" because it uses the n-word. Yes, that's pretty offensive language, but it's kind of like: okay in the time period and context of that story, it makes sense and it's there to illustrate a point. Also, it's not like they drop that in at every other word throughout the book.
Vonnegut is funny! I've read Galapagos; I know a weird Vonnegut to read, not one of the famous ones. I read it for my Anthro class, but it was funny. I have Slaughterhouse, so I will definitely hit that up soon.
Okay, why is Junie B. Jones on there? I mean, seriously?! My daughter reads those out loud to me and they're funny. Book banners are just bizarre!
And Tango Makes Three is a great picture book about two male penguins raising a chick. It's a TRUE story. I love that there are gay penguins in the world!
I've read 21 of the books on the list and five others are in my TBR pile :)
Great list!!! Actually, Fantastic list!!! I've read about 15 on the list, and that is pretty awful if you ask me! I need to start looking at the list and reading them because a lot are one's I have on the TBR pile!!!
Great post!
I haven't read that many. Mostly because I'm shallow and don't read classics. You're better than me by saying you will. I have no intentions to do so. :)
I read 26 of them, but I'd like to get to them all.
yeah quite a list, and I'm glad i read quite a few of them!
I've read a bunch on that list, and some I'm shocked that were banned. Actually, no, I take that back. I'm shocked that banning even happens.
The Giver by Lois Lowry? So now dystopian is bad? Whatever.
I've read about 24 of these book, and I wished I had time to read them all.
Great post!
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