Scary - the 100 most banned books of the last decade

**Wayward Clam** · March 10th, 2003, 02:26 AM

This is downright freaky!

From http://www.ala.org/bbooks/top100bannedbooks.html

In order below, from 1 to 100. I have read or read parts of 22 of them, and the frightening part is, about half of those I would rank as some of the best writing I have ever read... How many of them have you read?

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#1 most challenged books: 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

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

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

**NooNoo** · March 10th, 2003, 04:41 AM

A couple of those I had to read for my English Literature Exam at 16!

Why doesn't Lady Chatterly's Lover appear?

**Cleetus** · March 10th, 2003, 09:36 AM

Why do they even bother with Stephen King? What the heck was wrong with James and the Giant Peach?

DOn't even get me started on Americas greatest Author, Mark Twain.

**+Daemon+** · March 10th, 2003, 10:29 AM

they ban these but no pornos hummm

**Archangel42069** · March 10th, 2003, 12:32 PM

WHERE"S WALDO????? Come ON!!!!! Those books are as innocuous as "The Monster at the End of This Book".....

**goinpostal** · March 10th, 2003, 12:37 PM

The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell

LOL my llittle brother almost blew himself up after reading this when he was like 13 or 14.

No need to ban books anymore you can get far worse on the web nowadays. Things that no publisher would ever publish.

I think its cause Waldo has teh gay

**Imon Fyre** · March 10th, 2003, 12:52 PM

ok some of those choices are retarded..

like the sex ed books?? why ban those? and most of the books on there that i have read i had to read in high school for english, and yet others are movies that i have seen, ex, harry potter and Brave New World..

[rant]
is this an american list or, what?? cuz if it is, i'm surprised that they did not include some other titles in it as well... keep in mind i have nothing against the author im about to name, but if its an american list, i'm surprised that there are no George Orwell books up there, as he seems to be somewhat of a proponent of communism... at least that what i get from animal farm and the little bit ive read of 1984....and we all know how the american government feels about communism....

and what the hell are they thinkin g by banning Mark Twain?? i dont really see any problem with him... other than thats not the guys real name, but dont most authors do the same thing.. thats what were doing, using our screen names, to keep a certain degree of anyonimity.

Governments are stupid sometimes.. 'nuff said[/rant]

**Archangel42069** · March 10th, 2003, 12:57 PM

Originally posted by Imon Fyre
ok some of those choices are retarded..

like the sex ed books?? why ban those? and most of the books on there that i have read i had to read in high school for english, and yet others are movies that i have seen, ex, harry potter and Brave New World..

[rant]
is this an american list or, what?? cuz if it is, i'm surprised that they did not include some other titles in it as well... keep in mind i have nothing against the author im about to name, but if its an american list, i'm surprised that there are no George Orwell books up there, as he seems to be somewhat of a proponent of communism... at least that what i get from animal farm and the little bit ive read of 1984....and we all know how the american government feels about communism....

and what the hell are they thinkin g by banning Mark Twain?? i dont really see any problem with him... other than thats not the guys real name, but dont most authors do the same thing.. thats what were doing, using our screen names, to keep a certain degree of anyonimity.

Governments are stupid sometimes.. 'nuff said[/rant]

Ummm...Animal Farm was meant to show the problems with communism...

**ephmynus** · March 10th, 2003, 02:04 PM

Wow... I've read a lot of those books and loved 'em... I bet Stephen King is proud

**meatwad** · March 10th, 2003, 03:17 PM

Originally posted by Imon Fyre

and what the hell are they thinkin g by banning Mark Twain?? i dont really see any problem with him... other than thats not the guys real name, but dont most authors do the same thing.. thats what were doing, using our screen names, to keep a certain degree of anyonimity.

It's because they use the word nigger in it. I can understand barring some of these books as school assignments for younger kids, but you can't keep them from reading them in their own free time. That's up to the parents.

**techguy13** · March 10th, 2003, 03:34 PM

Originally posted by Imon Fyre
ok some of those choices are retarded..

...
[rant]
is this an american list or, what?? cuz if it is, i'm surprised that they did not include some other titles in it as well... keep in mind i have nothing against the author im about to name, but if its an american list, i'm surprised that there are no George Orwell books up there, as he seems to be somewhat of a proponent of communism... at least that what i get from animal farm and the little bit ive read of 1984....and we all know how the american government feels about communism....

...

Governments are stupid sometimes.. 'nuff said[/rant]

George Orwell’s Animal Farm and the often quoted but little read 1984 are treatise against totalitarian societies. In these days of Fatherland security, ah I mean Motherland security, ahhh errr Homeland, ya that’s it Homeland security George’s work takes on a much more ominous significance than even during the cold war.

What’s with Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mocking Bird being banned. Some of the books on that list are not worth the paper they are printed on let alone the time it would take to read them. But Harper’s book is a great story told by a master writer. I swear literacy just scares some people.

Just reading over the list again and I am surprised that Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is on the list and not the Grapes of Wrath. Though FDR credits the Grapes of Wrath for being a primary influence for the New Deal and consequently the reinvention of the faltering American Republic during the 1930s the conclusion to the Grapes of Wrath has an incredibly powerful socialist image much more so than that Of Mice and Men. I am assuming it is the strong socialist themes of Steinbeck's work that landed Of Mice and Men on the list and not cruelty to bunnies.

**Stalemate** · March 10th, 2003, 04:24 PM

Originally posted by meatwad
It's because they use the word nigger in it. I can understand barring some of these books as school assignments for younger kids, but you can't keep them from reading them in their own free time. That's up to the parents.

I'll bet the majority of those books are banned simply out of a desire to be politically correct, not necessarily because they promote questionable values.