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[digitaldiscipline]

[from marchenland, who got it elsewhere]


Banned Books Week 2004 is September 24-October 1. Here's the list of 100 Most Frequently Challenged (Banned) Books from the ALA; the one's I've read are in bold. Ones I was required to read for a class (Elementary, Middle, HS, or College) are marked with an asterisk [*]. Commentary as deemed appropriate.

1. Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
2. Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
4. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain*
6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck*
7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling - I'm not sure where my disinclination to pick any of these up comes from, other than their wild mainstream popularity. . . and that was even before the phrase "Hot Weasley-on-Weasley Action" was coined.
8. Forever by Judy Blume
9. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
10. Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
11. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
12. My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger - I admit, I don't get what the fuss is about. I also read Frannie and Zooey and was even -less- sure what the fuss was about.
14. The Giver by Lois Lowry
15. It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
16. Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
17. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
18. The Color Purple by Alice Walker* - I admit it, I don't give a shit about historical fiction. Unlike Steve Martin, I was not born a poor black child.
19. Sex by Madonna - There were words?
20. Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
21. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle - The first three books in this series should be required reading, as illustrations for why the universe needs people with brains. The weird time-slip stuff later on (Many Waters, etc) wasn't nearly as good.
23. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
24. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
25. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak - I know I've read this, but can't recall a thing about it.
26. The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
27. The Witches by Roald Dahl - When someone asks you for the definition of "subversive," hand them one of RD's books.
28. The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
29. Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
30. The Goats by Brock Cole
31. Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
32. Blubber by Judy Blume
33. Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
34. Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
35. We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
36. Final Exit by Derek Humphry
37. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
38. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
39. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison* - Can I just say here, publically, that I loathe Morrison's entire corpus of work, because I had to read just about the whole fucking thing in the course of earning my degree? Uninteresting, argumentative, and overly-lauded krap.
40. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee*
42. Beloved by Toni Morrison* - See #39
43. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton* - We watched the movie after reading the book when I was in 7th grade, and I had one of my earliest epiphanies: when I was a child, I pictured myself looking just like Rob Lowe did in this movie when I was a teenager.
44. The Pigman by Paul Zindel
45. Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
46. Deenie by Judy Blume
47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes*
48. Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
49. The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
50. Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - The fact that this book is on this list makes me angry in ways that call for baseball bats, tear gas, and checks to the ACLU.
53. Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice) - "Mummy, why is that woman writing under an assumed name?" "Because they're horrible, horrible pap, dear, and she's rightly ashamed of tarnishing what's left of her name. Now be a love and hand me the nipple clamps."
54. Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
55. Cujo by Stephen King - I grew up around big dogs (Kuvaszok), but reading this at 2am with the Dracula soundtrack playing made me hold the book by the edges, because my copy has the slavering muzzle on the cover, and I didn't want it to bite me.
56. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl - See #27
57. The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell - Anyone surprised this isn't in bold?
58. Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
59. Ordinary People by Judith Guest
60. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
61. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
62. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
63. Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
64. Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
65. Fade by Robert Cormier
66. Guess What? by Mem Fox
67. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
68. The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
69. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut - This is on the "Really need to get a copy of" list I keep inside my head.
70. Lord of the Flies by William Golding - Anyone else seeing the commercials for "LOST" and saying, "What's the big deal?"
71. Native Son by Richard Wright*
72. Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday
73. Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
74. Jack by A.M. Homes
75. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
76. Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
77. Carrie by Stephen King - I just wish I'd read this before -my- prom...
78. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
79. On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
80. Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
81. Family Secrets by Norma Klein
82. Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
83. The Dead Zone by Stephen King - I'm baffled as to why this book would be included on this list. Can anyone shed any light? (Complaints: Violence, offensive language
Banned in Peru, IN School System (1992) along with 'Cujo' and 'Christine' because the books are "filthy." ???)
84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain*
85. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison* - I told you I had to read all her crap, and it never got any better.
86. Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
87. Private Parts by Howard Stern
88. Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford -- ???
89. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
90. Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
91. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
92. Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
93. Sex Education by Jenny Davis
94. The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
95. Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
96. How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
97. View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
98. The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
99. The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
100. Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

Comments

[timly.livejournal.com]

57. The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell - Anyone surprised this isn't in bold?

you just haven't gotten to it yet. i'll give you mine when i get it and read it.

there's about 1/2 dozen books on there i've never heard of. there's about a dozen i'm wondering wtf? (where's waldo???? can someone explain this to me?)

[katyakoshka.livejournal.com]

The Dead Zone is probably on there because the initial criminal is a rapist -- a pedophile rapist, IIRC. People have problems with their kids reading that. :P