The 100 Most Banned (or challenged) Books in America

These are the books people don't want you to read.  I just posted this in case you want to plan your winter reading.

It's a list of the "Most challenged books" in the United States from 1990-2000, as compiled by The Library Association of America (ALA).

What does "challenged" mean?  While we allegedly don't have a formal censorship, the public library system lists these titles as the most "challenged", meaning groups of people have actively sought (sometimes successfully) to keep the general public from reading them, and have hit the library system as one of it's means.

Some of the listings are titles removed from community or school libraries, or removed from high school curriculums. 

I'm amused since 3 of my favorite books are on this list.   

In order to fight the attempt to ban books by individuals and organizations, The ALA has created BANNED BOOK WEEK (it just ended), celebrating the books that are banned every year. Their motto is "Read.  Speak.  Know."

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

Forever, by Judy Blume

Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson

Heather Has Two Mommies, by Leslea Newman

The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

The Giver, by Lois Lowry

My Brother Sam is Dead, by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris

Alice (Series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

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

In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak

The Witches, by Roald Dahl

A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle

The New Joy of Gay Sex, by Charles Silverstein

Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous

The Goats, by Brock Cole

The Stupids (Series), by Harry Allard

Anastasia Krupnik (Series), by Lois Lowry

Final Exit, by Derek Humphry

Blubber, by Judy Blume

Halloween ABC, by Eve Merriam

Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George

Kaffir Boy, by Mark Mathabane

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

Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers

The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood

The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton

The Pigman, by Paul Zindel

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

We All Fall Down, by Robert Cormier

Deenie, by Judy Blume

Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes

Annie on my Mind, by Nancy Garden

Beloved, by Toni Morrison

The Boy Who Lost His Face, by Louis Sachar

Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat, by Alvin Schwartz

Harry Potter (Series), by J.K. Rowling

Cujo, by Stephen King

James and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl

A Light in the Attic, by Shel Silverstein

Ordinary People, by Judith Guest

American Psycho, by Bret Easton Ellis

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

Sleeping Beauty Trilogy, by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)

Bumps in the Night, by Harry Allard

Asking About Sex and Growing Up, by Joanna Cole

What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons, by Lynda Madaras

The Anarchist Cookbook, by William Powell

Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume

Boys and Sex, by Wardell Pomeroy

Crazy Lady, by Jane Conly

Athletic Shorts, by Chris Crutcher

Killing Mr. Griffin, by Lois Duncan

Fade, by Robert Cormier

Guess What?, by Mem Fox

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

On My Honor, by Marion Dane Bauer

The House of Spirits, by Isabel Allende

Jack, by A.M. Homes

Arizona Kid, by Ron Koertge

Family Secrets, by Norma Klein

Mommy Laid An Egg, by Babette Cole

Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo A. Anaya

Where Did I Come From?, by Peter Mayle

The Face on the Milk Carton, by Caroline Cooney

Carrie, by Stephen King

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

Tiger Eyes, by Judy Blume

Little Black Sambo, by Helen Bannerman

Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett

Running Loose, by Chris Crutcher

Sex Education, by Jenny Davis

Jumper, by Steven Gould

Christine, by Stephen King

The Drowning of Stephen Jones, by Bette Greene

That Was Then, This is Now, by S.E. Hinton

Girls and Sex, by Wardell Pomeroy

The Wish Giver, by Bill Brittain

Jump Ship to Freedom, by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier