ENGL 112A: Literature
for Children
Professor Sigler
The 100 Most Frequently Challenged
Books of 1990-1999*
http://www.ala.org/alaorg/oif/top100bannedbooks.html

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 Eye!
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 Madams
The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
Are You There, God? I t' 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 GoIding
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 Stem
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 I.incoln
Collier and Christopher Collier
*Out of 5.718 challenges reported to or recorded
by the Office for Intellectual Freedom, as compiled by the Office for Intellectual
Freedom, American Library Association. The ALA Office for Intellectual
Freedom does not claim comprehensiveness in recording challenges. Research
suggests that for each challenge reported there are as many as four or
five which go unreported.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ALA News Release
Harry Potter series tops list
of most challenged books of 1999
The best-selling Harry Potter
series of children's books by J.K. Rowling tops the list of books most
challenged in 1999, according to the American LibraryAssociation's (ALA)
Office for Intellectual Freedom. The Potter series drew complaints from
parents and others concerned about the books' focus on wizardry and magic.
The ALA Office for Intellectual
Freedom received a total of 472 reports of challenged titles last year.
A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint filed with a library
or school about a book's content or appropriateness. The majority of challenges
are reported by public libraries, schools and school libraries. According
to Judith F. Krug, director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom, the
number of challenges reflects only incidents reported. She says that for
each challenge reported, as many as four or five remain unreported.
The "Ten Most Challenged Books of
1999" reflect a wide variety of themes. The books, in order of most frequently
challenged:
-
Harry Potter series, by J.K.
Rowling, for its focus on wizardry and magic.
-
Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds
Naylor, for using offensive language and being unsuited to age group.
-
The Chocolate War, by Robert
Cormier (the "Most Challenged" fiction book of 1998), for using offensive
language and being unsuited to age group.
-
Blubber, by Judy Blume, for
offensive language and unsuited to age group.
-
Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean
Myers, for offensive language and unsuited to age group.
-
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck,
for using offensive language and being unsuited to age group.
-
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,
by Maya Angelou, for being too explicit in the book's portrayal of rape
and other sexual abuse.
-
The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret
Atwood, for its sexual content.
-
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker,
for sexual content and offensive language.
-
Snow Falling on Cedars, by David
Guterson, for sexual content and offensive language.
Off the list this year, but on the
list for several years past, are the Goosebumps and Fear Street
series, by R. L. Stine, which were challenged for being too frightening
for young people and depicting occult or "Satanic" themes, and It's
Perfectly Normal, a sex education book by Robie Harris, for being too
explicit, especially for children.