100 most frequently challenged books: 1990–1999

Happy Banned Books Week!
Titles I've read are in bold, and favorites are denoted with an *. How many banned books have you read? Which would you recommend?

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

List from American Library Association.

Frequently Challenged Authors

Happy Banned Books Week!
I've read books by the authors whose names are in bold, and an * denotes some of my favorite writers.

How many of these frequently challenged authors have your read? Who are your favorites?

2012: Dav Pilkey, Sherman Alexie, Jay Asher, E.L. James, Ellen Hopkins, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Patricia Polacco, John Green, Luis Alberto Urrea, Alvin Schwartz, Dagberto Glib

2011: Lauren Myracle, Kim Dong Hwa, Chris Crutcher, Carolyn Mackler, Robert Greene, Sonya Sones, Dori Hillestead Butler, Sherman Alexie, Suzanne Collins, Aldous Huxley, Harper Lee*, Eric Jerome Dickey, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor*, Dav Pilkey, Cecily von Ziegesar

2010: Ellen Hopkins, Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, Sonya Sones, Judy Blume*, Ann Brasheres, Suzanne Collins, Aldous Huxley, Sherman Alexie, Laurie Halse Anderson, Natasha Friend

2009: Lauren Myracle, Alex Sanchez, P.C. Cast, Robert Cormier*, Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, Stephen Chbosky, Chris Crutcher, Ellen Hopkins, Richelle Mead, John Steinbeck*

2008: Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, Philip Pullman, Lauren Myracle, Jim Pipe, Alvin Schwartz, Chris Crutcher, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor*, Rudolfo Anaya, Stephen Chbosky, Cecily Von Ziegesar

2007: Robert Cormier*, Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, Mark Twain, Toni Morrison, Philip Pullman, Kevin Henkes, Lois Lowry*, Chris Crutcher, Lauren Myracle, Joann Sfar

2006: Chris Crutcher, Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, Toni Morrison, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor*, Cecily von Ziegesar, Carolyn Mackler, Alvin Schwartz, Stephen Chbosky, Alex Sanchez, Judy Blume*

2005: Judy Blume*, Robert Cormier*, Chris Crutcher, Robie Harris, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor*, Toni Morrison, J. D. Salinger, Lois Lowry*, Marilyn Reynolds, Sonya Sones

2004: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor*, Robert Cormier*, Judy Blume*, Toni Morrison, Chris Lynch, Barbara Park, Gary Paulsen, Dav Pilkey, Maurice Sendak, Sonya Sones

2003: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor*, J. K. Rowling, Robert Cormier*, Judy Blume*, Katherine Paterson, John Steinbeck*, Walter Dean Myers, Robie Harris, Stephen King, Louise Rennison

2002: J.K. Rowling, Judy Blume*, Robert Cormier*, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor*, Stephen King, Lois Duncan, S.E. Hinton, Alvin Schwartz, Maya Angelou, Roald Dahl*, Toni Morrison

2001: J. K. Rowling, Robert Cormier*, John Steinbeck*, Judy Blume*, Maya Angelou, Robie Harris, Gary Paulsen, Walter Dean Myers, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor*, Bette Greene

List from American Library Association.

Frequently Challenged Classics

The Radcliffe Publishing Course listed the Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century, and at least 46 of those titles are banned or challenged books! I bolded ones I've read, and used a * to denote my favorites. How many of these have you read?

1. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald*
2. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
4. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee*
5. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
6. Ulysses, by James Joyce
7. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
8. The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
9. 1984, by George Orwell*

11. Lolita, by Vladmir Nabokov
12. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck*

15. Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
16. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
17. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
18. The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
19. As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
20. A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway

23. Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
24. Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
25. Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
26. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
27. Native Son, by Richard Wright
28. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey
29. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
30. For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway

33. The Call of the Wild, by Jack London

36. Go Tell it on the Mountain, by James Baldwin

38. All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren

40. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien

45. The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair

48. Lady Chatterley's Lover, by D.H. Lawrence
49. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
50. The Awakening, by Kate Chopin

53. In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote

55. The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie

57. Sophie's Choice, by William Styron

64. Sons and Lovers, by D.H. Lawrence

66. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
67. A Separate Peace, by John Knowles

73. Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs
74. Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh
75. Women in Love, by D.H. Lawrence

80. The Naked and the Dead, by Norman Mailer

84. Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller

88. An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser

97. Rabbit, Run, by John Updike

If only I could count books I started and never finished! Looks like I have some required reading to brush up on...

List from American Library Association.

I Read Banned Books

Happy Banned Books Week!

Stayed tuned for a new post each day this week with different lists of challenged books and authors. Chime in on what books you've read and what you'd recommend to other readers!

Did you know:


Infographic from American Library Association.

Libraries Promoting Literacy

Last week I attended a Literacy Summit at the Mid-South Book Festival in Memphis, Tennessee. I was inspired by speakers like Jeff Edmondson of Strive Together and David C. Banks, the founding principal of the Eagle Academy. I learned that 73% of students in local Shelby County Schools were reading below grade level. That statistic might be specific to my area, but similar numbers can be found elsewhere. (The KIDS COUNT Data Book has extensive information broken down by state.)

I learned that there are ways we can change this unfortunate trend. I sat in an auditorium surrounded by teachers and tutors who were specifically told “You can do THIS.” And I looked around, wondering where the other librarians were.

Read the full post on YALSAblog and share your input!

The Day the Crayons Storytime

Today was my second time holding a library program for adults with disabilities! Two classes from SRVS came for a colorful storytime! I read The Day the Crayons Quit and The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers.

I made the books a little more interactive by letting the individuals call out what color was writing the letter based on the illustrations. In the second book, they had fun trying to remember what color crayon had renamed himself "Esteban"!

For the craft, individuals colored their own bookmarks with an assortment of crayons, trying to use them all equally so none would get mad and quit! Check out these beautiful bookmarks!

I've also written about previous library programs for adults with disabilities.