Back in my post Out of Time, which talked about Pat Conroy and Makenzie Hatfield and the potential censorship of novels in West Virginia, I received a comment today, and I pass it along to my readers.
Hello,
This is Makenzie Hatfield (and yes, it really is)
We just want to thank you for telling people about our cause.
If you would like more information, please write to me at haydenrocks14@yahoo.com
Thank you again,
Makenzie Hatfield
One reason I enjoyed teaching high school students, and the reason I appreciate teenagers in general, is because they really don’t have the apathy of which they’re so often accused. They can have great passion for principles they believe in and the energy to stand up for those principles, and I commend Makenzie and all students who love to read, learn from, and defend books. This is another way we authors depend on readers.
I’m putting a list of challenged and banned books behind a cut. Some of my favorite novels are on there, including for example, Ordinary People by Judith Guest. After all, we sure wouldn’t want any teenagers to read the story of an adolescent boy who overcomes tragedy and a dysfunctional family to choose to live and thrive.
100 Most Frequently Challenged Books from 1990 to 2000
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
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
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
19 Sex by Madonna
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
23 Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
24 Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
25 In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
26 The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
27 The Witches by Roald Dahl
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
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
43 The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
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
53 Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
54 Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
55 Cujo by Stephen King
56 James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
57 The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
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
70 Lord of the Flies by William Golding
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
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
84 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
85 Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
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
WOW! I expected to see a few more titles by Stephen King! IN THE NIGHT KITCHEN? Really because the kid makes a cake naked? I know that some of the books deal with “adult” situations, but often these are situations that children are forced to face. I am assuming that JULIE AND THE WOLVES is on the list because she is nearly raped. Imagine living in a world where a girl can read that book, go to her parents and talk about it, and actually have a conversation about the dangers she might face as a young girl, and what she can do to make herself safer – maybe even giving her a safety zone where she can come to her parents. Oh wait, no we would never want people to think, talk and discuss things with their kids … let’s just ban the bad book. UGH! I’m glad that I had parents that let me read anything I wanted.
OMGosh!!!! They might invoke thought – or just be entertaining. While I wouldn’t read some of the ones listed and wouldn’t want them pitched as absolute fact/acceptable, I wouldn’t want them banned either. I do think that some of the choices should be for older youth only.
Some of them have been on banned lists forever…
Some people was “Stepford” children
was = want – not a typist and I don’t play one on TV
Ooh…number 22 is my all time favorite. I see several others that I like and some that I want to read.
“Where’s Waldo?” “Where’s Wal-FREAKIN’-do?”!!!
::blank stare::
I really wish one of my books would make the list. *sigh*
–Famous Yet Unbanned Author Rob Byrnes
Give yourself time; you’ll do it yet, FARB! After all, the bar has been lowered considerably by Waldo.
Apparently, in one version of people on the beach in a Waldo book, a little boy has untied a woman’s swimming suit top and dumped an ice cream cone on her back. I think I’m going to have to support that one–ice cream is TOO PRECIOUS TO WASTE in such a frivolous way and that illustration SENDS THE WRONG MESSAGE TO CHILDREN.
(I’m pretty sure I felt a little ice cream come back up when I typed that.)