Saturday, September 29, 2007

Banned Book Week

It's the American Library Association's Banned Book Week
September 29–October 6, 2007.

I did not know this when I visited my library this afternoon, sadly. I would have picked up a few to read this week. Our library opens again Monday, and Thomas and I will be making a visit.

I challenge everyone to read a banned book this week!

I think I'll revisit I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings this week--if the library has it. I'll pick for Thomas since he'll read what I put before him but doesn't like to select. Little Black Sambo (if our library has it) or How to Eat Fried Worms.


I will bold the books that I have read on this list. (Clearly not enough!)

The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000

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
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling

Forever by Judy Blume
I am forever grateful to this book, because it taught me what I did not know. I read this in a train bound for San Fransisco, in a sleeping car with my parents within two feet from me. I was 16. Talk about leading a sheltered life, eh?

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Giver by Lois Lowry
It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
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
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
The Goats by Brock Cole
Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
I read this and Thomas and I listened to it on tape together.

Blubber by Judy Blume
Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
Final Exit by Derek Humphry
I have flipped through this. My mother asked that I buy it for her, and I did. It still sits on her bookshelf, even though she's been gone 14 years. She died of natural causes, not from anything she learned in the book.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
Not yet, but it's on our reading list for this year.

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
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
My favorite book in high school -- loved everything by S.E. Hinton!

The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
Deenie by Judy Blume
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
Cujo by Stephen King
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
What's Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
Fade by Robert Cormier
Guess What? by Mem Fox
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
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
Jack by A.M. Homes
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
Carrie by Stephen King
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
Family Secrets by Norma Klein
Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
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
Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
I really wish we still had my childhood copy of this.

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
Sex Education by Jenny Davis
The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the reminder! :-)

I loved, loved "The Outsiders". I liked her other books too, but I read "The Outsiders" too many times to count.

Why are the "Where's Waldo?" books on there?

the GA peach ;-)

Gerkin Pickle said...

I cannot believe the books that are on that list. I grew up with many of those books as my favorites! I too will have my kids read one this week...and explain close mindedness while we are at it.

I am with you on Forever. I loved that book. Heck all of Judy Blumes books were great when I was growing up.

I posted to. You can find it here. http://wickedpickles.blogspot.com/2007/09/banned-book-week-sept-29-oct-6.html

Anonymous said...

I have read a few of those, not enough though. I know I will read more as my kids grow into the age to read them. I love me some Blume! I still have some of my childhood copies of these!

Elisheva Hannah Levin said...

Wow! Is there any book that has not been challenged?

It's not that I think that parents should not take an interest in what their kids read and help them choose appropriate books. I do think that's our job as parents. But there is a difference between guiding one's own child and proposing cesorship for everyone!