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MrRant

100 Most Challenged Books to be Banned

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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

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

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

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George

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

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

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

 

From http://www.ala.org

 

----------------------------------

 

You should HAVE to read Mark Twain (I did in middle school). Some of these books are kinda odd but in reality no book should be banned from a library unless it's about how to do illegal things (pipe bomb making etc) but all those politically correct bastards just want to make sure that you can't read anything that might offend even 1 person. Of coures that person probably doesn't really even care, but they take it upon themselves to protect them.

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Guest Eagan469
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

 

I remember reading that in like 3rd grade. Then when I was 12 or 13 I went to Washington D.C. and saw it in a bookstore as "banned".

 

The girl dies in a children's book. Big fucking deal.

 

Kids have to learn that life isn't all gumdrops and smiles, so why not do it through literature?

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Guest Salacious Crumb

What the hell?

 

I can understand a few of the books.

 

But come on

 

To Kill a fucking Mockingbird?!?!?! I'm sorry but this being on here alone earns these people my contempt. This should be required reading for everyone.

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What the hell?

 

I can understand a few of the books.

 

But come on

 

To Kill a fucking Mockingbird?!?!?! I'm sorry but this being on here alone earns these people my contempt. This should be required reading for everyone.

But...but... it's RACIST~!

 

 

 

But in a good way of saying how it's wrong.

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Guest Eagan469
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

 

WHY?!?!??!?!

 

It's implied that the parents are killed, but geesh. I was the father that got killed in my 5th Grade play, and it just calls for the parents to be swept away by a gust of wind.

 

Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford

 

Wow.

 

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

 

Ban short poems that may or may not deal with race based on your interpretation!

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To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my favorite human stories of all time.

 

And Bridge to Terabithia was depressing, but I liked it, because it was real life. Not all kids books are bunnies and cupcakes. People die. This is what happens when people die.

 

I don't really remember this part of Bridge to Terabithia

for offensive language, sexual content and Occult/Satanism.
that's from the ALA website.

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Guest stardust

Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling

Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Blubber by Judy Blume

Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

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

How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell

 

All of these get the what the hell vote from me, along with quite a few others. Like Rant said, no book should be banned or censored unless it's telling some kid how to make a pipe bomb out of a coke can or how to cook his own heroine or something. I read almost all of those as a kid, or have read them in high school or college. As for the Lois Duncan novel (Killing Mr. Griffin), I can think of a few of hers I read that were probably worse than that one, but I loved every single one of her books when I was in the fourth grade, dammit. And A Wrinkle In Time? That's a classic, dammit.

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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

The Giver by Lois Lowry

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

 

Those books, in my opinion, are classics, and it would be an atrocious disservice to our history to ban them.

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Guest Eagan469

I remember there was actually a book in my elementary school library called "Daddy's New Friend".

 

I was in like 1st grade when I saw this, and I didn't understand it. It actually showed 2 guys holding hands and hugging while the one guy's son (narrator) defended every one of the father's actions with stuff like:

 

Daddy and his new friend Tom hug, and that's ok because they love each other just as much as they love me!

 

That was my first encounter with homosexuality, I think.

 

I probably should have spoke up about it, but like I said, I didn't know what the hell it meant.

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Guest Eagan469
I don't really remember this part of Bridge to Terabithia
for offensive language, sexual content and Occult/Satanism.
that's from the ALA website.

What do they have against Where's Waldo?

 

Racial profiling?

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I don't really remember this part of Bridge to Terabithia
for offensive language, sexual content and Occult/Satanism.
that's from the ALA website.

What do they have against Where's Waldo?

 

Racial profiling?

Maybe if Waldo was black....

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And why's Lord of the Flies on there?

 

You know, I can't give an exact cite, but I seem to recall reading (Probably in a Bathroom Book) another list of banned books, and apparantly someone made the statement that LOTF was banned because "it's demeaning, in as much as it implies that man is little more then an animal".

 

Which is, of course, absurd, because that's THE FUCKING POINT OF THE NOVEL.

 

Personally, I think it's ridiculous for some of these books to be on here, because I'm quite sure some of the classics are on here mainly due to use of words like "nigger" and such. But fuck, people, you can't re-write history. There were (and probably still are, for that matter) times and places where people used the word "nigger" as part of their everyday speech. In order for books to represent this properly (And in many cases, to get their point across - how could TKAM get it's point across if no one ever said anything negative towards black people?) they simply have to use the word. I'm sure they didn't put it in there to offend people. They put it in there because there was a REASON for doing so.

 

Also, that those "What's Happening to my Body?" books were banned blows my mind. They're educational books, for fuck's sake - you can't ban education because "Oh, it's dirty". Gimme a fuckin' break.

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Guest Eagan469

Alright, I found out that the reason they want to ban Where's Waldo is because the books were originally made in Europe, and in a beach scene in one of the books there's a topless woman.

 

That's it.

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Guest stardust
Alright, I found out that the reason they want to ban Where's Waldo is because the books were originally made in Europe, and in a beach scene in one of the books there's a topless woman.

 

That's it.

Yes, because it's so easy to see the topless woman amidst the other 1000 people in those damned pictures. Geezus.

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Guest Fook
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine

The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard

The Witches by Roald Dahl

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

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

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford

I understand some of the books on the list (Anarchist Cookbook for one), but I read all these books during my schooling (some assigned, some not), and I turned out okay.

 

Books like The Outsiders and Goosebumps I can see adults not wanting children to read because "they're too violent" or some shit like that.

 

But The Stupids??? Come on!

 

They're ridiculously stupid people and that's it. So stupid that children know it's ridiculous. How's that on the list?

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Guest Eagan469

Anyone else here read a book called "Watsons Go to Birmingham"?

 

It's about a black family in the early-60's that goes on a road trip.

 

I read it in 6th grade and thought it was terribly offensive. I enjoyed it because there was alot of mindless fun, but some parts (mom threatening to pour gasoline on the son and burn him) was a little much for a 12-year old to take in. Language was pretty rough, too.

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While I can sort of understand Of Mice and Men being there...

 

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

since the guy gets shot to death and all...

 

...that is just an awesome story. I bet the lame 1939 movie where they changed the ending is acceptable though

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Guest wrestlingbs

Well, this is idiocy beyond all coherent description, but I guess you all know that. Oh, I a find it amazing that they have To Kill a Monkingbird up there, since you couldn't find even the most conservative politician out there that would oppose a book 95% of America has read.

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Guest El Satanico

Isn't it the Religous groups and parent groups and not the PC groups that tries to get most of these banned?

 

I know Religous groups were leading the "Harry Potter is encouraging kids to be witches and warlocks" crusade. I'm sure the Religous groups had similar problems with Goosebumps.

 

 

I wonder what would happen if a Library put out reference desk copies of The Satanic Bible. That would be interesting to say the least.

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Hmmm, Mein Kampf isn't on the list but How to Eat Fried Worms is?

 

Very interesting.

 

I guess people care more about killing worms than killing Jews...

Well it makes sense. After all Worms > Jews.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And yes for all you uptight and reactionary fucktards there is sarcasm in the post.

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I'm kind of confused by their choice of this quote by Judy Blume:

t’s not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be

written. The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship.

As always, young readers will be the real losers.

So, basically, they're showing a quote that says censorship is a bad thing, yet their organization promotes it.

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Guest El Satanico
I'm kind of confused by their choice of this quote by Judy Blume:

t’s not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be

written. The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship.

As always, young readers will be the real losers.

So, basically, they're showing a quote that says censorship is a bad thing, yet their organization promotes it.

This organization isn't supporting censorship at all. It's the American Library Association, so it would obviously be against book banning.

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