by reading at least one book from the list below. It is a compilation of the 100 most challenged books during the years 1990 – 2009, as compiled by the American Librarian’s Association.
Some of these books have adult themes, and parents are well within their rights and responsibilities to guide their children to wait to read them “until they are older.” Others are standard entries on middle and high school reading lists. Still others can serve as jumping off points for discussions within families of values, stereotypes, and aspects of our history. But the act of banning them from libraries, especially public libraries, removes them from access by adults as well as children. And many of these books are considered classics, required reading for educated people.
The irony is that the very act of banning them actually increases their appeal. How many times did you or your kids sneak into a movie theater to see an “R” rated movie before you or they were old enough? How many times did you or they read a book that your clergy person said you shouldn’t? The mere act of banning a book makes it seem like forbidden fruit, and therefore all the more tantalizing. A friend of mine has remarked that having a Kindle or other e-reader makes it possible to read those books anywhere without anyone knowing. She recently downloaded Lady Chatterly’s Lover, simply to see what all the fuss was about. Isn’t there something of that sort of rebel in all of us?
So, be a rebel. Celebrate banned books week. Read a banned book.
A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck
A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway.
A Light in the Attic, by Shel Silverstein.
A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
A Separate Peace, by John Knowles.
A Time to Kill, by John Grisham
A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L’Engle
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
All the King’s Men, by Robert Penn Warren.
Always Running, by Luis Rodriguez
America: A Novel, by Frank, E.R.
American Psycho, by Bret Easton Ellis.
An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser.
Anastasia (series), by Lois Lowry
And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging, by Louise Rennison
Annie on My Mind, by Nancy Garden.
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume
Arizona Kid, by Ron Koertge.
Arming America, by Michael Bellasiles
As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner.
Asking About Sex and Growing Up, by Joanna Cole.
Athletic Shorts, by Chris Crutcher
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
Black Boy, by Richard Wright
Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
Blood and Chocolate, by Annette Curtis Klause
Blubber, by Judy Blume
Boys and Sex, by Wardell Pomeroy.
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Bridge To Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
Bumps in the Night, by Harry Allard
Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey
Carrie, by Stephen King.
Catch-22, by Joseph Heller.
Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut.
Christine, by Stephen King.
Crazy Lady, by Jane Leslie Conly
Crazy: A Novel, by Benjamin Lebert
Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat, by Alvin Schwartz.
Cujo, by Stephen King.
Curses, Hexes and Spells, by Daniel Cohen.
Cut, by Patricia McCormick
Daddy’s Roommate, by Michael Willhoite.
Daughters of Eve, by Lois Duncan
Deal With It!, by Esther Drill
Deenie, by Judy Blume.
Detour for Emmy, by Marilyn Reynolds
Draw Me A Star, by Eric Carle
Earth’s Children (series), by Jean M. Auel.
Fade, by Robert Cormier.
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers
Family Secrets, by Norma Klein.
Fat Kid Rules the World, by K.L. Going
Final Exit, by Derek Humphry.
Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes.
For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway.
Forever, by Judy Blume
Friday Night Lights, by H.G. Bissenger
Girls and Sex, by Wardell Pomeroy.
Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
Go Tell It on the Mountain, byJ ames Baldwin.
Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell.
Goosebumps (series), by R.L. Stine
Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar
Grendel, by John Gardner
Guess What?, by Mem Fox.
Halloween ABC, by Eve Merriam.
Harris and Me, by Gary Paulsen
Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad.
Heather Has Two Mommies, by Lesléa Newman.
His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
How to Eat Fried Worms, by Thomas Rockwell.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
I Saw Esau, by Iona Opte
In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote.
In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak
Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison.
It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris
It’s So Amazing, by Robie Harris
Jack, by A. M. Homes.
James and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl.
Jay’s Journal, by Anonymous.
Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Graighead George
Jump Ship to Freedom, by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier.
Jumper, by Steven Gould.
Junie B. Jones (series), by Barbara Park
Kaffir Boy, by Mark Mathabane
Killing Mr. Griffen, by Lois Duncan
King and King, by Linda de Haan
Lady Chatterley’s Lover, by D. H. Lawrence.
Life is Funny, by E.R. Frank
Little Black Sambo, byHelen Bannerman.
Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov.
Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
Mick Harte Was Here, by Barbara Park
Mommy Laid An Egg, by Babette Cole.
My Brother Sam Is Dead, by James Lincoln Collier
Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs.
Native Son, by Richard Wright.
Nineteen Eighty-four (1984), by George Orwell
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
Olive’s Ocean, by Kevin Henkes
On My Honor, by Marion Dane Bauer.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
Ordinary People, by Judith Guest.
Private Parts, by Howard Stern.
Rabbit, Run, by John Updike.
Rainbow Boys, by Alex Sanchez
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred Taylor
Running Loose, by Chris Crutcher.
Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
Sex, by Madonna.
Sex Education, by Jenny Davis.
Shade’s Children, by Garth Nix
Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
Sleeping Beauty Trilogy, by A. N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice).
Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson
So Far From the Bamboo Grove, by Yoko Watkins
Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
Sons and Lovers, by D. H. Lawrence.
Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, by Chris Crutcher
Summer of My German Soldier, by Bette Green
That Was Then, This Is Now, by S. E. Hinton.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, byMark Twain.
The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby, by George Beard
The Anarchist Cookbook, by William Powell.
The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
The Boy Who Lost His Face, by Louis Sachar
The Call of the Wild, by J ack London.
The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger
The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
The Dead Zone, by Stephen King.
The Drowning of Stephan Jones, by Bette Greene.
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler
The Exorcist, by William Peter Blatty.
The Face on the Milk Carton, by Caroline B. Cooney
The Facts Speak for Themselves, by Brock Cole
The Fighting Ground, by Avi
The Giver, by Lois Lowry
The Goats, by Brock Cole.
The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck.
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
The Great Gilly Hopkins, by Katherine Paterson
The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende
The Joy of Gay Sex, by Dr. Charles Silverstein
The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair.
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
The Naked and the Dead, by Norman Mailer.
The New Joy of Gay Sex, by Charles Silverstein and Felice Picano.
The Outsiders, by S. E. Hinton.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
The Pigman, by Paul Zindel.
The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett.
The Rabbit’s Wedding, by Garth Williams.
The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie.
The Sledding Hill, by Chris Crutcher.
The Stupids (series), by Harry Allard
The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway.
The Terrorist, by Caroline B. Cooney
The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien
The Upstairs Room, by Johanna Reiss
The Wish Giver, by Bill Brittain.
The Witches, by Roald Dahl.
Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston.
Tiger Eyes, by Judy Blume
To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller.
TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R (series), by Myracle, Lauren
Ulysses, by James Joyce.
View from the Cherry Tree, by Willo Davis Roberts.
We All Fall Down, by Robert Cormier
Whale Talk, by Chris Crutcher
What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
What’s Happening to My Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons, by Lynda Madaras.
What’s Happening to My Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters, by Lynda Madaras.
When Dad Killed Mom, by Julius Lester
Where Did I Come From?, by Peter Mayle.
Women in Love, by D. H. Lawrence.
Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies, by Nancy Friday.
You Hear Me?, by Betsy Franco
More Light Than Heat 