Challenged Books

Recently the American Library Association released its list of "Top 10 Most Frequently Challenged Books 2000." You can read more about it at:
http://www.ala.org/Content/Navigati..._Frequently_Challenged_Books_of_1990-2000.htm

But here's the "Top 10 Most Frequently Challenged Books 1990-2000." Comments? Opinions?
1. Harry Potter--JK Rowling
Annotation: Harry Potter, orphaned when his parents are killed, enrolls in a school for wizards. (All "Harry Potter" books are included in this category.)
2. The Agony of Alice--Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Annotation: Eleven-year-old, motherless Alice decides she needs a gorgeous role model who does everything right; and when placed in homely Mrs. Plotkins's class she is greatly disappointed until she discovers it's what people are inside that counts.
3. The Chocolate War--Robert Cormier
Annotation: A high school freshman discovers the devastating consequences of refusing to join in the school's annual fund raising drive and arousing the wrath of the school bullies.
4. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings--Maya Angelou
Annotation: Superbly told, with the poet's gift for language and observation, Angelou's autobiography of her childhood in Arkansas. An unforgettable memoir of growing up black in the 1930s and 1940s in a tiny Arkansas town where Angelou's grandmother's store was the heart of the community and white people seemed as strange as aliens from another planet.
5. Taming the Star Runner--S. E. Hinton
Annotation: Travis is the coolest kid in school, but no one seems to notice him. The only person that interests him is Casey. She's the bravest person Travis has ever met, brave enough to try to tame her horse, Star Runner. But Travis and Star Runner are two of a kind: creatures not meant to be tamed.
6. The Adventures of Captain Underpants (Captain Underpants Series)--Dave Pilkey
Annotation: When George and Harold hypnotize their principal into thinking that he is the superhero Captain Underpants, he leads them to the lair of the nefarious Dr. Diaper, where they must defeat his evil robot henchmen.
7. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn--Mark Twain
Annotation: Huckleberry Finn, rebel against school and church, casual inheritor of gold treasure, rafter of the Mississippi, and savior of Jim the runaway slave, is the archetypal American maverick. Fleeing the respectable society that wants to “sivilize” him, Huck Finn shoves off with Jim on a rhapsodic raft journey down the Mississippi River. As Huck learns about love, responsibility, and how to make moral choices, the trip becomes a metaphoric voyage through his own soul, culminating in the glorious moment when he decides to “go to hell” rather than return Jim to slavery.
8. Bridge to Terabithia--Katherine Paterson, Donna Diamond (Illustrator)
Annotation: The life of a ten-year-old boy in rural Virginia expands when he becomes friends with a newcomer who subsequently meets an untimely death trying to reach their hideaway, Terabithia, during a storm.
9. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry--Mildred D. Taylor
Annotation: A black family living in Mississippi during the Depression of the 1930s is faced with prejudice and discrimination which its children do not understand. Why is the land so important to Cassie's family? It takes the events of one turbulent year--the year of the night riders and the burnings, the year a white girl humiliates Cassie in public simply because she is black--to show Cassie that having a place of their own is the Logan family's lifeblood. It is the land that gives the Logans their courage and pride, for no matter how others may degrade them, the Logans possess something no one can take away.
10. Julie of the Wolves-- Jean Craighead George, John Schoenherr (Illustrator)
Annotation: To her small Eskimo village, she is known as Miyax; to her friend in San Francisco, she is Julie. When the village is not longer safe for her, Miyax runs away. But she soon finds herself lost in the Alaskan wilderness, without food, without even a compass to guide her. Slowly she is accepted by a pack of Arctic wolves, and she grows to love them as though they were family. With their help, and drawing on her father's teachings, Miyax struggles day by day to survive. But the time comes when she must leave the wilderness and choose between the old ways and the new. Which will she choose? For she is Miyax of the Eskimos - but Julie of the Wolves.


FYI, here is the list of "The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2001."
“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.” — Judy Blume

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

The list is based on 6,364 challenges reported to or recorded by the Office for Intellectual Freedom, as compiled by the Office for Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association. (See Background Information: 1990–2000 under The Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2000.) The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom does not claim comprehensiveness in recording challenges. Research suggests that for each challenge reported there are as many as four or five which go unreported.

What I find interesting in the "100" list is that at #40 we find "What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girlss: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters," but it's not until #64 that people get upset about "What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons." Guess more people are worried about girls finding out about sexual reproduction than boys

I know this is a lot of info, especially with the first big competition coming up (whee!), but what do others think? Any major surprises on either list?
Rgirl

Does a challenge mean that someone is challenging the library's right to carry the book? The whole idea of censorship makes me ill. For the life of me, I can't understand the challenges made against some of those books. I can't imagine a proper library without To Kill a Mockingbird, Brave New World, A Light in the Attick, Of Mice and Men, Cather in the Rye, a Wrinkle in Time and on, and on ...

Are you there God? It's me, Margaret ... now that's a book I remember well. Fourth grade, one of my friends checked it out from the school library, and we all read it ... and all started reciting "I must, I must, I must increase ..." with the appropriate arm movements. Now, that's good literature

thanks, you gave me some good books to look into

WOW...how quickly things become offensive and potentially detrimental to a child's well-being! I read several of those books during my pre-college school years in the 80s and early 90s. How can they be so terrible now? Ohh...maybe that's why I'm a satanic bigot with an unhealthy fixation on death! (LOL...I'm not people!) Please...quit blaming books and start looking at the parents. I can understand barring things such as "How to Build A High Powered Explosive From Nickels and a Shoe Horn" or "The 10 Essential Steps to a Successful Ritual Sacrifice" from a school library, but "Huck Finn"...come on. These "challengers" seem to have WAY too much free time on their hands and I would also assume lack an educational background that would allow them to understand exactly what these books mean.

Seonaid920 said:

thanks, you gave me some good books to look into

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Ah, Seonaid, you picked up on my secret ulterior motive I really want GSers to read some of these books so they can all become satanic bigots with unhealthy fixations on dealth like Bronzeisgolden. Don't deny it BG; takes one to know one

Tharrtell: I think Judy Blume created one of the most oft-repeated lines in all of literature with "We must, we must..." Don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it. And I don't know any woman who hasn't read at least one of her books. Usually if they read one, they looked for others. There were so many books with boy protagonists, that I think Judy Blume almost single-handedly created literature for adolescent girls. With all the divorce and other problems kids have, for people to want to take away library access to books that really speak to what teens and preteens need is to me just insanity. But then I think all censorship is insanity. Of course I don't mean any book in school libraries--porn, for example. But that's just appropriateness and common sense. Most of these books have been around for decades. Kids weren't doing mass shootings at school when kids read a lot more, call me stoopid but I just don't get the connection. And if any of these books did cause problems, great, get rid of the book, get rid of the problem. If only it were that easy.

I think it was Kurt Vonnegut who said, "When they start burning books, you can bet they will be burning people next."
Rgirl

Warning -- This post contains some very offensive language.

(There, that ought to scare the kids away.)

Devil's advocate, anyone? This is why Huckleberry Finn should not be on the reading list for Middle School and Junior High School students in the U.S. (despite being arguably the best American novel ever written). The plot of Huckelberry Finn revolves around the central character "Nigger Jim." Not only is Nigger Jim so-named and so-called throughout the book, but he "speaks" phonetically in 1860s Missouri "nigger talk."

Suppose that you are one of only a few black students in a so-called "integrated" middle school. Or suppose you are in an all-black school. Or an all-white one. What is the point of deliberately throwing gasoline on this particular fire? No need to make a big deal of it, but why not substitute one of a dozen equally fine works of literature that won't cause anger and resentment, not to mention actual playground fist fights, to break out?

Well, we can argue that no one in America needs to read Huckleberry Finn to encounter hateful racial epithets. Indeed, maybe the classroom is the best place to bring these issues out into the open.

But I think this argument is more appropriate for the college classroom, when students are better equipt both to appreciate the book as a work of literature and to handle the emotions evoked by reading of that time and place in American history. In general I am not a big fan of using the K-12 classroom for discussion of societal issues. The teachers have enough of a challenge just to get the kids through the three R's.

Mathman. (Where is that little devil icon when you need him?)

A great "devil's advocate" post, Mathman. You certainly made an impressive and valid point. The only thing I disagree with is your idea that discussing societal issues before college is not necessary. Kids aren't blind and they can see the trends and attitudes around them. To ignore these issues and leave them for a later date would be a disservice in my opinion. Certainly, college is the place for indepth analysis of these issues, but the groundwork should be put down much earlier. What about the kids that don't attend college? My experience as a student teacher (so far, LOL!) has shown me that you should never underestimate kids. They realize what is going on around them and often are eager to discuss it. I also think that by actively discussing broad societal issues, you help to curb misunderstanding that could eventually lead to a narrow, skewed point of view. But, that is just my view as a social studies teacher in training!

Bronzeisgolden - I agree completely. Actually, I think the younger the better - at least at the point where the issues can be comprehended and discussed in a mature manner. Depending on upbringing, kids might not know what is wrong with some of the language in Huck Finn. That's a frightening thought, but a true one. Education is essential, and I think waiting until college might be too late - especially as not everyone goes go college.

Mathman,
Actually, these books were challenged for just being in the school libraries, not in the school curriculum. If they were in the school curriculum, I still disagree with your DA point, even though of course I shall defend to the death your right to say it--except I'M the DA around here, buddy! J/K. After all, these kids are listening to songs by Eminem, 50 Cent, R Kelly. and others that have very explicit racial language. They see movies with the same thing. And they get it either in their homes or neighborhoods. Exposure to the word "nigger" and racially charged language is everywhere. In "Huck Finn" Twain shows the fallacy of separating and judging people based on race. The songs to which I'm referring often do nothing but promote prejudice. If, and the key word is IF, these books represented middle school or Jr. High curricula, then I think a book such as "Huck Finn" would be an excellent tool (okay, a very small tool relative to everything that's out there) to counteract racial prejudice from all sectors of the culture.

Thirty-forty years ago, I think your point about middle school and Jr. High being to young for these subjects would be correct. It was a different time. But today you've got suburban white kids dressing and talking "black," that is, in the style of gangsta rap, and addressing each other as "nigger." So even if you are the only black kid in an all white class, I think that in general, it's a different environment.

To me there is no valid case for any of the books on these lists to be yanked from school libraries. As for being in the school curricula, since race is a part of everything that happens in our society, IMO, I think books like "Huck Finn" are more important than ever, no matter what the racial make-up of the school is. Personally, I'd want "Huck Finn" to be taught along with books that reflect modern attitudes toward race, as well as one of the many great works by black writers. But the point is, IMO, no school library should be without "Huck Finn" or any of the books on the list. Now if you want to talk about "Motel Sex Club," there I'd agree--definitely inappropriate for school librairies to loan out my copy
Rgirl
PS Thanks, though, for giving the DA view. Always good to have one

All good literature teaches people that life is very complex. We can start from Bible -- Eve goes against G-d's wishes, Cain kills Able; then it gets worse - the very rightious Abraham allows pharaoh to sleep with his wife; Jacob lies to both his brother and his father only to becaome the great Patriarch, etc. There is a reason those stories are in the Bible (regardless of whether you believe it was written by G-d or men). It is to show us that nothing in life is black-and-white; that good people can do bad things; that bad people can change and become good.

Taking all of those "challenged" books out of kids' reading would paint a very erroneous picture of the world. They serve an all too important role in the literature.

MathaMan, as to your point. I think teachers should be very sensitive to the needs of a particular classroom. Huck Finn is a very non-racist book. A good teacher should teach it by pointing it out, and by emphasizing the difference between the societal standards and the morality that Twain is trying to convey.

I have taught Huck Finn for the past six years to eighth graders. Before we begin reading, we do a study of Mark Twain and the students have already begun learning about slavery and pre-Civil War America in history class. The students learn that he and his wife were very vocal abolitionists. Huck Finn was written as a satire of many different groups, one of which were racist southerns who were portrayed as very ignorant (and down right dumb!). He purposely uses the N word many times for shock value. This is all explained to my students, but they are always VERY shocked when they read it; it makes them very uncomfortable, which is a GOOD thing. They always ask how people could have thought and acted that way. This is the effect Mark Twain wanted. The book is wonderful, but it must be taught correctly or else the whole purpose of the book is lost and people continue to think it is racist.

Almost all the books we read at my middle school are on the challenge list - what a shame (that they are challenged, not that we read them).

Lucy, thank you very much for your "view from the other side". It's helpful to hear such insites!

You're very welcome!

I'm still working my way through my favorite psychological forensic reading list.

Incidentally, Maya Angelou is next on my list. I was absolutely captivated by the poem she wrote for (and recited) at President Clinton's inauguration. For those interested, you can find it here.

I also recently finished Uncle Tom's Cabin - again. I was too young to appreciate it the first time I read it. It was funny to learn that during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe at the White House and referred to her as "the little lady who started this big war."

....now on to Huck Finn......

Lucy, that's a great post. Sounds like you teach at a great school. I loved Pitchka's point too about literature teaching that life is complex. How very true, which is exactly why so amny people hate it and would not read it unless they had teachers like Lucy who presented it to them in a context they can relate to. (Don't mean to be beating up on Mathman here. But not to worry, he's get us back on a math thread)

So Paula, by forensic psychologiy to you mean stuff like "The Stranger Beside Me" by Ann Rule about working for a suicide hotline with Ted Bundy? When I was in college I lived about four or five blocks away from Ted Bundy, but I couldn't get any publishers interested in "The Stranger About Four or Five Blocks Away From Me." Seriously, I'm addicted to "Forensic Files" on Court TV and am fascinated by the profiling stuff.

BTW, a freind sent me the limited edition book of Maya Angelou's poem for Clinton's inaugaration. Thanks for sharing it. They don't get much better than that when politics are involved. Speaking of which, if you haven't ever or in a while, read the Gettysburg Address. They broke the mold with Old Abe.
Rgirl

88. Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford

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Now, I'm assuming that this is the original "Where's Waldo" where you have to find him in pictures? Maybe this is just naive of me, what what could possibly be wrong with this book? Do teachers/parents think it is too "uneducational" or something?
Laura

Rgirl said:

I think it was Kurt Vonnegut who said, "When they start burning books, you can bet they will be burning people next."
Rgirl

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I think that Shaw said something similar, too. But the first one to say it, I think, was Heinrich Heine (a German poet): "This was a prelude only, wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings." (Das war das Vorspiel nur, dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen.)

You lived a few blocks away from Bundy when you were in college? I hope you didn't have long brown hair... It sounds freaky enough, but I think that living near Dahmer would have been safer (for women).

Btw, what about "The World According to Garp"? Why didn't it make the list? (well, I guess it's pretty safe compared to the shockers like Harry Potter books ). I read it when I was about 11-12, and some time later, when my friends didn't want to go swimming at a camp we were at, I told them a few stories from it to make their temperature rise (if you were sick, you didn't have to go swimming). The reason I read the book so early was that my mother discovered it at the time. After she brought it home, she showed it to me (a big mistake, lol) and my sister, and said: "This is not a book for you. You can't read it." When someone brought a new book home my family was always fighting who's going to read it first, we had this "new book alert", I mean, no one had to say anything, it was in the air. So she knew she probably wouldn't be able to hide the fact she's reading it. Anyway, after she told us we couldn't read the book, she hid it. Well, if I couldn't find a hidden book in the usual places, I employed a more sophisticated tactic -- I just searched every room inch by inch. I knew that this way I had to find it sooner or later.

Just on a personal level, I know the books I read made me feel "It's not just me" and growing up in a geographically and culturally isolated place like Phoenix and then going to college in a place like Salt Lake City, those books were a touchstone to the diversity of the world.

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I completely agree, RGirl! I was born and raised in rural Tennessee. Who knows where in the hell I'd be if I didn't have access to a wide variety of literature! I'd probably have been just like everyone else...married with kids by 18! Divorced by 22! But really, reading has had such a profound impact on my life. I was given a chance to see outside my own small (VERY SMALL) world and experience things I never would have been able to. Many of the books on this list were a part of that. I didn't have unrealistic (well, not too many anyway) expectations that I think would have been there had I not been exposed to a wide spectrum of ideas.

Okay...LOL, enough of my after-school special moment.

Lcp88 said:

Now, I'm assuming that this is the original "Where's Waldo" where you have to find him in pictures? Maybe this is just naive of me, what what could possibly be wrong with this book? Do teachers/parents think it is too "uneducational" or something?
Laura

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There is this tiny little picture of a woman on a beach who is topless. You have to look very closely, but yes you can see her ...um...assests.