|
Celebrate
Your Freedom to Read!
|
| Banned
Books Week |
| September
20-27, 2003
|
While not every
book is intended for every reader,
each of us has the right to decide for ourselves what to read, listen to or
view.
Celebrate your freedom to read!
The American Library Association's (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom has recorded more than
7,000 book
challenges since 1990, including 515 in 2002. It is estimated that less than one-quarter of all
challenges are reported and recorded. Surveys indicate approximately 85% of the
challenges to library materials receive no media attention and remain
unreported. A challenge is a formal, written complaint requesting a book be
removed from library shelves or school curriculum. About three out of four of
all challenges are to material in schools or school libraries, and one in four
are to material in public libraries. Note: this list is limited to books and
does not include challenges to magazines, newspapers, films, broadcasts, plays,
performances, electronic publications, or exhibits.
Most
Frequently Challenged Books of 2002-2003
Most Frequently Challenged Authors of 2002
Details
on Individual Cases
100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1999-2001
More
Information on Banned and Challenged Books
kidspeak.com
(online censorship IQ test, fight for Harry
Potter, and more)
Ideas
for Teachers
Most Frequently
Challenged Books of 2002-2003
- Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling, for its focus
on wizardry and magic.
- Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, for being
sexually explicit, using offensive language and being unsuited to age group.
- The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier for using
offensive language and being unsuited to age group.
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya
Angelou, for sexual content, racism, offensive language, violence and being
unsuited to age group.
- Taming the Star Runner by S.E. Hinton, for
offensive language.
- Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey, for
insensitivity and being unsuited to age group, as well as encouraging
children to disobey authority.
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark
Twain, for racism, insensitivity and offensive language.
- Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson,
for offensive language, sexual content and Occult/Satanism.
- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D.
Taylor, for insensitivity, racism and offensive language.
- Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George,
for sexual content, offensive language, violence and being unsuited to age
group.
Back to Top
The
100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2001
- 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
Back to Top
Most Frequently
Challenged Authors of 2002
The most frequently challenged authors in 2002 were
J.K. Rowling, Judy Blume, Robert Cormier, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Stephen King,
Lois Duncan, S.E. Hinton, Alvin Schwartz, Maya Angelou, Roald Dahl, and Toni
Morrison.
The most frequently challenged authors in 2001 were J.
K. Rowling, Robert Cormier, John Steinbeck, Judy Blume, Maya Angelou, Robie
Harris, Gary Paulsen, Walter Dean Myers, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, and Bette
Greene.
The most frequently challenged authors in 2000 were
J.K. Rowling, Robert Cormier, Lois Duncan, Piers Anthony, Walter Dean Myers,
Phylis Reynolds Naylor, John Steinbeck, Maya Angelou, Christopher Pike, Caroline
Cooney, Alvin Schwartz, Lois Lowry, Harry Allard, Paul Zindel, and Judy Blume.
Please note that the most frequently challenged authors
may not appear in the list of most frequently challenged books. For example, if
every one of Judy Blume’s books was challenged–but only once–not one of
her books would make the top 10 list, but she herself would make the most
challenged author list. Five of Judy Blume’s books are on the list of
"The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books": Forever
(8), Blubber (32), Deenie (46), Are You There, God? It’s Me,
Margaret (62), and Tiger Eyes (78).
Back to Top
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