So my sister-in-law, Katie, put a list of banned books on her blog and bolded the ones she read.  She, and the fact that it’s Friday and I really don’t want to do the data entry I’m supposed to do, have inspired me to do the same.  Then I’ll see which of us has read more (and therefore the saucier tart!)

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 (read the cliff notes, twice)
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling (the first one and halfway through the second)
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  I saw the movie (she counted it on others, so I will too!)
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 saw the movie
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 (Cliff notes twice)
**Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
Private Parts by Howard Stern
Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford  (why is this banned??)
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

29.  Actually, I’m disappointed, I would have thought I would have read a lot more.  Of course, I read every Stephen King book that came out before about 1992, so if they were all on the list, my number would jump up.  Also, I read lots of R.L. Stine, just not the Goosebumps, I was too old for those.  I recognize many of these books from my Mother’s class materials (she’s a middle school English teacher).  I bet she’s ready 90% of these books.  But I’m a bigger tart than Katie, who’s read 19!  Probably because my parents didn’t put any restrictions on what I could read and hers, (at least from what Tim tells me), were very over-protective on what could come into their house.

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Comments

kelli

2005-11-07T17:40:51.000Z

And Katie is good, so she actually would have listened to her mother and not read them. For me that was like waving the red flag in front of the bull. Oh, it might make mom mad? Let’s do it! :) Congratulations on being a saucy tart though, that’s always fun. :)

Kayla

2006-11-13T22:58:19.000Z

The idea that books are banned is a ridiculous one. I mean, no, a first grader shouldn’t read American Psycho or an erotica, but really now is it necessary to ban everyone from books just because a large portion of society deems it as an unacceptable work of literature? We live in America where we have freedom of speech- Get used to it or get out is what I say. And really, “Catcher in the Rye” is a banned book because the kid hires a hooker and gets drunk. BUT- it teaches a lesson. The main character did all this, but he’s UNHAPPY. He gets kicked out of school, he’s put into some kind of medical facility to help deal with his issues! It could teach kids NOT to do the things he did, because they won’t want to end up like the main character… Haha, but anyways! Nice reading choices! I’m reading the second Sleeping Beauty book by A. N. Roquelaure for a English project on banned books.