Pharyngula::How many have you read?

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

How many have you read?

PZ Myers • 79 Comments (last page)

Majikthise has started a "Most-challenged books meme"—look at the American Library Association's most challenged books list, and rattle off the ones you've already read.

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

My score is 47, but I think I've got an edge in having three kids, and getting exposed to a lot of the juvenile literature by that route. Those books are something of a mixed bag: the Goosebumps books, for instance, are formulaic dreck, while To Kill a Mockingbird ought to be required reading.

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Comments:

#42006: coturnix — 09/28 at 10:33 AM
My score is only 9!!!!! But I'm sure a bunch of Soviet-era stuff I have read, if common (or even translated into English) in the USA , would surely be banned (or challenge, or whatever is the criterium to be listed).

#42011: — 09/28 at 10:57 AM
My score is only 6, mostly read in school. I read primarily military history, history, science, Rumpole and for fluff, mysteries.

#42012: — 09/28 at 11:00 AM
28.

And yeah, who would possibly bother to protest the 'Goosebumps' books? That's about on par with getting worked up about subpar popsicle sticks.

#42013: — 09/28 at 11:00 AM
I can't *believe* that Tom Sawyer is in that list! What is there to object to? Spelunking? Fence-painting? Sheesh!
Ditto for A Wrinkle In Time, although I only read it a couple of times as a kid, not the obsessive 12-15 times that I read TS, so it's harder to recall the details so many years later.

Or is it because Sam Clemens was a known subversive, so everthing he wrote is suspect?

Pardon me while I print off the list as a "books worth a look"

#42019: Kagehi — 09/28 at 11:19 AM
I am only sure of 6. Though technically some are series, as the list indicates. Earth's Children is probably the only one on the list I wasn't forced to read in school. Though, by 'forced', I mean forced to put down what ever book I was already reading, so I could be exposed to *literature*. lol

I can't *believe* that Tom Sawyer is in that list!

For the same reason Little Black Samba is, which btw you can't find with that title anymore, because it included an escaped slave or some BS like that I think. These are not sane people who go after these things, just ones with a high opinion of their own stupidity.

Any priest or shaman must be presumed guilty until proved innocent - Robert A. Heinlein

#42020: Michael Sprague — 09/28 at 11:22 AM
What the hell is wrong with "Where's Waldo?"

#42021: — 09/28 at 11:26 AM
Pardon me while I print off the list as a "books worth a look"<>

Not sure I'd take this as your roadmap - after all, <i>Private Parts is on there.

It is curious that both the Harry Potter books and A Wrinkle In Time are on the list -- seems opposing parties would object to each.

Re: To Kill A Mockingbird - I pick that book up every few years and reread it, and I'm always amazed at what a wonderful read it is. I believe there are a lot of writers who you read for the stories they tell (Michael Crichton is my guilty pleasure there - no flames, please!), or for the way they write (Vonnegut, Barbara Kingsolver), but there are very few writers who manage both. John Irving does it occasionally; Harper Lee certainly did it.

Aside #1: 14?!? Is that all I could manage?!?
Aside #2: Where's Waldo? WTF?!?

#42022: — 09/28 at 11:26 AM
What the hell is wrong with "Where's Waldo?"

The idea that Waldo cannot be easily found can cause children to lose faith in God, who should know where everyone is.

#42023: — 09/28 at 11:27 AM
[grumbles about stupid closing tags]

#42024: Orac — 09/28 at 11:30 AM
Sadly, just eyeballing it, my score can't be more than 20 or 25/100 at the most.

I really need to do better.

Oddly enough, several of these books were required reading for me at the Catholic high school I went to, including #3, #5, #6, #44, #52, #71, and #84.

--
Orac “A statement of fact cannot be insolent.”
http://oracknows.blogspot.com

#42025: Stacy — 09/28 at 11:36 AM
My score is 20, and at least half of those are books I was assigned to read in school, in Arkansas.

#42026: — 09/28 at 11:38 AM
"A Wrinkle in Time" (great book, my daughter around ages 9 - 11 read many of L'Engle's books and loved them) being on that list is just plain batshit crzay. The author was a devout Christian and the worldview expressed in her books was as obviously Christian as C.S. Lewis's (though no doubt the same people want to ban Narnia). What do these psychos want, for kids' reading to be resricted to the Bible (about which they understand less than nothing) and Jack Chick comics?

#42027: — 09/28 at 11:42 AM
Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz

That's number one? Holy shit. Those books rocked. The stories were typical ghost story stuff, but the illustrations... oh, God, the illustrations. A whole generation of young readers grew up scarred. Damn you, Stephen Gammell.

What the hell is wrong with "Where's Waldo?"

One of the scenes (I think it's the second) is a beach scene. In the background, which is full of all kinds of people doing all kinds of things intended to distract you from finding Waldo, there's one little section where a bunch of kids are sticking an ice cream cone onto the back of a woman who was sunbathing on her stomach with her bikini top undone, and she's sitting up in surprise with her breast exposed. Shocking stuff for first graders, I tell you.

My personal score is 11. Surprisingly -- to me, at least -- despite being a Stephen King fan, I haven't read any of the three King books that were on the list.

#42029: PZ Myers — 09/28 at 11:51 AM
That sunbathing woman convinces me I need to go back and review all of the scenes. Where's the boobies?

PZ Myers
Division of Science and Math
University of Minnesota, Morris

#42030: — 09/28 at 11:55 AM
16, of which 7 were required/suggested at school (variously in the UK, US and Canada).

Sharing the general WTF??? at seeing Where's Waldo on there. Ditto James and the Giant Peach.

#42031: — 09/28 at 11:56 AM
I score 12.

It is curious that both the Harry Potter books and A Wrinkle In Time are on the list -- seems opposing parties would object to each.

No, it's probably the same anal-retentive hyper-fundies who also object to C.S.Lewis. Madeleine L'Engle (like Lewis) mixes in too much magical-type stuff, and her Christian theme is applied with too light a touch, with insufficiently suffocating orthodoxy, for these folks' taste. To them, L'Engle and Lewis are little better (maybe even worse) than Rowling -- I mean, at least Rowling doesn't pretend to be writing Christian kid-fic.

(I ran across the most amazing website a few months back, explaining exactly why Lewis was a Tool Of Satan. No, I can't recall the URL, sorry).

As for some of the others: I recall people objecting to _Huck Finn_ and _Mockingbird_ on the grounds of racism -- apparently missing the fact that the racist sentiments are expressed by the books' villains.

Trackback: Good question: How many have you read? Tracked on: To Be Determined (128.210.10.145) at 2005 09 28 11:57:32
I�m changing this meme a little bit from its origins and also from Pharyngula, where I found it. I�ll list EVERY book on this list, because I think it�s worth seeing how ridiculous the neo-thought...

#42032: — 09/28 at 12:03 PM
If I recall correctly, there's several images in "Where's Waldo" of beach-goers in skimpy clothing (as might be expected on a beach)...and a few, very _tame_ visual jokes regarding the same. I _think_ that's what the fuss was about.

Score: 29

#42034: — 09/28 at 12:09 PM
The good news is I think about 20 of the top 50 have been on the summer reading list for my kid's schools.
Bad news is I went to #31 before I had one I had read and PZ hadn't.
But what's with Flowers for Algernon?

#42035: DouglasG — 09/28 at 12:17 PM
What is with "Flowers for Algernon"? I find this list very interesting. Nigger Jim is the character in Huck Finn that is responsible for the banning as he is called that. Perhaps the Injun Joe character has gotten some notice too. You can't have a good Satan Worshipper, so magic users like Harry Potter have to go...

I would like to ask PZ, you READ "Sex" by Madonna? Or, did you just look at the pictures... That would determine whether I'm a 6 or a 7

Douglas E. Gogerty
-----
“No, I’m from Iowa. I just work in outer space.”
-James T. Kirk

#42036: — 09/28 at 12:19 PM
But what's with Flowers for Algernon?
Science making smart mice and trying to cure diseases In Violation of God's Clear Will.

Haven't read most of 'em - except Twain, Salinger, l'Engle. If you REALLY want to be subversive, give the kids Andre Norton and The Admiral (Heinlein.) Witch World, Last Planet, Glory Road, Beyond This Horizon. Or maybe H. Beam Piper - Kalvan of Otherwhen hehehe

fusilier
James 2:24

#42037: — 09/28 at 12:26 PM
As a 9-year-old, the "Scary Stories" books gave me nightmares. As Patrick noted, the stories themselves were totally mundane and I had already heard most of them even by that age--but the artwork was positively ghastly, especially the way some of them can "surprise" you as you turn the pages. The smiling fat frog-woman ghost creature thing from volume 3 (was it "The Lady In White"?) so unnerved me as a child that I refused to ever read the story again and wouldn't even have the book in my bedroom anymore. Nearly 20 years later some of them still give me chills.

#42038: — 09/28 at 12:29 PM
I would guess L'Engel is there because of the "Whiches."

#42039: Aaron M — 09/28 at 12:31 PM
18 here, with 5 being required reading from high school: Algernon, Mockingbird, Brave New World, Lord of the Flies, and Huck Finn. Not bad, I think, for southeast Missouri.

#42042: Nullifidian — 09/28 at 12:40 PM
23, primarily because I shied away from reading what was considered "children's books" even as a child. I preferred adventure stories of Jack London, Sir Walter Scott, Jules Verne, Daniel Defoe, Robert Louis Stevenson, etc. and spy novels by Ian Fleming and John le Carré.

I had a truly idiotic second grade teacher who kept on taking the books away from me because they weren't "age appropriate." One would think a teacher would be delighted to have a student who reads Billy Budd, Foretopman, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Ivanhoe in second grade, but apparently not with this one.

"We are obliged, therefore, to spread the news, painful and bitter though it may be for some to hear, that all living things on earth are kindred.” Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire

#42043: — 09/28 at 12:43 PM
Flowers for Algernon
I must be slipping. I've read the book but more recent rereads have been the short story in a Hugo Winners volume. I don't recall the explicit and distasteful love scenes but usually pay close attention to such things. Found a reference to bannings and attempted bannings. Jump to the section on "challenges".
http://www.slais.ubc.ca/PEOPLE/students/student-projects/C_Hill/hill_libr548f.pdf

#42044: spencer — 09/28 at 12:52 PM
Jeez, only 20.

And I cannot *believe* that "Where did I come from?" is on that list. I can't imagine a more innocuous introduction to the concept of where babies come from than what that book provides.

#42045: — 09/28 at 12:54 PM
17. Pathetic. Do I count books that I started and gave up on because they weren't my thing (ie Rice's Beauty series)?

#42046: — 09/28 at 12:59 PM
Somehow i ended up with 32. Although i can't say that i've read "Where's Waldo?".

#42048: Orac — 09/28 at 01:02 PM
It just occurred to me. I'm disappointed to see that J.R.R. Tolkien's books arent' on this list....

--
Orac “A statement of fact cannot be insolent.”
http://oracknows.blogspot.com

#42050: — 09/28 at 01:03 PM
I scored 9, which is not bad for being non-American I guess (I had never heard of most of the books).
And I found the webpage that claims C.S. Lewis "has been perhaps the single most useful tool of Satan since his appearance in the Christian community". Just Google "lewis satan" and click on the first link for a good laugh.

Trackback: My corruptible youth Tracked on: The Republic of Heaven (72.9.234.70) at 2005 09 28 13:18:20
It's Banned Books Week again, unfortunately, and some bloggers are cataloging which of the top 100 most frequently challenged books they've read. A full list is available from the ALA. Apparently I've read 28 of them (if you include series as single ...

#42053: Mrs. Coulter — 09/28 at 01:22 PM
I suspect James and the Giant Peach is on the list because of the extremely negative portrayal of the adult authority figures (his wicked aunts). This is also one of the major objections to Harry Potter (besides occultism and witchcraft): the portrayal of adults as wicked people to be defied, since it undermines the authority of parents.

#42054: — 09/28 at 01:24 PM
34, thanks mostly to good English teachers, English teachers for parents, and the local librarian when I was a kid. This list is interesting because of the speculation about why people want to ban books...I for one think no books should ever be banned. Not even Dumbski's.

#42056: — 09/28 at 01:37 PM
Only 25 for me. Many titles belong on the reading list for the well educated and well rounded. Tom Sawyer comes immediately to mind. Also, I'm guessing that Judy Blume is responsible for many a discussion between parents and pre/early teens that otherwise wouldn't happen.

#42058: — 09/28 at 02:05 PM
6; a nice, round number with appealing forms. So Alejandro is one up on me, if video versions doesn't count.

Challenging Slaughterhouse-Five must be rather like challenging an account of the Holocaust?!

I think I must pick up 'How to Eat Fried Worms'. At least, I would prefer them fried...

#42059: — 09/28 at 02:19 PM
Man, these people must really hate Judy Blume.

#42060: — 09/28 at 02:22 PM
30, more or less. I can't really remember which of Judy Blume's books I read when I was but a lad. And surprisingly, none of the books on the list were required reading when I was at school.

As for James and the Giant Peach, I've heard some folks object to a passage where the Grasshopper says something like "I'd rather be fried up and eaten by a Mexican!" Or it might be a violence thing, what with James's aunts getting squashed by the peach ...

Trackback: Don't Ban Books--Just Burn Them Tracked on: the dubious biologist (66.116.68.132) at 2005 09 28 14:24:15
From Majikthise by way of Pharyngula: Which books from the American Library Association's most challenged books list have you read? 1. Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz 2. Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite 3. I Know Why t...

Trackback: How challenged are you? Tracked on: FuzzyCo (205.196.222.9) at 2005 09 28 14:27:04
You got your books in my meme! You got your meme, etc... It's the American Library Association's 100 most challenged...

#42061: — 09/28 at 02:28 PM
23. Embarassed to admit one of those is "Where's Waldo?"

#42062: Keith — 09/28 at 02:49 PM
Only 12 from this list, though there are other lists ( I linked to several on my blog) and they verry. The good news is, if your favorite novel isn't on this list, it's probably on some list, somewhere. The Forbidden Library is very comprehensive, including the whys and wherefores of all the greats, like Fahrenheit 451 and </I>The Lorax</I>.

#42066: — 09/28 at 02:59 PM
I've read six of the books on the list, but please tell an ignorant European what a "challenged book" is?

#42067: — 09/28 at 03:00 PM
re: A wrinkle in time

Acccording to
http://solonor.com/bannedbooks/archives/001742.html

Complaints: Offensive language, undermines religious beliefs
Challenged at the Polk City, Fla. Elementary School (1985) by a parent who believed that the story promotes witchcraft, crystal balls, and demons. Challenged in the Anniston Ala. schools (1990). The complainant objected to the book's listing the name of Jesus Christ together with the names of great artists, philosophers, scientists, and religious leaders when referring to those who defend earth against evil.
Solonor Says Ban It Because: More fantasy claptrap! Will it take a miracle from God to show you that magic doesn't exist?

#42069: — 09/28 at 03:03 PM
About 25. I also can't remember which books by certain authors I actually did read. Many were on the required reading list at school. Dahl was (is) one of my favourites. I do remember my mother telling me that some of his books weren't "nice" though. Always wondered about that.

#42070: — 09/28 at 03:09 PM

More fantasy claptrap! Will it take a miracle from God to show you that magic doesn't exist?

OMFG, I think my irony-meter just melted....

#42073: — 09/28 at 03:32 PM
I've only read 16. Most of that was on my own, but a few were for school. It was almost 17, but only a couple chapters in, I found I couldn't stomach Brave New World very well. I keep meaning to try reading it again.

#42075: — 09/28 at 03:50 PM
22 or 23 (not sure whether I read one or only saw the movie. I thought it might be more! The list just proves the madness of banning books. I must admit I still hate Lord of the Flies even though I know that it is a classic -but it was ruined for me by being a school text and having to be read and analysed paragraph by paragraph...and no reading ahead.

Must read some of them again soon. Almost persuaded to read Harry Potter but ... no, just no.

#42076: — 09/28 at 04:00 PM
My score is a mere 11 (damn, & I thought I was a bad bibliophile).

A non-trivial reason why Tom Sawyer & Huck Finn are on the list is, as DouglasG notes, a key character is called "Nigger Jim". This is not (only) a case of over-sensitive PCness: it seems that there's been a lot of disruption caused by white kids finding in Twain's novels a license to use the n-word on their black classmates. Hardly grounds for removing the books from a library, but a significant classroom problem.

Pillars of the Earth is a story about the building of a cathedral in a medieval English town, which ends with the King of England submitting for the first time to church authority (seen by the author as a breakthrough in resistance to despotism). Are there American monarchists demanding censorship too?

PZ, couldja please flag your not-read titles in a different color? The gray-on-gray rendering of the comments here is the only Pharyngula format design I disagree with, but it's tolerable; otoh, (at least as viewed with Safari) 53% of that list requires putting eyeballs >12" from the monitor...

#42077: — 09/28 at 04:11 PM
When I saw "Wrinkle In Time" up there, I figured it was challenged for exactly the reasons for which I liked it. In my mind over the years since I read it, I have remembered it as a statement for humanism and against conformity (which makes it slightly disappointing that it was condemned for the usual occult magic reasons, sheesh, these people must want to ban about 75% of children's literature). I must have forgotten that Jesus's name was in there along with the great scientists and philosophers. Selective memory, I guess. I also don't remember there being any Jesus figures in the Time trilogy, but someone'll probably prove me wrong on that account too.

#42079: — 09/28 at 04:30 PM

Nelc wrote:
OMFG, I think my irony-meter just melted....

er...why? Do you understand where 'Solonor' is coming from with that quote?

#42080: — 09/28 at 04:35 PM
For me as an adult scientist, 'A Wrinkle In Time' now reads as a Christian apologetic along the lines of the Narnia books. It gets pretty heavy-handed, especially when one of the 'witches' takes Meg to see the angels (in the form of winged centaurs, IIRC) cavorting in midair and singing praises to the Judeo-Christian Lord (with lines right out of Psalm 96, I think).

*Loved* it as a kid in Catholic school, though. I remember going crazy trying to grasp the meaning of 'tesseract'.

#42081: — 09/28 at 04:39 PM
A Wrinkle in Time, which I loved when I was a Catholic School kid (thank you Scholastic Press), now reads like a Christian apologetic along the lines of the Narnia books. It's heavy going when one of the 'witches' takes Meg to a planet where angels (winged centaurs) cavort in midair singing praises to the Judeo-Christian Lord (even quoting psalm 96, IIRC).

#42082: — 09/28 at 04:40 PM
(sorry for the double post -- the first one kept *not showing up * -- and then of course, after posting the second, it *did*)

#42083: — 09/28 at 05:05 PM
To put Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya on this list is to acknowledge the racist roots of it what are these people thinking(no I’m not Hispanic).

#42084: — 09/28 at 05:14 PM
Someone once made the following observation about why 'Huck Finn' is always getting banned: "Black people don't like Huck Finn because even tho Twain treats Jim like a human being he calls him 'nigger'; and conservatives don't like Huck Finn because even though Twain calls Jim a 'nigger', he treats him like a human being."

#42085: — 09/28 at 05:18 PM
And I cannot *believe* that "Where did I come from?" is on that list. I can't imagine a more innocuous introduction to the concept of where babies come from than what that book provides.

Because it innocuously tells lies and does not make it clear that there is evil sex lurking nearby. The Dobson Approved story is the only acceptable one:

"One fine day, your mommy and daddy, kneeling 10 feet apart, said a special prayer. Then Jesus put a watermelon seed in mommy's tummy, which grew and grew. Then, when it got too big, Jesus magically removed the watermelon in a way that doesn't have anything to do with nasty bad private parts but hurt mommy a lot because she's wicked (as you are too, dear) and then Jesus gave the watermelon to some black people and said BAM! and you appeared. Hooray for Jesus and his elaborate ways of making us all! Praise de Lawd!"

I hope this clears that up for you.

#42087: — 09/28 at 05:32 PM
I'm at 27. Not bad, considering only a few of those were actually assigned in school. I agree with the previous mentions of some WTF? going on with the list. Kinda surprised nothing too scientific is on the list. Origins of Species anyone?

#42096: GrrlScientist — 09/28 at 07:56 PM
I also have read 27 on this list at least once, although I have actually heard of 44 titles (can I get half credit for each title?). As far as Origin of Species goes, that book is on another list; the Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries.

By the way, why doesn't my trackback show up here? What did I do wrong?

#42097: — 09/28 at 07:57 PM
3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Read a chapter for a class

5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Listened to it on a road trip

7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling

Read the first five.

17. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck

I am always surprised that anyone would want to
ban this one. It was read to my elementary school
class as was The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

18. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

I guess seeing the movies does not count.

47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

I read the original novella.

52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

69. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

96. How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell

I think this was another elementary school one.
A few others might be as well.

I really did pathetic though I have certainly read a lot that these types would want banned.

I notice that none of the Stephen King novels that I have read made it. One would think that Roland of Giliad would have have moved on to some serious banning. How did Ursula K. LeGuin avoid making the list? One would think that some idiot would try to ban The Left Hand of Darkness.

--
Anti-spam: Replace "user" with "harlequin2"

#42099: — 09/28 at 08:16 PM
44 books. Only 66 to go. But of course there are alot of books in the Alice series and the Anastasia series and I have read almost all of them aloud to my kids. In fact, our family has voted "Atta Boy, Sam" from the Anastasia series as the book most impossible to read out loud without laughing. Just ryi it.

#42101: — 09/28 at 08:24 PM
I notice that none of the Stephen King novels that I have read made it. One would think that Roland of Giliad would have have moved on to some serious banning. How did Ursula K. LeGuin avoid making the list? One would think that some idiot would try to ban The Left Hand of Darkness.

Oh, I'm sure idiots have tried. Just not enough to get into the top 100. It's okay, Roland! There's always next year, if ka wills it!

#42104: — 09/28 at 09:26 PM

Oh, I'm sure idiots have tried. Just not enough to get into the top 100. It's okay, Roland! There's always next year, if ka wills it!

As Eddie said, "Ka Ka." Most been referring to those idiots.

Trackback: Most-challeneged books Tracked on: Kevin's blatherings (66.151.149.25) at 2005 09 28 22:57:55
From PZ Myers, I looked at a list of the American Library Association's Most-Challenged Books List, and PZ posted a list of the ones he has read. I figured I'd do the same thing here: Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin

#42107: — 09/28 at 11:01 PM
Only 16... Pretty sad. Virtually none of them were assigned in school; in fact, I remember that our high school library did not carry The Color Purple (although it wasn't *banned*,) because it was "too controversial."

I find it interesting that so many of these books seem to get on this list primarily by being excellent books. Bridge to Terabithia, for instance (of which I still have my copy), must be challenged either for the death element or the brief scene where a main character makes fun of his teacher (and later feels remorse). I bet that a crappier, more poorly written and less memorable book would have slipped through the cracks with no problem.

Then again, maybe Bridge to Terabithia is challenged because the kids use their imaginations as they play. Sounds like satanism to me.

But why A Light in the Attic? and How to Eat Fried Worms? I read both of those (granted, many years ago) and still have no clue.

#42108: Alon Levy — 09/28 at 11:23 PM
I've only read Brave New World and Slaughterhouse 5... and a few books in the Harry Potter and Goosebumps series, but I'd rather pretend I haven't. Plus, I've watched To Kill A Mockingbird, though it probably doesn't count. But in my defense, most of what I read is translated - for instance, the next five books on my list are all Russian in origin. Plus, I'll probably read Beloved fairly soon.

#42111: — 09/29 at 12:39 AM
I got a 29, only one of which I have a story for. I read Heather Has Two Mommies when I discovered it on the shelves of my middle school's library. It wasn't the thriller my pubescent mind imagined it to be.

#42115: — 09/29 at 03:34 AM
I'm running about 40. But a pretty close list to you, PZ. As as echo, it still amazes me that A Wrinkle in Time would be on there. It was assigned to my "reading group" in class when I was in sixth grade. I finished it in about 5 minutes flat, and was endlessly castigated because it was supposed last out something like 6 weeks. What they expect, assigning a kid who's interested something interesting?

I also bust out To Kill a Mockingbird every 2 years or so. One of my all time favorites since I was "forced" to read it. If only I had had more of that sort of "forcing". Anyone who would demand to ban it has some serious deficits to address.

Clemens? Steinbeck? Oh, what's it all coming to...

#42122: — 09/29 at 07:24 AM
Making kids read Maya Angelou, James Joyce and Toni Morrison should be against the law.
Making the books available and allowing kids to read them is a whole different story.
A lot of this is generational. I read Steinbeck, Salinger, Twain and Faulkner. I was an old guy when Harry Potter flew in on his broom stick. One important thing for all parents is to make sure the good books are available. The result: my kids read Harry Potter AND Steinbeck, Salinger, Twain and Faulkner.
I was proud of them and helped them out with the material as needed. I was especially proud when my teenage son said: “Dad, Faulkner sure likes to read his own words. Did he realize that 200 word sentences and 1,000 word paragraphs are a pain in the ass? Did the man never hear of a period?”

#42127: — 09/29 at 08:28 AM
But why A Light in the Attic?

Shel Silverstein's art contained a bit of nudity. Just butts, I think, but you know how people get. It's odd, seeing classic illustrated kid's books that have nudity. "In the Night Kitchen" by Maurice Sendak is on the list because of it. It's even got frontal.

#42140: darth — 09/29 at 09:50 AM
darth jr. just turned 11, and he's read 17 of the books on that list so far (not counting the series-he's read all the potters, all the goosebumps, and all the stupids)...he wants to try mockingbird next.

#42146: — 09/29 at 10:16 AM
I've read 26, though some I don't remember at all. I'm sure I read A Day No Pigs Would Die and Julie of the Wolves and I can picture their covers, but I don't remember a blessed thing about their contents.

No one has mentioned Bridge to Terabithia (#9).

#42147: — 09/29 at 10:28 AM
I've read 26, though some I don't remember at all. I'm sure I read A Day No Pigs Would Die and Julie of the Wolves and I can picture their covers, but I don't remember a blessed thing about their contents.

No one has mentioned Bridge to Terabithia (#9). It's an incredibly moving story about death and mourning. I've not read it in many years, so I don't know whether it "works" for adults, but the time I read it in elementry school is seared into my memory.

#42148: — 09/29 at 10:30 AM
Darth:

Your son read all the Goosebumps books? Did you have to pour his brain back through his ears?

#42149: Aaron M — 09/29 at 10:32 AM
Grep: I've read Terabithia, but for the life of me I can't remember a thing about it other than I loved it at the time.

#42150: darth — 09/29 at 10:37 AM
greg,

he used to bring back stacks of those from the library...he's moved on to other fare, fortunately..and we went over the list last night, and he's picked some more to tackle this fall/winter.

and wtf? my word verification is "atheist"!!! i think PZ is trying to convert people :o

#42166: — 09/29 at 12:27 PM

Do you understand where 'Solonor' is coming from with that quote?

Apparently not. It was late. Oh, well.

16, by the way, though I lost interest halfway through the Earth's Children/i> series, so maybe that only counts as half. And I remember <i>Flowers for Algernon being a novella; was it expanded into novel form, or am I misremembering?

#42168: — 09/29 at 12:56 PM
Patrick--Thanks for the explanation. Boobies, eh? And about a millimeter in size. In the Night Kitchen gets banned because a little boy, in a dream, falls out of bed, out of his jammies, down through several floors--and in the drawings, you! can! see! his! willie! Not erect or anything, just hanging there, all 3mm of it, attached to his 6-year-old body.

The little perv.

I expect that when these same people go on about the vast, endless, unavoidable troves of terrible, depraved, potentially child-corrupting porn on the Internet, they aren't talking about porn like normal people mean it. You know that thing the other day about how giant squids do it? That's what they mean.

#42174: WeatherGirl — 09/29 at 03:40 PM
It's been interesting reading everyone's comments. My own personal score is: read 6 (all six Harry Potters only count as one though) and began and quit 5. (Too little time and too many great books to discover, to waste time on something that does not engage me.) My low score is probably due to the fact that I'm not of the American persuasion and the books I grew up reading haven't even been cracked by those likely to register on the ALA's radar.

Of those listed, and that I've read, let me say, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley just blew my mind and I would encourage anyone to give it a try.

#42190: — 09/29 at 06:29 PM

NelC: And I remember Flowers for Algernon being a novella; was it expanded into novel form, or am I misremembering?

Keyes expanded the short story into a novel, which in 1966 shared the Nebula Award for best sf novel with Samuel R. Delany's Babel-17. It was also made into regular & tv movies, both called Charly and starring Orson Bean.

#42261: — 09/30 at 09:41 AM
14, but I am from England, so I haven't read some of the "American Classics"

#42290: — 09/30 at 12:52 PM
Just for the record: It's 6.5 for me just as for Douglas. Plus some of which I am not sure. My score would be higher had I had more English classes at school. And of course i have the excuse of being german.

#42312: — 09/30 at 03:24 PM
BTW, I find neither Irvine Welsh nor Jeanette Winterson. Do your libraries carry no books by contemporary British authors?

#42331: — 09/30 at 08:31 PM
It's Friday and I have only the wherewithall to catch up on entries, not all the comments tonight, and someone may have made this point already, however- Mockingbird IS required reading in the the high schools in Sonoma Cty, CA. and well it should be.
Thanks for your refreshing candor - your blog is a regular stop.

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Wednesday, September 28, 2005

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