Bad Books Reading List

Via Terrance: How many of the 100 most frequently challenged books of 1990-2000 have you read? The ones I’ve read are in bold…

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 (It’s been years, and I need to re-read it.)
6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (Again, been too long, need to re-read.)
7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
8. Forever by Judy Blume (I know I read some number of Judy Blume books when I was younger, but it’s been so long that I can’t remember which ones, so none of them are marked on this list.)
9. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (Made me cry every time I read it, and probably would if I read it again.)
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 (As with earlier books, need to re-read.)
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 (I’ve been wanting to read this one for years…or even see the movie, for that matter.)
19. Sex by Madonna (Since I don’t think downloading the scanned images that hit the ‘net soon after the books release counts as reading it….)
20. Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel (I only read the first three, I think, before it turned into bad stone-age romance novel porn and I got bored.)
21. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (Probably one of the many books that first got me interested in sci-fi.)
23. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
24. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
25. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak (I may have read this, but the only thing Sendak ever puts in my brain is Where the Wild Things Are, so I’m not entirely sure.)
26. The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
27. The Witches by Roald Dahl (I love Roald Dahl’s writing!)
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 (This one’s been on my “must read” list for years. I know there’s a copy around the house somewhere….)
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 (One again: been ages, need to re-read.)
42. Beloved by Toni Morrison
43. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (I may have read this back in high school, but I’m not sure.)
44. The Pigman by Paul Zindel (Another that I may have read, but I’m not sure enough to mark it.)
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) (Actually, I read the first, thought it was incredibly boring, badly-written porn trying to masquerade as erotica, and never bothered with the rest.)
54. Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
55. Cujo by Stephen King (I’m not so much surprised that King is on the list, as that he has so few on the list. Why Cujo, Carrie, and The Dead Zone specifically?)
56. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
57. The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell (Heh…old, out-of-date, potentially dangerously inaccurate in spots, and disowned by the author…but still popular among teenage malcontents.)
58. Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
59. Ordinary People by Judith Guest
60. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis (Saw the movie…it was entertaining, but not enough so to make me search out the original book.)
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 (Um…what? Why in the world is this on here? Would someone please explain this to me?)
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 Stephan 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