It's Banned Books Week!
Sheila over at Book Journey is hosting a celebration of banned books, with lots of links to other blogs and giveaways, so stop by! And join in the fun yourself by reading banned books and/or posting about them this week.
I just finished Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and am now reading The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier, both commonly banned books. Look for reviews of those later this week, here and at Great Books for Kids and Teens.
Check out this list of the 100 most frequently banned books (from 1990 - 1999), compiled by the American Library Association (ALA) and this list of most frequently banned and challenged classics. You will be surprised by some of the titles on these lists. How many of these naughty books have YOU read??
From these two lists, I have read the following grown-up books (see Great Books for Kids and Teens' Banned Book post for the list of kids/teen/YA books read). I linked to my reviews where they are available:
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (read for school in 9th grade)
- The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (read in high school but due for a re-read)
- Earth's Children series by Jean Auel (must admit, that was a hot one)
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (a favorite of mine)
- Beloved by Toni Morrison
- Cujo by Stephen King (I loved King in high school and read every one of his early horror novels!)
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (assigned to my son's World Lit class; I read last week)
- Lord of the Flies by William Golding
- The Dead Zone by Stephen King
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
- Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
- Jumper by Stephen Gould (a favorite of mine)
- Christine by Stephen King
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (read for class in high school)
- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (read in 10th grade for school)
- 1984 by George Orwell (read in 9th grade for school)
- Animal Farm by George Orwell
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey (read for AP English in 12th grade)
- The Call of the Wild by Jack London (read for school in 7th grade)
I was pleased to see that many of the banned books I have read (on this list and the one at Great Books for Kids and Teens) were assigned for school (mine or my kids'), so kudos to our schools for giving us a broad and unrestricted education!
Check out the lists to see how many banned books you have read...and select one you missed and head to your library!
So disappointed that I've only read 14 of these books - I really must do better.
ReplyDeleteIt's so sad that these have been deemed "banned". They're classics and amazing! My kids love Harry Potter/Narnia/Hunger Games, and they just finished a great one called “Dr. Fuddle and the Gold Baton” by Warren L. Woodruff, you can check it out and get it right from the website http://www.drfuddle.com/. I think I'm going to encourage them to pick a few from this list next!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't believe A Wrinkle in Time was on the list. I read it as a kid, now I'm thinking I must've missed something.
ReplyDeleteOops thought I had been here - but have not. :) I am just going to keep on reading these books through the years. I LOVE this week.
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