# How many of the ALA's most frequently challenged books have you read? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 23, 2005, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489 "2005-10-23T03:13:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/21 "2005-10-23T05:18:00Z")
1. Read 'em…hell, I’ve _taught_ 'em! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/22 "2005-10-23T05:18:24Z")
28 that I can remember. There are some that I think I _might_ have read, but can’t remember reading; I didn’t count those. If I did, there’d be 32. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/23 "2005-10-23T05:34:33Z")
Fourteen. And at least five or six more if I could count seeing the movies that were made from them. Why is _James and the Giant Peach_ on the list? Or _Tom Sawyer_? ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/24 "2005-10-23T05:37:16Z")
1. But I’m a lit major and librarian. > [@elfkin477](#): > > What I wonder, though, is what sort of libraries challenge them. They don’t _just_ mean school libraries, do they? If so, the judgement of some people - who apparently wanted some of these books in the libraries - is pretty suspect. You’d have to be half-crazy to think the average school is going to welcome books like the joy of gay sex…the school needs to take parental reactions into account, after all. [Wait](http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=bbwlinks&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=40912), this page says 71% of the challenges were in fact school libraries. Hmm. It’s not that the _libraries_ challenge the books, people do. Parents annoyed about books in the school libraries is most common, but people challenge books at public libraries too. Sometimes it has been because it was a small library and all the books were shelved together, so parents objected to their kids seeing _The joy of gay sex_ next to _Ella enchanted_ or something. Sometimes people just object to having certain books in the public library at all. A challenge doesn’t mean a book has been taken off the shelf. You challenge a book by telling the librarian you object to its presence in the library, usually in writing (possibly on the same forms that might be available for comments and purchase requests). The librarian should then review the book and whether it really belongs in the library–for example, sometimes a book for high school kids winds up in an elementary school library, and maybe it really doesn’t belong in that particular collection. But most of the time, the librarian comes back with an explanation of why the book is appropriate for the collection. Children’s books are more often challenged than books for adults because people care a lot more about what their kids are reading than about what their neighbors are reading. They are far more likely to get upset about swear words or sex in their kids’ reading, so an adult book has to be really blatant to be challenged. And one of the “where’s Waldo?” books had a _topless woman_ on the beach! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/25 "2005-10-23T05:37:34Z")
1. W00t. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/26 "2005-10-23T06:35:11Z")
8 or 9, because I’m not sure about one. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/27 "2005-10-23T06:42:02Z")
25 and a third. I read the first of Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice). It was one of the most boring books I’ve ever read. I also skimmed the last book of the Earth’s Children by Auel. I have no intention of reading anything Madonna writes. Or consuming any of her artistic endeavors in any medium. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/28 "2005-10-23T06:43:50Z")
Fourteen, and mostly in school. I thought some of these were considered classics?! ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/29 "2005-10-23T06:54:37Z")
19, with 2 on the “to read” pile… mm ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/30 "2005-10-23T08:23:10Z")
19 plus one Harry Potter book. Really…like others have said, I read most of these FOR school either as assignments from teachers or as book report books i chose myself. Rock on Robert Cormier. He’s my favorite author and he’s on there THREE times. Props to that smut-peddler Judy Blume too. I am surely corrupt. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/31 "2005-10-23T09:02:52Z")
1. Most read on my own and not result of class assignment ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Side_of_the_Floyd)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/32 "2005-10-23T09:03:02Z")
Nineteen. ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Side_of_the_Floyd)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/33 "2005-10-23T09:06:22Z")
No, wait. Twenty-one. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/34 "2005-10-23T09:49:39Z")
Twenty-eight. And I turned out all screwy. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/35 "2005-10-23T10:19:08Z")
Twenty eight, and that’s not including any Harry Potter. If you’ll excuse me, I must go now: virgins don’t sacrifice themselves, you know. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/36 "2005-10-23T11:22:10Z")
1. What I found interesting was the sex ed book for girls was so much higher on the list than the same book for boys. What gives? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/37 "2005-10-23T11:43:18Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > 1. What I found interesting was the sex ed book for girls was so much higher on the list than the same book for boys. What gives? Think of who is probably doing the challenging. A lot of fundamentalists get VERY upset about the thought of of females knowing their own bodies well enough to be able to use reliable birth control, to put off having children, or not having children at all. A lot of these same people think that if girls don’t know about “dirty things” then the girls won’t experiment, and will keep themselves pure. As for me, I gave my daughter a copy of _Our Bodies, Our Selves_ when she was old enough to read and understand most of the words. I pointed out some of the things that I thought she should know, told her to keep the book in her room and read it frequently, and that I’d try to answer any questions she had. Of course, I also let her watch my copy of _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_ when she was an older teen. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/38 "2005-10-23T12:13:46Z")
I’m not sure how many I’ve read. I’d guess about 10. I do wonder what exactly a “challenge” is. I think we debated this last year. For instance, I have no problem with a school library placing a book such as “Forever” in a seperate group for older students. There are kids who would check it out thinking it is another book such as Fudge. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/39 "2005-10-23T13:42:53Z")
Twenty. Most are ones I’ve read aloud to my kids. Actually some of them are most appropriate that way. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/40 "2005-10-23T14:01:03Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Why is _James and the Giant Peach_ on the list? Or _Tom Sawyer_? _Tom Sawyer_ probably for the casual use of the N-word. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489.md?page=3)