# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![pipperroo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@pipperroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pipperroo)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/61 "2005-10-24T00:52:45Z")
24 that I’m pretty certain of, several more I might have read, and as noted by others, many of these were school assignments. Judy Bloom is probably on there so much because of the variety of her books. She has many that are sweet and innocent childhood books and others that are about teenagers going through things like rape and peer pressure and sex. I can see the complaint if a parent didn’t read the book first and just thought it was fine for a young child based on the author. I was reading long books by myself by age 6. I like Judy Bloom, but some of her books would have really confused or scared me if I had read them at that age. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/62 "2005-10-24T00:56:04Z")
> [@pipperroo](#): > > I can see the complaint if a parent didn’t read the book first and just thought it was fine for a young child based on the author. I was reading long books by myself by age 6. I guess that’s a good point, but can’t you usually take care of that by reading the back cover? ---
**Author:** ![JimOfAllTrades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@JimOfAllTrades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimOfAllTrades)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/63 "2005-10-24T01:12:07Z")
I think I’ve read 14. There are a couple that sound familiar but I can’t remember for sure. ---
**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/64 "2005-10-24T02:11:50Z")
> [@don't ask](#): > > [Here](http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.htm) is the list of the 100 most frequently challenged books 1990-2000 as compiled by the American Library Association. I was surprised to find that I have read 19 of them, although **read** may be a bit over the top when it comes to 19 and 88. > > How about you? I have read 35 of them, 36 if you count looking through the Anarchist cookbook. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/65 "2005-10-24T03:12:02Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I’m aware of that. My point is that books don’t end up in libraries without someone espousing their inclusion. Now, I don’t think the content of the books is bad (I wouldn’t have read close to half of them if I did) but some of the books on the list are inevitably going to upset parents. I can’t fathom why the people putting the books in the school libraries didn’t seem to realize this when they put the books on the shelf. It should have been something that would have been painfully obvious. I suppose it’s possible that the books that are pretty much automatically going to upset parents were only challenged in town/city libraries, but given only 29% of the challenges sprung from there… Not all of these have been challenged in school libraries. I assume books like the joy of gay sex were challenged in public libraries. ---
**Author:** ![pipperroo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@pipperroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pipperroo)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/66 "2005-10-24T03:24:59Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I guess that’s a good point, but can’t you usually take care of that by reading the back cover? yes, if the parent is with you when you choose the book. Since I selected my books alone at the library, I might have just picked it as a book by Judy Bloom that I hadn’t read, assuming it was like her book _Fudge_ , and then told a parent later when there was something in it I didn’t understand. The complaint might just have then been that some Judy Bloom books should be separated into child and some into teen areas of the library. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/67 "2005-10-24T04:15:19Z")
More informative, perhaps, than the list of titles is this page on the statistics for the bases of challenges – [http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=bbwlinks&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=40912:](http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=bbwlinks&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=40912:) > [@](#): > > Between 1990 and 2000, of the 6,364 challenges reported to or recorded by the Office for Intellectual Freedom (see The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books): > > 1,607 were challenges to “sexually explicit” material (up 161 since 1999); > > 1,427 to material considered to use “offensive language”; (up 165 since 1999) > > 1,256 to material considered “unsuited to age group”; (up 89 since 1999) > > 842 to material with an “occult theme or promoting the occult or Satanism,”; (up 69 since 1999) > > 737 to material considered to be “violent”; (up 107 since 1999) > > 515 to material with a homosexual theme or “promoting homosexuality,” (up 18 since 1999) and > > 419 to material “promoting a religious viewpoint.” (up 22 since 1999) > > Other reasons for challenges included “nudity” (317 challenges, up 20 since 1999), “racism” (267 challenges, up 22 since 1999), “sex education” (224 challenges, up 7 since 1999), and “anti-family” (202 challenges, up 9 since 1999). > > Please note that the number of challenges and the number of reasons for those challenges do not match, because works are often challenged on more than one ground. > > Seventy-one percent of the challenges were to material in schools or school libraries.2 Another twenty-four percent were to material in public libraries (down two percent since 1999). Sixty percent of the challenges were brought by parents, fifteen percent by patrons, and nine percent by administrators, both down one percent since 1999). ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/68 "2005-10-24T08:43:46Z")
And these are just the ones that get challenged. Think about the books that are never ordered for school libraries and classrooms because they are already banned by local school boards. I see that _Huckleberry Finn_ is on the list. Some consider it to be “the great American novel.” But I wasn’t allowed to teach it in my American lit classes (1969-1989). ---
**Author:** ![JerH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@JerH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerH)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/69 "2005-10-24T13:59:36Z")
At least 21.5 (I read the short story that _Flowers for Algernon_ was expanded from but never the novel, so I only count it as 1/2), maybe a couple more - there are a few of the children’s/young adult ones I’m unsure about. And six of those were required reading for me in a Catholic high school. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/70 "2005-10-24T14:17:44Z")
Twenty-one for me. Several were required reading at my catholic high school. ---
**Author:** ![Coin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@Coin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coin)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/71 "2005-10-24T14:53:12Z")
1. (Lit major, eclectic tastes) Where’s Waldo? Um…in one of the books, he was inside a raped lesbian’s vagina, shouting racial profanity that espoused a religious viewpoint. Plus, they were using birth control. The rest of the series was fine, though. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/72 "2005-10-24T15:43:08Z")
I’ve read 31 ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/73 "2005-10-24T16:07:38Z")
1. Do libraries still carry _Little Black Sambo_? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/74 "2005-10-24T16:26:56Z")
33, without #19, I might add. [QUOTE=Green Bean] FWIW, I only read three of the Auel books, but counted them as “read.” [QUOTE] I’ve only read 6 of the Potter books. I think that still counts. ---
**Author:** ![Taran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Taran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taran)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/75 "2005-10-24T17:31:41Z")
1. Much becomes clear. There’s an awful lot of Judy Blume on this list; does anyone know why? I don’t remember her books all that well, but they seemed pretty inoffensive at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Try\_As\_I\_Might](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Try\_As\_I\_Might](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try_As_I_Might)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/76 "2005-10-24T17:48:31Z")
21–almost 75% required at a Catholic high school or elementary school. most of these should be required reading in my opinion. Of Mice and men? Brave New World? I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings? Hcuk Finn/Tom Sawyer? The Catcher in the Rye? To Kill a Mockingbird? Sex by Madonna? ( 😃 ) These are all classics. ---
**Author:** ![Yamirskoonir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/c0e974/32.png) [@Yamirskoonir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yamirskoonir)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/77 "2005-10-24T18:01:24Z")
1. A number of these I had as required reading taught in CA public schools (English Honors classes throughout Jr. High and High School): The Pigman, Bridge to Terabithia, My Brother Sam is Dead, Catcher in the Rye, The Giver, The Goats, To Kill a Mockingbird, Beloved, The Outsiders, Lord of the Flies, Native Son, and How to Eat Fried Worms. I wonder what the kids in the “regular” English classes had (were allowed) to read? ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/78 "2005-10-24T18:28:48Z")
32 that I’m sure of, counting the series as single books. Plus a couple of movies of others. I may have read a few more but didn’t remember them for sure. A lot of those are kid’s books that were published after I was “too old” for them. I read Huck Finn as a kid and loved it (although I’m sure I didn’t get all of it). Read it again in 7th grade as assigned reading and have hated it ever since. Just make the bad ones assigned reading; leave the good ones for kids to enjoy. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Corii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Corii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corii)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/79 "2005-10-24T19:02:40Z")
Wow, I’ve read 20 of them (more but I’m just counting “series” as one). Two of them are sitting in my “To Be Read” pile - Handmaid’s Tale and American Psycho. It seems like someone in that group has a grudge against Judy Blume. ---
**Author:** ![Corii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Corii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corii)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489/80 "2005-10-24T19:03:54Z")
> [@Taran](#): > > 1. Much becomes clear. > > There’s an awful lot of Judy Blume on this list; does anyone know why? I don’t remember her books all that well, but they seemed pretty inoffensive at the time. The only thing I can think is that she writes a lot about girls growing up, getting their period, body development, and the like. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-the-alas-most-frequently-challenged-books-have-you-read/327489.md?page=5)