So one of my most read blogs (a whole 100 views - 70 or so of them are me...) was about a list of banned books in 2015. I've decided it's probably time to update this a little bit, so lucky you, you're in for another assault on free speech by people who think they can control how we think by limiting what we read. The fools.
It took some digging about, but here's the website for 2019, populated by the Banned Books Week Coordinator, the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom in partnership with the Banned Books Week Coalition. This is an American website - I shall continue to dig and if I find a link to more UK-centric content then I will let you know.
Some of the 2015 listed books have continued to cause issues, but there are a few new ones too.
Here's a list of 50 Challenged Books with, once again, links to the ones I've read. I know you want to know this...
J.K. Rowling | Harry Potter (series)
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor | Alice (series)
Robert Cormier | The Chocolate War | 1974
Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell | And Tango Makes Three | 2005
John Steinbeck | Of Mice and Men | 1937
Maya Angelou | I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings | 1969
Alvin Schwartz | Scary Stories (series)
Philip Pullman | His Dark Materials (series)
Lauren Myracle | ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series)
Stephen Chbosky | The Perks of Being a Wallflower | 1999
Walter Dean Myers | Fallen Angels | 1988
Robie Harris | It’s Perfectly Normal | 1994
Dav Pilkey | Captain Underpants (series)
Mark Twain | The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | 1884
Toni Morrison | The Bluest Eye | 1970
Judy Blume | Forever | 1975
Alice Walker | The Color Purple | 1982
Anonymous | Go Ask Alice | 1971
J.D. Salinger | Catcher in the Rye | 1951
Linda De Haan | King and King | 2000
Harper Lee | To Kill a Mockingbird | 1960
Cecily von Ziegesar | Gossip Girl | 2002
Lois Lowry | The Giver | 1993
Maurice Sendak | In the Night Kitchen | 1970
Lois Duncan | Killing Mr. Griffin | 1978
Toni Morrison | Beloved | 1987
James Lincoln Collier | My Brother Sam Is Dead | 1974
Katherine Paterson | Bridge to Terabithia | 1977
Caroline B. Cooney | The Face on the Milk Carton | 1990
Robert Cormier | We All Fall Down | 1991
Sonya Sones | What My Mother Doesn't Know | 2001
Rudolfo Anaya | Bless Me, Ultima | 1972
David Guterson | Snow Falling on Cedars | 1994
Carolyn Mackler| The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things | 2003
Louise Rennison | Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging | 1999
Aldous Huxley | Brave New World | 1932
Robie Harris | It’s So Amazing | 1999
Michael Bellasiles | Arming America | 2000
Mark Mathabane | Kaffir Boy | 1986
E.R. Frank | Life is Funny | 2000
Judy Blume | Blubber | 1974
Avi | The Fighting Ground | 1984
Chris Crutcher | Whale Talk | 2001
Chris Crutcher | Athletic Shorts | 1991
Jane Leslie Conly | Crazy Lady | 1993
Kurt Vonnegut | Slaughterhouse-Five | 1969
George Beard and Harold Hutchins | The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby | 2001
Alex Sanchez | Rainbow Boys | 2001
Ken Kesey | One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest | 1962
Khaled Hosseini | The Kite Runner | 2003
Here's a list of Young Adult Banned Books too - some duplications...:
J. D. Salinger | The Catcher in the Rye | 1951
Harper Lee | To Kill a Mockingbird | 1960
Anonymous | Go Ask Alice | 1971
Judy Blume | Blubber | 1974
Robert Cormier | The Chocolate War | 1974
Judy Blume | Forever | 1975
Aidan Chambers | Dance on My Grave | 1982
Lois Lowry | The Giver | 1993
Melvyn Burgess | Junk | 1996
Stephen Chbosky | The Perks of Being a Wallflower | 1999
Mark Haddon | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time | 2003
Lauren Myracle | Ttyl | 2004
James Howe | Totally Joe | 2005
Stephenie Meyer | Twilight (series) | 2005
David Levithan | Two Boys Kissing | 2006
Sherman Alexie | The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian | 2007
Jay Asher | Thirteen Reasons Why | 2007
Emily M. Danforth | The Miseducation of Cameron Post | 2012
John Green | The Fault in Our Stars | 2012
Mariko Tamaki | This One Summer | 2014
What we can basically infer from this is that I've not read many controversial books (or at least none that were risky enough to be banned anywhere), and that no-one has written a book that's been banned recently. Either the "ban the books brigade" are getting more lenient, or authors are getting more vanilla...
Meanwhile if you were thinking of reading any of the books listed above I would definitely recommend The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which is beautifully written, and has a surprise c-word that I thought was perfect. (I not anti-words in particular, although "numpty" is one that I find personally irritating.)
Junk has a special place in my heart because my husband was in the original stage production.
Slaughterhouse 5 and To Kill A Mockingbird are both awesome too. If you loved any of the books above give 'em a shout and a link and I will check them out when I have some time. There will be another blog post soon about the joy of reading... Watch this space.
It took some digging about, but here's the website for 2019, populated by the Banned Books Week Coordinator, the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom in partnership with the Banned Books Week Coalition. This is an American website - I shall continue to dig and if I find a link to more UK-centric content then I will let you know.
Some of the 2015 listed books have continued to cause issues, but there are a few new ones too.
Here's a list of 50 Challenged Books with, once again, links to the ones I've read. I know you want to know this...
J.K. Rowling | Harry Potter (series)
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor | Alice (series)
Robert Cormier | The Chocolate War | 1974
Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell | And Tango Makes Three | 2005
John Steinbeck | Of Mice and Men | 1937
Maya Angelou | I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings | 1969
Alvin Schwartz | Scary Stories (series)
Philip Pullman | His Dark Materials (series)
Lauren Myracle | ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series)
Stephen Chbosky | The Perks of Being a Wallflower | 1999
Walter Dean Myers | Fallen Angels | 1988
Robie Harris | It’s Perfectly Normal | 1994
Dav Pilkey | Captain Underpants (series)
Mark Twain | The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | 1884
Toni Morrison | The Bluest Eye | 1970
Judy Blume | Forever | 1975
Alice Walker | The Color Purple | 1982
Anonymous | Go Ask Alice | 1971
J.D. Salinger | Catcher in the Rye | 1951
Linda De Haan | King and King | 2000
Harper Lee | To Kill a Mockingbird | 1960
Cecily von Ziegesar | Gossip Girl | 2002
Lois Lowry | The Giver | 1993
Maurice Sendak | In the Night Kitchen | 1970
Lois Duncan | Killing Mr. Griffin | 1978
Toni Morrison | Beloved | 1987
James Lincoln Collier | My Brother Sam Is Dead | 1974
Katherine Paterson | Bridge to Terabithia | 1977
Caroline B. Cooney | The Face on the Milk Carton | 1990
Robert Cormier | We All Fall Down | 1991
Sonya Sones | What My Mother Doesn't Know | 2001
Rudolfo Anaya | Bless Me, Ultima | 1972
David Guterson | Snow Falling on Cedars | 1994
Carolyn Mackler| The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things | 2003
Louise Rennison | Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging | 1999
Aldous Huxley | Brave New World | 1932
Robie Harris | It’s So Amazing | 1999
Michael Bellasiles | Arming America | 2000
Mark Mathabane | Kaffir Boy | 1986
E.R. Frank | Life is Funny | 2000
Judy Blume | Blubber | 1974
Avi | The Fighting Ground | 1984
Chris Crutcher | Whale Talk | 2001
Chris Crutcher | Athletic Shorts | 1991
Jane Leslie Conly | Crazy Lady | 1993
Kurt Vonnegut | Slaughterhouse-Five | 1969
George Beard and Harold Hutchins | The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby | 2001
Alex Sanchez | Rainbow Boys | 2001
Ken Kesey | One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest | 1962
Khaled Hosseini | The Kite Runner | 2003
Here's a list of Young Adult Banned Books too - some duplications...:
J. D. Salinger | The Catcher in the Rye | 1951
Harper Lee | To Kill a Mockingbird | 1960
Anonymous | Go Ask Alice | 1971
Judy Blume | Blubber | 1974
Robert Cormier | The Chocolate War | 1974
Judy Blume | Forever | 1975
Aidan Chambers | Dance on My Grave | 1982
Lois Lowry | The Giver | 1993
Melvyn Burgess | Junk | 1996
Stephen Chbosky | The Perks of Being a Wallflower | 1999
Mark Haddon | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time | 2003
Lauren Myracle | Ttyl | 2004
James Howe | Totally Joe | 2005
Stephenie Meyer | Twilight (series) | 2005
David Levithan | Two Boys Kissing | 2006
Sherman Alexie | The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian | 2007
Jay Asher | Thirteen Reasons Why | 2007
Emily M. Danforth | The Miseducation of Cameron Post | 2012
John Green | The Fault in Our Stars | 2012
Mariko Tamaki | This One Summer | 2014
What we can basically infer from this is that I've not read many controversial books (or at least none that were risky enough to be banned anywhere), and that no-one has written a book that's been banned recently. Either the "ban the books brigade" are getting more lenient, or authors are getting more vanilla...
Meanwhile if you were thinking of reading any of the books listed above I would definitely recommend The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which is beautifully written, and has a surprise c-word that I thought was perfect. (I not anti-words in particular, although "numpty" is one that I find personally irritating.)
Junk has a special place in my heart because my husband was in the original stage production.
Slaughterhouse 5 and To Kill A Mockingbird are both awesome too. If you loved any of the books above give 'em a shout and a link and I will check them out when I have some time. There will be another blog post soon about the joy of reading... Watch this space.
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