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2. Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
8. Forever by Judy Blume
11. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
18. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
19. Sex by Madonna
22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
23. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
25. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
27. The Witches by Roald Dahl
28. The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
32. Blubber by Judy Blume
37. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
42. Beloved by Toni Morrison
43. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
53. Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
55. Cujo by Stephen King
56. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
59. Ordinary People by Judith Guest
60. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
62. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
67. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
69. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
70. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
71. Native Son by Richard Wright
77. Carrie by Stephen King
83. The Dead Zone by Stephen King
84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
85. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
87. Private Parts by Howard Stern
88. Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford
89. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Yeah. I remember a few scenes dealing frankly with what happens when girls go through puberty, which is shameful and naughty and not to be discussed until after their wedding night.
Yeah. When I was about ten, I was reading Are You There God? while at dinner with my mother and her boyfriend, and then they asked me what it was about. I wanted to die.
[Yes, I come from a family where you are allowed to read at the table. I read when I go out to dinner or brunch still.]
When I was about ten, I read "Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret" because I found it in my sister's room and I read everything.
I didn't know anything about it, but I'd read something else by Judy Blume--not "Then Again, Maybe I Won't", yet--and sort of had her in the same class as Beverly Cleary.
I felt like I was reading something that I wasn't supposed to, but I've never forgotten it. I learned the word "haughty" from it.
Forty!
But, when I was an English major in college I took a class called "banned books," and my senior year high school AP English class focused on banned books.
I have to admit, I've seen the list before, and read quite a few simply because they were on it.
Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
Forever by Judy Blume
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
The Witches by Roald Dahl
Blubber by Judy Blume
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Okay, so it's 19. Several of them, I know I've read, but don't remember at all.
29. And I enjoyed the Stephen King too. And I read Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret because I loved Judy Blume. (And because I knew that, some day, it would impress dame.)
I've read 19 of them. I am sadly deficient in my American writers. (except Judy Blume who was compulsary, of course). I think I've read a wrinkle in time about 15 times though.
Only 3½ for sure: To Kill a Mockingbird, Brave New World, Slaughterhouse-Five, a few chapters of The Handmaid's Tale and some of Madonna's Sex - but there I was mostly just ogling the pictures.
5. And I only read Mockingbird a few months ago because my mother had badgered me to since I was ten and I finally caved in. I've read Lord of the Flies and Of Mice and Men because they are staples of GCSE English Language here in the UK.
I don't read much fiction, even less so if it's genre (I'm not being snooty, I can see the appeal). I don't tend to read sex education or gay friendly childrens books either. These two facts have badly affected my score.
More than I would have thought - 22. Had a great time listening to "A Wrinkle in Time" on CD during a two-day road trip with my 5 and 7 year old this past summer. (Apart from it running out of steam around "Aunt Beast," what would be the objection to that book?)
I should elaborate. I put myself through nursing school working nights at a shelter for domestic violence survivors (female and male, gay, straight,and accompanying children). The library was all donated and exceptionally eclectic. Most of those books were read on those long nights. I read ALL night long to stay awake, but part of my contract was that i didn't use the time to study.
I read really fast. I'll read anything, rather than not read; I only own copies of 2 of the listed books.
11. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
(but I paged through it at a used bookstore once)
23. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
25. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
28. The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
67. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
53. Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
67. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
All of them other than the above.
I used to work for a rare book dealer and we sold Madonna sex hand over fist, of all the books on the list it's the only one I think should actually be banned, because it is the ultimate affront to sexyness. Guh, saltpeter.
Were you ever a drug-addled teenager? I guess I kinda assumed. Because a drug-addled teenager who never read Go Ask Alice? That's kinda weird. It's a piece of crap--don't read it.
(In the Night Kitchen, by contrast, is a much-loved classic by one of children's literature's foremost illustrators. That's why that one struck me as a little weird. Shrug.)
Were you ever a drug-addled teenager?
And how! I guess I just missed some, I was what was known as a sci-fi and noir exclusivist for a minute back then... you know all reading No Pockets in a Shroud and Have Spacesuit Will Travel while murphing on thai stick kinda deal.
It's strange what does and doesn't get left out of personal readership and curricula though.
i did a shadow puppet book report on go ask alice when i was in fourth grade or so (?)
we got away with saying "fuck you"
i don't think i knew what it meant then.
we got an A for the "novelty" of form, i believe.
also any i didn't read when i was a child i read a years ago because because of them
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