Banned Books

In honor of the swiftly approaching Banned Book Week, I present to you the top 100 banned books from 1990-2000.

Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
Forever by Judy Blume
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Giver by Lois Lowry
It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Sex by Madonna
Earth's Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
The Goats by Brock Cole
Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
Blubber by Judy Blume
Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
Final Exit by Derek Humphry
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
What's Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
Deenie by Judy Blume
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
Cujo by Stephen King
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
What's Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
Fade by Robert Cormier
Guess What? by Mem Fox
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Native Son by Richard Wright
Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women's Fantasies by Nancy Friday
Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Jack by A.M. Homes
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
Carrie by Stephen King
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
Family Secrets by Norma Klein
Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
Private Parts by Howard Stern
Where's Waldo? by Martin Hanford
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
Sex Education by Jenny Davis
The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

Happy reading!

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Great Alphabet Books

Alphabet books don't have to be just the tired recitation of alliterative animals and the like. Check these out:


Alphabet City, Stephen T. Johnson

This wordless book is a series of photographs shot in New York City. Each image has a letter of the alphabet hidden in it, naturally formed by the architecture and nature. The letters go in order, so observant kids will know which letters to look for next, but in my experience, they still like finding the letters regardless.


Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Bill Martin Jr.

Did you know you can buy a tree that comes with velcro letters to follow their adventures? I just use an alphabet puzzle to point out the letters, and then I dump out the puzzle over when everyone falls out of the tree. Then, I have the kids put them back into place as we finish the book. Another tree idea I really enjoyed was when a teacher bought an inflatable coconut tree for the classroom.

Strong women living outside of the city

Get out of town (or suburbia) with these great books.


Tadpole, Ruth White

A great read-aloud book. This follows Carolina and her loud, state-named family of women as they work through life with limited funds and no father. The exuberent title character shows up to escape some family troubles of his own, and adventures ensue. Funny, and a great introduction to Mark Twain-esque dialects.



Little House on Rocky Ridge, Roger Lea Macbride

Even as an (obsessively) avid Little House books fan, I had no idea what a vivacious, smart and rather famous woman Rose Wilder Lane was. This is the first in a series on her adventures as a girl. Series about Laura's grandmother and great-grandmother are also available.

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Exploring homeschooling

Homeschooling has been a hot topic for nearly a decade, and these books do a great job of exploring the pros and cons of traditional and homeschooling without being preachy or overly biased.


Ida B: And Her Plans To Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World, Katherine Hannigan

Ida B., who has a mind of her own and grand plans to match, returns to public school when her homeschooling mother falls ill. Provides a good critique on the pitfalls of public education at the same time that it highlights the best kind of teacher one can find there.


Surviving the Applewhites, Stephanie S. Tolan
I liked that this book gave a voice to some of the big criticisms of homeschooling (lack of structure, etc.), yet it wasn't a public service announcement for the idea. The story should appeal to reading and theater fans, as well as the students traditionally viewed as naughty.

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Adventuresome Dogs

For a few days, our readings took on a dog theme, because what young person doesn't like man's best friend? Here are two of my favorites.


Martha Blah Blah, Susan Meddaugh
Martha is an extraordinary dog who can talk after she eats alphabet soup. But when the soup company starts eliminating letters from the soup, Martha’s speech gets all garbled. I found a fun letter recognition activity to go along with this book in Games with Books, by Peggy Kaye. The text is a bit harder than most of the other books I’ve been using, so I would suggest reading this out loud and letting the student follow along with an alphabet puzzle, removing the letters as they get taken out of the soup.


Joey and Jet, James Yang
This book is good for beginning readers to try on their own because the vocabulary is manageable, yet they tackle prepositions (around, beneath) that aren’t usually found in early reading books. The art looks like fabric collage, and Jet has a lot of energy, which results in him running all over the place chasing a stick (a dog’s work is never done).

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