How Many Have You Read?

How many of the American Library Association’s most challenged books have you read? Click here to read the list. It does have a ton of books for kids; but those books are the ones that tend to be challenged.

I’ve read #1, 5, 7, 13, 16, 22, 27, 29, 32, 33, 37, 41, 49, 51, 55, 56, 62, 70, 77, 83, 84, 88, 96 and 99. That’s 24, by my count. Not bad, but I really should read some more challenged books. If you’ve noticed, I didn’t include Slaughterhouse-Five, despite the fact I’m a big Vonnegut fan. I have both it and Brave New World on my bookshelf, waiting to be read. Once I get through both of those I’ll have read over ¼ of the list.

Man, those Alvin Schwarz stories were pretty freaky. The drawings were so ghoulish. I’m convinced I got multiple nightmares from them, but the books were a perfect first venture into the horror genre. I actually raised those books in conversation a few days ago (although I had no idea who wrote them) and the people I was speaking to had no idea what I was speaking about. It was sad.

Also, congrats to Judy Blume for writing candidly about teenage sex from a girl’s perspective over 30 years ago and still occupying the #5 spot on the list. Although her stories don’t age particularly well, her books still should be part of any girl’s reading during adolescence. Sadly, I don’t think I ever read Forever, but I know I read Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret and Blubber, as well as all the Fudge books, which weren’t on the list.