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The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–1999

  1. Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
  2. Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
  3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
  4. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
  5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
  6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
  7. Forever by Judy Blume
  8. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
  9. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
  10. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
  11. The Giver by Lois Lowry
  12. My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
  13. It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
  14. Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
  15. Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
  16. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
  17. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
  18. Sex by Madonna
  19. Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
  20. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
  21. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
  22. The Witches by Roald Dahl
  23. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
  24. The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
  25. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
  26. The Goats by Brock Cole
  27. The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
  28. Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
  29. Final Exit by Derek Humphry
  30. Blubber by Judy Blume
  31. Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
  32. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
  33. Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
  34. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
  35. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
  36. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
  37. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
  38. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
  39. The Pigman by Paul Zindel
  40. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  41. We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
  42. Deenie by Judy Blume
  43. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
  44. Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
  45. Beloved by Toni Morrison
  46. The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
  47. Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
  48. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
  49. Cujo by Stephen King
  50. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
  51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
  52. Ordinary People by Judith Guest
  53. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
  54. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  55. Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
  56. Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
  57. Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
  58. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
  59. The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
  60. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
  61. Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
  62. Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
  63. Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
  64. Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
  65. Fade by Robert Cormier
  66. Guess What? by Mem Fox
  67. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
  68. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
  69. Native Son by Richard Wright
  70. Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday
  71. Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
  72. On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
  73. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
  74. Jack by A.M. Homes
  75. Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
  76. Family Secrets by Norma Klein
  77. Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
  78. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
  79. Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
  80. The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
  81. Carrie by Stephen King
  82. The Dead Zone by Stephen King
  83. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
  84. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
  85. Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
  86. Private Parts by Howard Stern
  87. Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford
  88. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
  89. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
  90. Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
  91. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
  92. Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
  93. Sex Education by Jenny Davis
  94. Jumper by Steven Gould
  95. Christine by Stephen King
  96. The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
  97. That Was Then, This is Now by S.E. Hinton
  98. Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
  99. The Wish Giver by Bill Brittain
  100. Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

1Out of 5,718 challenges reported to or recorded by the Office for Intellectual Freedom, as compiled by the Office for Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association. The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom does not claim comprehensiveness in recording challenges. Research suggests that for each challenge reported there are as many as four or five which go unreported.


Links to non-ALA sites have been provided because these sites may have information of interest. Neither the American Library Association nor the Office for Intellectual Freedom necessarily endorses the views expressed or the facts presented on these sites; and furthermore, ALA and OIF do not endorse any commercial products that may be advertised or available on these sites.


  


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Last Revised: January 18, 2004
See also Top 100 Challenged Books 1990-2000.