The Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2003

This list was provided by the American Library Association.
Click here to visit their site.
I have provided an order link for each book in case they are difficult to find in your area.  Following this link will take you to Amazon.com to complete your order.

Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, for being sexually explicit, using offensive language and being unsuited to age group.

Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling, for its focus on wizardry and magic.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, for using offensive language

Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture by Michael A. Bellesiles, for inaccuracy

Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers, for racism, sexual content, offensive language, drugs and violence.

It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris, for homosexuality, nudity, sexual content and sex education.

We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier, for offensive language and sexual content.

King and King by Linda de Haan, for homosexuality

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, for offensive language and occult/satanism

The most frequently challenged authors in 2003 were:

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
J. K. Rowling
Robert Cormier
Judy Blume
Katherine Paterson
John Steinbeck
Walter Dean Myers
Robie Harris
Stephen King
Louise Rennison.

Books Challenged in the 1990s
(compiled from various sources)

This is a list of books which have been challenged in libraries and schools for any number of reasons throughout the 90s.  Reasons given (if known) are listed beneath the title in question.  I have provided an order link for each book in case they are hard to find in your area.  Following this link will take you to Amazon.com to complete your order.

Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck
for using offensive language and being unsuited to age group

The Catcher in the Rye JD Salinger

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn     Mark Twain
for racism, insensitivity and offensive language

A Day No Pigs Would Die Robert Peck

Christine Stephen King

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou

Night Chills Dean Koontz

Lord of the Flies William Golding

A Separate Peace John Knowles

Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut

The Color Purple Alice Walker
for sexual content and offensive language

The Learning Tree Gordon Parks

The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck

Cujo Stephen King

Grendel John Gardner

The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood
for its sexual content

One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez