Submitted by: Brandyllyn Of the most banned books of the nineties, none stood out to me with such a force as Martin Hanford’s Where’s Waldo? series. Indeed, while I was stunned to find several of my childhood favorites present, it took me quite some time to come to terms with the fact that this was not a typo. What did this bespectacled, befuddled, behatted man do to earn the ire of some proportion of the … Continue reading Where’s Waldo by Martin Handford →
Submitted by Kavita Now, I’m not certain if this was the way things were for everybody, but when I was little, Halloween wasn’t about wearing as little as possible and making the most tenuous connection to a costume. It was about sitting in a circle with a group of friends, eating more candy than was conceivably healthy, and reading aloud from Alvin Schwartz’s series Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. The books are a … Continue reading Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz →
Submitted by DebR Bio/Intro:As a way to support freedom from censorship, I made a pledge at the beginning of this week to choose one book I hadn't yet read from the list of 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990 – 2000, read it, and review it on my blog. Earlier this week I went to our local library, carrying a list of a half-dozen books from the challenged list – all classics I had … Continue reading Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck →
Submitted by Missy “It is the morning of the funeral and I’m tearing my room apart, trying to find the right shoes to wear.†With these words, Judy Blume takes us into the world of Davis “Davy†Wexler, a fifteen-year-old girl struggling with the recent murder of her father. Unable to articulate her intense grief, Davy internalizes her sorrow and passes out several times at school. On doctor’s advice, her mother takes the entire Wexler … Continue reading Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume →
Bret Easton Ellis is one of the young generation of disaffected druggie writers (the literary Brat Pack), along with Jay McInerney (Bright Lights, Big City) and Tama Janowitz (Slaves of New York). His first book, Less than Zero, was practically a Catcher in the Rye rip-off (naturally missing the real point of Catcher, as so many people do), but by the time he published American Psycho in 1990, he'd come into his own. Patrick Bateman … Continue reading American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis →
Submitted by Maya (Warning: Some spoilerish comments included, because they refer to the story’s banned status. Hopefully this isn’t too big a violation of review procedure considering the book is over a quarter century old). The story begins with a 13-year-old girl alone in the Alaskan wilderness, desperately yet systematically trying to establish communication with a wolf pack as her last means of avoiding starvation. As opening hooks go, the question of how someone so … Continue reading Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George →
Submitted by Angelina This book is the first in a loose trilogy written by Lowery about a far future utopian/dystopian society. It is followed by Gathering Blue & Messenger. Fans of 1984 and Brave New World will not be disappointed. Society has become a disinfected and homogenized version of what it was. Children are born to designated Birthmothers and given to “families†during the ceremony of One. Family is no more, adult males and females … Continue reading The Giver by Lois Lowry →
Submitted by Collette I read The Pigman by Paul Zindel when I was in junior high, many years ago (*cough* THIRTY *cough* how did that happen? *screaming inside my head*). Although it’s currently on the banned books list, I was given it by my mother, a children’s librarian. She’d bring home piles of books for me to read so I went through a lot. What strikes me is how much I remember about this book, … Continue reading The Pigman by Paul Zindel →
Submitted by CC I am doing this review from memory, since my signed copy is still in a moving box and I haven’t read it for a few years. I love this book and have given copies to a variety of people over the years, all of whom agree with me, it’s a magical read. —Sixth grade, a new school, I’m changing and so is the world around me. My teacher, Mrs. Harris, reads a … Continue reading Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson →
Submitted by Goblin Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, is the story of two men living in desperate times, but it’s also a story about the necessity of hope. Most characters in the book cling to some (often heartbreakingly pathetic) hope of a better life while they struggle through the brutal realities of the Great Depression. The story focuses on George and Lennie, two migrant workers. Lennie is physically powerful but mentally sub-normal. George … Continue reading Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck →
Submitted by Jen C The Face on the Milk Carton tells the story of a teenager, Janie Johnson, who looks down at her milk carton at lunch one day and realizes that the missing- child picture on it is her own. She starts investigating, and discovering that nothing adds up. Who is Hannah, the mysterious child her parents have never spoke of? Why does the milk carton picture of “Jennie Springs†look like her? Why … Continue reading The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B Cooney →
