The Most Frequently Challenged Books
The most frequently challenged books that people try to ban. (From the lists at ALA) Which ones have you read?
1 To Kill a Mockingbird
by
4.22 of 5 stars 4.22 avg rating — 1,407,049 ratings
2 Harry Potter and the Deathl...
by
4.54 of 5 stars 4.54 avg rating — 911,477 ratings
3 Harry Potter and the Prison...
by
4.44 of 5 stars 4.44 avg rating — 940,677 ratings
4 Harry Potter and the Chambe...
by
4.25 of 5 stars 4.25 avg rating — 910,354 ratings
5 Harry Potter and the Order ...
by
4.37 of 5 stars 4.37 avg rating — 873,587 ratings
6 Harry Potter and the Half-B...
by
4.46 of 5 stars 4.46 avg rating — 879,095 ratings
7 Harry Potter and the Sorcer...
by
4.35 of 5 stars 4.35 avg rating — 1,803,683 ratings
8 The Catcher in the Rye
by
3.76 of 5 stars 3.76 avg rating — 1,098,801 ratings
9 The Great Gatsby
by
3.79 of 5 stars 3.79 avg rating — 1,162,472 ratings
10 Harry Potter and the Goblet...
by
4.44 of 5 stars 4.44 avg rating — 914,283 ratings
11 Charlotte's Web
by
4.1 of 5 stars 4.10 avg rating — 419,720 ratings
12 Animal Farm
by
3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 avg rating — 991,467 ratings
13 1984
by
4.06 of 5 stars 4.06 avg rating — 915,838 ratings
14 Of Mice and Men
by
3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 avg rating — 797,753 ratings
15 Brave New World
by
3.9 of 5 stars 3.90 avg rating — 550,305 ratings
16 The Adventures of Huckleber...
by
3.77 of 5 stars 3.77 avg rating — 702,274 ratings
17 Lord of the Flies
by
3.59 of 5 stars 3.59 avg rating — 912,456 ratings
18 The Giver (The Giver, #1)
by
4.11 of 5 stars 4.11 avg rating — 533,667 ratings
19 Bridge to Terabithia
by
3.91 of 5 stars 3.91 avg rating — 164,813 ratings
20 A Wrinkle in Time (Time, #1)
by
4.04 of 5 stars 4.04 avg rating — 316,224 ratings
21 The Lord of the Rings (The ...
by
4.41 of 5 stars 4.41 avg rating — 208,673 ratings
22 The Old Man and the Sea
by
3.58 of 5 stars 3.58 avg rating — 226,315 ratings
23 James and the Giant Peach
by
3.95 of 5 stars 3.95 avg rating — 150,600 ratings
24 Winnie-the-Pooh
by
4.32 of 5 stars 4.32 avg rating — 105,300 ratings
25 Lolita
by
3.83 of 5 stars 3.83 avg rating — 285,461 ratings
26 The Grapes of Wrath
by
3.85 of 5 stars 3.85 avg rating — 269,020 ratings
27 Frankenstein
by
3.66 of 5 stars 3.66 avg rating — 467,037 ratings
28 The Handmaid's Tale
by
3.97 of 5 stars 3.97 avg rating — 251,809 ratings
29 The Outsiders
by
3.97 of 5 stars 3.97 avg rating — 276,137 ratings
30 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
by
3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 avg rating — 111,860 ratings
31 The Awakening
by
3.59 of 5 stars 3.59 avg rating — 69,406 ratings
32 Heart of Darkness
by
3.36 of 5 stars 3.36 avg rating — 143,404 ratings
33 The Golden Compass (His Dar...
by
3.87 of 5 stars 3.87 avg rating — 492,549 ratings
34 Slaughterhouse-Five
by
3.97 of 5 stars 3.97 avg rating — 472,208 ratings
35 The Call of the Wild
by
3.72 of 5 stars 3.72 avg rating — 111,149 ratings
36 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's ...
by
4.15 of 5 stars 4.15 avg rating — 246,805 ratings
37 Gone with the Wind
by
4.22 of 5 stars 4.22 avg rating — 465,032 ratings
38 A Separate Peace
by
3.52 of 5 stars 3.52 avg rating — 89,063 ratings
39 The Color Purple
by
4.11 of 5 stars 4.11 avg rating — 196,768 ratings
40 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by
3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 avg rating — 236,664 ratings
41 Mrs. Dalloway
by
3.76 of 5 stars 3.76 avg rating — 74,451 ratings
42 A Farewell to Arms
by
3.73 of 5 stars 3.73 avg rating — 102,292 ratings
43 The Subtle Knife (His Dark ...
by
4.07 of 5 stars 4.07 avg rating — 152,160 ratings
44 The Canterbury Tales
by
3.45 of 5 stars 3.45 avg rating — 82,034 ratings
45 Beloved
by
3.69 of 5 stars 3.69 avg rating — 135,998 ratings
46 Their Eyes Were Watching God
by
3.79 of 5 stars 3.79 avg rating — 100,131 ratings
47 The Kite Runner
by
4.18 of 5 stars 4.18 avg rating — 880,676 ratings
48 The Amber Spyglass (His Dar...
by
4.01 of 5 stars 4.01 avg rating — 111,696 ratings
49 Go Ask Alice
by
3.72 of 5 stars 3.72 avg rating — 104,133 ratings
50 Rebecca
by
4.15 of 5 stars 4.15 avg rating — 143,978 ratings
51 In the Night Kitchen
by
4.1 of 5 stars 4.10 avg rating — 7,395 ratings
52 Candide
by
3.74 of 5 stars 3.74 avg rating — 78,217 ratings
53 A Portrait of the Artist as...
by
3.55 of 5 stars 3.55 avg rating — 55,697 ratings
54 For Whom the Bell Tolls
by
3.9 of 5 stars 3.90 avg rating — 93,870 ratings
55 A Clockwork Orange
by
3.93 of 5 stars 3.93 avg rating — 216,079 ratings
56 Where's Waldo?
by
4.01 of 5 stars 4.01 avg rating — 2,558 ratings
57 Green Eggs and Ham
by
4.32 of 5 stars 4.32 avg rating — 278,222 ratings
58 The Hunger Games (The Hunge...
by
4.44 of 5 stars 4.44 avg rating — 1,589,267 ratings
59 Lady Chatterley's Lover
by
3.45 of 5 stars 3.45 avg rating — 37,900 ratings
60 The Sun Also Rises
by
3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 avg rating — 160,376 ratings
61 On the Road
by
3.66 of 5 stars 3.66 avg rating — 140,767 ratings
62 The Witches
by
4.12 of 5 stars 4.12 avg rating — 106,273 ratings
63 The War of the Worlds
by
3.72 of 5 stars 3.72 avg rating — 73,438 ratings
64 The Perks of Being a Wallfl...
by
4.16 of 5 stars 4.16 avg rating — 271,432 ratings
65 To the Lighthouse
by
3.73 of 5 stars 3.73 avg rating — 44,113 ratings
66 I Know Why the Caged Bird S...
by
4.06 of 5 stars 4.06 avg rating — 113,695 ratings
67 Are You There God? It's Me,...
by
3.86 of 5 stars 3.86 avg rating — 91,796 ratings
68 Ulysses
by
3.72 of 5 stars 3.72 avg rating — 44,232 ratings
69 The Age of Innocence
by
3.91 of 5 stars 3.91 avg rating — 54,373 ratings
70 Franny and Zooey
by
3.98 of 5 stars 3.98 avg rating — 91,116 ratings
71 Sophie's Choice
by
4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 avg rating — 34,524 ratings
72 A Room with a View
by
3.91 of 5 stars 3.91 avg rating — 62,764 ratings
73 The Clan of the Cave Bear (...
by
3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 avg rating — 103,698 ratings
74 The Bluest Eye
by
3.92 of 5 stars 3.92 avg rating — 66,089 ratings
75 Catch-22
by
3.95 of 5 stars 3.95 avg rating — 273,623 ratings
76 Hamlet
by
3.99 of 5 stars 3.99 avg rating — 276,376 ratings
77 The Merchant of Venice
by
3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 avg rating — 67,707 ratings
78 The Chocolate War (Chocolat...
by
3.46 of 5 stars 3.46 avg rating — 19,456 ratings
79 Schindler's List
by
4.34 of 5 stars 4.34 avg rating — 50,578 ratings
80 Catching Fire (The Hunger G...
by
4.3 of 5 stars 4.30 avg rating — 928,115 ratings
81 Macbeth
by
3.85 of 5 stars 3.85 avg rating — 249,658 ratings
82 Naked Lunch
by
3.47 of 5 stars 3.47 avg rating — 32,556 ratings
83 Twelfth Night
by
3.95 of 5 stars 3.95 avg rating — 72,998 ratings
84 Forever
by
3.64 of 5 stars 3.64 avg rating — 28,248 ratings
85 My Ántonia
by
3.7 of 5 stars 3.70 avg rating — 58,434 ratings
86 Carrie
by
3.8 of 5 stars 3.80 avg rating — 143,309 ratings
87 Scary Stories to Tell in th...
by
3.98 of 5 stars 3.98 avg rating — 15,673 ratings
88 In Cold Blood
by
3.98 of 5 stars 3.98 avg rating — 232,149 ratings
89 The Claiming of Sleeping Be...
by
3.31 of 5 stars 3.31 avg rating — 24,028 ratings
90 Things Fall Apart
by
3.52 of 5 stars 3.52 avg rating — 106,570 ratings
91 Kim
by
3.67 of 5 stars 3.67 avg rating — 12,075 ratings
92 As I Lay Dying
by
3.72 of 5 stars 3.72 avg rating — 53,464 ratings
92 Twilight (Twilight, #1)
by
3.58 of 5 stars 3.58 avg rating — 1,656,247 ratings
94 Song of Solomon
by
3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 avg rating — 34,040 ratings
95 Mockingjay (The Hunger Game...
by
4.03 of 5 stars 4.03 avg rating — 844,302 ratings
96 Alice's Adventures in Wonde...
by
4.04 of 5 stars 4.04 avg rating — 196,108 ratings
97 My Brother Sam Is Dead
by
3.35 of 5 stars 3.35 avg rating — 7,275 ratings
98 A Light in the Attic
by
4.33 of 5 stars 4.33 avg rating — 143,131 ratings
99 Absalom, Absalom!
by
3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 avg rating — 17,393 ratings
100 The Origin of Species
by
3.93 of 5 stars 3.93 avg rating — 27,025 ratings
249 books · 93 voters · list created October 2nd, 2009 by Rora (votes) .
 · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 500 seconds.


Rora
Rora
1079 books
37 friends
AJ
AJ
76 books
0 friends
Themis-Athena
Themis-Athena
3162 books
221 friends
Pam
Pam
173 books
22 friends
Tom
Tom
88 books
0 friends
Lobstergirl
Lobstergirl
3469 books
136 friends
Thom
Thom
5984 books
248 friends
Sharon
Sharon
1137 books
72 friends

More voters…


Comments (showing 1-8 of 8) (8 new)

dateDown_arrow    newest »

message 1: by Thom (new)

Thom Dunn This is nothing less than the best list I've seen for young readers, a list of books many of them might actually want to read ! What the hell is wrong with people ?
Hmmmm (WTHIWWP ?)


message 2: by Lindz (new)

Lindz The great gatsby? What is in there too ban? Too much symbolism?

I always laugh when I see 1984 on these lists, it is wanted the ban because it apparently promotes young sensitive minds towards communism. Bah hahah has anyone actually read 1984?


message 3: by Thom (new)

Thom Dunn Lindsay wrote: "The great gatsby? What is in there too ban? Too much symbolism?

I always laugh when I see 1984 on these lists, it is wanted the ban because it apparently promotes young sensitive minds towards c..."


I had my paperback copy confiscated in 1957 when I was in high school in Milton, Massachusetts just because it was a "paperback" book and those were assumed to be bad. The teacher gave it back eventually, but asked me "What do you want to read that junk for ?" Most readers feel that Orwell was specifically inveighing AGAINST communism and other forms of totalitarianism in 1984. I read it three times without stopping --all of us (male) "geeks" did, and we thought then it was the best science fiction we'd ever read. I still feel that way;


message 4: by Mary (new)

Mary Yeah. my goal is to read all of the books on the list by the time I graduate high school. I'm going off of the list at ALA which looks to be the same list, just with only 100 books. A lot of these books we read in school.
A truly great library contains something in it to offend everyone. ~Jo Godwin


message 5: by Talyn (new)

Talyn Books should NEVER be banned, unless they're so badly written they should be burned on sight, lol..

But seriously. No book should ever be banned. My English teacher printed out 'Banned Books from 1990-2009' and it had stupid-ass reasons like 'anti-ethnic' (The Hunger Games, of all books) and 'sarcastic'.

People are scared children will be scarred for life if they read a certain book. Why? Why would they be scarred for life or scared or whatever?

They were living a lie since the day they were born up until now. You need to break the bubble some how, open them up to the harsh realities that this world unfortunately has.

It's better for them to KNOW and LEARN about it from a book or a teacher than for them to make mistakes first-hand and regret it later.

And children are stronger and smarter than you think.

I read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn when I was six and guess what? I wasn't all weirded out by the word --yeah I'm gonna write it out, don't have a cow-- nigger being in the book.

Granted, I wasn't old enough to understand it was a bad word, but I didn't go using it and repeating it.. And so what if it's an offensive word? You take out that word in those old books, you are taking out part of the book itself. That's HISTORICALLY ACCURATE! That was just how it was! Mark Twain wasn't racist, despite living in the 1800s and being white with an awsome mustache and some Einstein-ish hair going on, like a flip-up at his forehead.. anyways! The point is, don't ban books.

Now if you excuse me, I need to go eat some salami.


message 6: by Erica (new)

Erica Charlotte's Web? Banned? By who, the proud owners of bacon and pesticide factories? Somebody tell me why.


message 7: by Susanna (new)

Susanna The most likely reason I can think of is that some religious conservatives have a real problem with talking animals in fiction.


message 8: by Yblees (last edited Mar 06, 2013 08:18pm) (new)

Yblees I think I kinda get "Green Eggs and Ham" - Sam-I-Am is obviously an incarnation of Satan tempting innocents to sin... But "Where's Waldo"? *facepalm*


back to top



flag as offensive (?)

Anyone can add books to this list.