80s, 90s and early 2000s YA books considered as shocking

[Jade]

I know this is quite subjective... but I'm looking for YA books from the 80s, 90s and early 2000s that were considered shocking then, OR books that would have been thought of as shocking if they were published today.

[Robert]

Not precisely an answer to your question, but

https://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequently...

https://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequently...

[Paige]

It really is subjective. I'm sure plenty of modern readers would be shocked by the Gary Larsen comics that used to appear in the daily paper. At the time, those were considered a perfectly safe thing to cut out and post in your cubicle. I would not recommend posting many of those in a cubicle today. I have an almost complete collection of the Gary Larsen books though. I would recommend them.

I have a problem with the whole idea of a banned book. My main objection is this: movies are rated based on a set of guidelines to determine which age they are appropriate for. You would not put an M, R, or even PG13 movie in a preschool or kindergarten. You would choose something G rated, knowing it will be appropriate for most kids at that age/developmental stage and require minimal discussion with the kids or parents. Those ratings exist for a reason. I see now that many books are starting to include trigger warnings. That's probably a great idea. My English class really did seem to read book after book that included rape, and unfortunately fantasy writers of the time felt rape was a necessary way to develop a female character or plot. There were a number of kids in my English class who, having skipped sex-ed for religious reasons (or who just asked their parents to opt them out because they didn't want to talk about sex with teachers and classmates), those books were a major part of how they initially conceptualized sex. That's not good. Personally, I think books should be rated similar to movies. I don't think excluding age inappropriate/developmentally inappropriate material from classrooms or libraries intended for specific age groups is a bad thing. I think that if you can't read it out loud at a school board meeting, it probably shouldn't be available in an elementary school library or a middle school library. I also don't think it's appropriate to say a book is banned in such a case.

I think that if you say a book is banned, it sounds very dramatic. It sounds like customs officers are seizing those books from luggage. It sounds like major publishing houses are refusing to print it or refuse to print it beyond the first run, and so if you manage to get your hands on a copy, it's either very expensive or it was printed after dark using archaic technology- possibly what Paul Revere used. It sounds like someone could be arrested and charged for having it in their locker. While there are, and have been books like that, the books you find on banned book lists rarely if ever meet those parameters.

I'm still thinking about what was available but considered shocking.

The thing is, my parents trusted my judgement. I waited at the local library to be picked up after class and after school activities. I had a library card and it was open late enough. So I read all kinds of things, some of which I wasn't really ready for. Generally though, I was a pretty good judge of books that would suit me.

I remember one time I was shocked/upset by a book. I was in 5th or 6th grade. We were divided into reading groups based on seat, and allowed to choose any book to read. I was put in a group with two boys and they chose to read Clockers. I gave it a go but had to stop. I tried to tell my teacher when I felt uncomfortable with that book. My teacher didn't listen, so I told my mom. I remember my mother blushing as she read the parts that had made me uncomfortable to the principal. The principal blushed too. I was told I could be my own reading group. I chose a fantasy book instead.

Edited to add: looking at banned books from the decades I and my siblings were in school, I can say with certainty that those books were not actually banned during the stated time frame. A good number were on book carts because they were assigned reading. Some would have been available only in the main library, but that was partly a function of the age range served by our respective school libraries at the time and also probably due to a limitation in bookshelves. If for some reason a book was age restricted, some libraries would require a parent to sign off on you having access to books intended for an older audience. But a truly determined reader with strict parents would have other options. They could buy it at a book sale, borrow it from a friend, borrow it from a fellow camper, buy it at a yard sale, or (assuming it wasn't locked up) read it at the library without ever checking it out, or (gasp!) sneak it out of the library without checking it out.