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81)
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Peter and Leslie's families have had beach houses near each other for years, so it seemed only natural when their friendship turned to romance. Their perfect summer romance is shattered when Leslie finds her mother's diary and discovers that her mother and Peter's father are having an affair and want to get married. Suddenly the two teens find themselves stepbrother and sister, and must learn to cope with their new lives and old friendship.
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Complaint: Sexual themes.
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82)
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Cole unleashes her endearingly loony sense of humor on the subject of the birds and the bees, and the result is, as expected, hilarious. When a thoroughly befuddled set of '90s parents (he wears his gray hair in a ponytail, she wears Birkenstocks) decides to inform their offspring how babies are made, their explanations (babies are grown from seeds, made out of gingerbread, squeezed from tubes like toothpaste, brought by dinosaurs) are greeted with an explosion of giggles. Their children quickly grab paper and pen and proceed to set the record straight.
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In 1998, the book was moved out of the children's section of the Camden County, Missouri library because it explains the process from conception to delivery. |
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83)
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If any of King's novels exemplifies his skill at portraying the concerns of his generation, it's The Dead Zone (1979). Although it contains a horrific subplot about a serial killer, it isn't strictly a horror novel. It's the story of an unassuming high school teacher, an Everyman, who suffers a gap in time -- like a Rip Van Winkle who blacks out during the years 1970-75 -- and thus becomes acutely conscious of the way that American society is rapidly changing. He wakes up as well with a gap in his brain, the "dead zone" of the title. The zone gives him crippling headaches, but also grants him second sight, a talent he doesn't want and is reluctant to use. The crux of the novel concerns whether he will use that talent to alter the course of history.
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Banned in Peru, IN School System (1992) along with 'Cujo' and 'Christine' because the books are "filthy."
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84)
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Tom Sawyer has an eye for adventure and is always getting into scrapes with his friends and partners in crime, Huck Finn and Joe Harper. His escapades often lead him into dangerous and desperate situations, but he always turns these to his advantage.
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Removed from the seventh-grade curriculum in the West Chester, Pa. schools (1994) after parents complained that it is too full of racially charged language.
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85)
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In an effort to hide his Southern, working class roots, Macon Dead, an upper-class Northern black businessman, tries to insulate his family from the danger and despair of the rank and file blacks with whom he shares the neighborhood. The plan leads his son, "Milkman"--a named he earned after his mother nursed him well past the proper age--onto a path exactly opposite the one his father had hoped. Milkman is driven into the arms of a violent, lower-class woman, into a clandestine circle of blacks who repay white violence in kind and into an awareness that he can fulfill his own potential by understanding the mistakes of his ancestors as they relate to his own.
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Removed from required reading lists and library shelves in the Richmond County School District in 1994 after a parent complained that passages from the book were "filthy and inappropriate."
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86)
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By age twelve, Luis Rodriguez was a veteran of East L.A. gang warfare. Lured by a seemingly invincible gang culture, he witnessed countless shootings, beatings, and arrests, then watched with increasing fear as drugs, murder, suicide, and senseless acts of street crime claimed friends and family members. Before long Rodriguez saw a way out of the barrio through education and the power of words, and successfully broke free from years of violence and desperation. Achieving success as an award-winning Chicano poet, he was sure the streets would haunt him no more -- until his young son joined a gang. Rodriguez fought for his child by telling his own story in Always Running, a vivid memoir that explores the motivations of gang life and cautions against the death and destruction that inevitably claim its participants.
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Banned in the Rockford, Illinois public school libraries. During the discussion, board-member David Strommer called it "irreligious, anti-family, left-wing, anti-American and radical...What's in the book is harmful, ungodly and wrong." Fellow board member Ed Sharp said, "I challenge anyone who knows how the mind works, after reading this book, not to be more likely to assume the lifestyle of a gang person and not to be more likely to have sex in the back of a car."
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87)
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Stern sets out to offend as many people as possible (and he succeeds admirably), but two things prevent this book, and Stern, from becoming unbearable. First, he is as candid about himself as he is about the people he attacks. He describes his tortured adolescence, his physical inadequacies, and his sexual proclivities in such breathtaking detail that it's hard not to like the guy. Stern also avoids the bitterness that characterizes many of the "shock-radio" DJs who have attempted to follow in his footsteps.
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Complaints: Offensive language, sexual themes, racism.
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88)
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The amazing original that set off the worldwide search for Waldo! Perfect for the youngest Waldo searcher.
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Although most of us are searching for Waldo among the crowd in the illustrations of this book, some folks have discovered something else entirely -- purportedly a topless sunbather. The book was challenged by libraries in Michigan on the grounds that "on some of the pages there are dirty things."
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89)
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When her small hometown in Arkansas becomes the site of a camp housing German prisoners during World War II, 12-year-old Patty Bergen learns what it means to open her heart. Although she's Jewish, she begins to see a prison escapee, Anton, not as a Nazi -- but as a lonely, frightened young man with feelings not unlike her own, who understands and appreciates her in a way her parents never will. And Patty is willing to risk losing family, friends -- even her freedom -- for what has quickly become the most important part of her life. Thoughtful, moving, and hard-hitting, Summer of My German Soldier has become a modern classic.
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Complaints: Offensive language, sexual themes, racism.
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90)
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The story, penned by Helen Brodie Bannerman for her two daughters in 1889, has captured the imagination of readers around the world and across many generations. But the pictures which accompanied her text were crudely stereotypical and hurtful to many.
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Banned from Toronto public schools in 1956. Complaint: racism.
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91)
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Set in 12th-century England, the narrative concerns the building of a cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge. The ambitions of three men merge, conflict and collide through 40 years of social and political upheaval as internal church politics affect the progress of the cathedral and the fortunes of the protagonists.
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Moved to a new "reserve" section of the Chanute, Kans. school library (1994). The book came under fire because of some use of obscenity and graphic violence.
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92)
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Louie played football on his high school team where he had many confrontations with Boomer, a fellow player, and Coach Lednecky. For a game his coach told the players to purposely hurt a player on the other team which enraged Louie which was followed by him quitting the team. His girlfriend dies in a car accident causing nothing but chaos whenever Louie is around anyone else.
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Complaints: Sexual themes, violence, offensive language.
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93)
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A teenage romance takes a tragic turn after the two try to help an expectant mother trapped in a violent marriage. Ages 12-up.
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Complaints: Sexual themes, offensive language.
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94)
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The Drowning of Stephen Jones
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Carla Wayland's dream of being with the 'in' crowd comes true when she starts dating the popular Andy Harris--a hateful, fearmonger who torments a recently arrived gay couple. When Andy's harassment leads to the death of one of the men, Carla must choose where she stands.
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The book was removed from the Barron(Wis.) School District in 1998. Banned from the Mascenic RegionalHigh School in Ipswich (N.H.) in 1995. Removed from the curriculum and school library shelves in Boling (Tex.) in 1993. Pulled from the libraries of Horry County, SC, middle and high schools at the behest of a lone objector. The superintendent of schools banned the book after a resident who had once been expelled from school for writing a profane poem, objected to the noteworthy novel for its "vulgarity and profanity." Three books (this one, plus "The Education of Harriet Hatfield" by Mary Sarton and "Maurice" by E.M. Forster, which treat homosexuality in various ways, were removed from a regional high school. The novels' purchase was financed by a grant that teacher Penny Culliton received and was approved by the school superintendent and principal. However, shortly after a local newspaper reported that Culliton was involved with a lesbian and gay support group for young people, the books were found unsuitable and were banned. Maurice and The Education of Harriet Hatfield were seized from the students while they were reading the novels in class. Personal attacks on the teacher and demands for her dismissal have been so vehement that her job is now in jeopardy.
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95)
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Discusses the physical, emotional, and ethical aspects of sex including such topics as dating, petting, intercourse and its consequences, lesbianism, and other related topics.
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A parent of a child in a Prince George, Canada, school challenged "Boys and Sex" due to its content of "deviant sexual activity." The book was removed from the school library in April 1984, but was later returned. "Girls and Sex" was also challenged in June 1984.
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96)
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The story of Billy who, because of a bet, is in the uncomfortable position of having to eat 15 worms in 15 days.
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Complaint: Inappropriate to age.
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97)
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From his favorite perch in a cherry tree, Rob sees a murder committed, but when he tells his preoccupied family, no one will believe him. "Taut with suspense, this spell-binding story carries the reader along."--
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Complaints: Violence, Inappropriate to age.
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98)
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Snyder has won three Newbery Honors and other awards for her novels, including those starring the Stanley children. Here they are embroiled in the occult when they meet their new stepsister, Amanda, an aspiring witch. PW praised this book as "exuberant and original," and a new generation of readers are sure to agree.
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Retained in the Grand Haven, MA, school libraries in 1990 after a parent objected to the books because they "introduce children to the occult and fantasy about immoral acts. Challenged at the Hays, Kans. Public Library (1989) because the book "could lead young readers to embrace satanism." Retained in the Grand Haven, Mich. School libraries (1990) after a parent objected to the book because it "introduces children to the occult and fantasy about immoral acts." The Newbery Award-winning book was retained on the approved reading list at Matthew Henson Middle School in Waldorf, Md. (1991) despite objections to its references to witchcraft. Challenged in the Escondido, Calif. School (1992) because it contains references to the occult.
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99)
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A provocative look at an American family living abroad, destroyed by a not-so-random act of violence. Billy, 11, a brash but lovable all-American boy, accepts a package from a stranger in a London subway station and becomes the victim of a bomb. His grieving 16-year-old sister is obsessed with capturing the unknown terrorist. An average student at the London International Academy, she alienates her circle of friends as she begins to suspect each of them.
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Challenged Coppell, TX, for religious content.
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100)
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In 1787 a fourteen-year-old slave, anxious to buy freedom for himself and his mother, escapes from his dishonest master and tries to find help in cashing the solidier's notes received by his father for fighting in the Revolution.
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Challenged at the Nathan Hale Middle School in Crestwood, IL (1996) because it "was damaging to the self-esteem of young black students."
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