The Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz tops ALA’s list of the 100 most frequently challenged books of the decade. The series was accused of being “unsuited to age group” and “being too scary.”
The list was compiled from 5,718 challenges to library materials reported to or recorded by the Office for Intellectual Freedom from 1990 to 1999. Seventy-one percent of the challenges were to materials in schools or school libraries; 26% were to public-library materials. Parents brought nearly 60% of the challenges, with 16% by library patrons and 10% by administrators.
The 10 most frequently challenged books of the decade were:
1. Scary Stories (series) by Alvin Schwartz
2. Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
4. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
7. Forever by Judy Blume
8. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
9. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
10. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger.
Posted June 26, 2000.