Thanks for the list. I'm not familiar with many of those titles and some of them have been on the list since they were first published decades ago.
I'm surprised that the Percy Jackson books never made it to the list. They are much more violent and, since they center around a group of kids who are children of the Greek gods, I could see people considering them as more anti-religious than Harry Potter (even though neither of the books are). I stopped reading them once Percy reached 18 as I didn't know where his relationship with his girlfriend might go in the next series. Plus, I was ready for something a little less violent. So my daughter checked out the next book and is now reading it on her own.
My son got bored with the Captain Underpants series, so we've only read the first two. (Same with the "How to Train your Dragon" series which he said was too much talking and not enough action.)
I do have to say that when I tried to read Tom Sawyer to them this summer (not having read it myself), I was shocked at the graphic nature of the murder scene and both my kids voted not to read more of it after that scene. (Then again, my daughter said the same thing about Laura I. Wilder's "House on Plum Creek" - I think it was - because of the leeches. I keep hoping to get back to that one. And the violence of the pirates in Treasure Island -- I kept asking them how they expected pirates to act.)
On our road trip this summer, my daughter and I listened to books on CD: the Secret Garden, Little Women (only covered the first half though), Swiss Family Robinson (my daughter had fun trying to guess where in the world such an island could exist with such a variety of animals and plants AND snow), and Pride and Prejudice (which my daughter couldn't really understand due to the heavy accent of the reader).
I remember vaguely reading "A Wrinkle in Time" as a kid, but not enough to tell you anything more than the title. I recalled that I liked it, I think.
How can an Eric Carle book be banned?
That would be like banning "Goodnight, Moon" for occultism.
"Fahrenheit 451" was the book chosen by the City of Los Angeles's "everyone should read a book" book club about... 10-12 years ago now. It's amazing how many things in that book have come to pass (into existence) since Ray Bradbury wrote it. Combine it with "1984" and you've got a pretty good description of what life is like in America today. (Sadly.)
I find it interesting that "Twilight" series started falling off the list once the movies came out. (Ditto with Harry Potter.)
Sad that parents were upset and (tried to) banned books about puberty from the library. If your parents don't talk to you about what's happening with your body (and other things covered in such books) a book from the library is a much better source than your friends (don't you think?). Thank goodness for libraries and librarians.
FYI: My son is 7 y.o. and my daughter 9 y.o.
