In continued celebration of Banned Books Week, I thought I'd post a list of what I like to call "Gateway Books." You know, the ones that got you hooked on reading. The one's that might've taken you from a "reading is boring" mentality to the proud owner of a towering TBR pile.
This list, compiled by votes from First Book, which, by the way, is not only a rockin' charity providing books to children in need, but pretty much a 24/7 book-lovers-love-fest, contains many of my favorite titles, many of which, big surprise, have been banned and/or challenged!
While the first book I learned to read was HORTON HATCHES THE EGG by Dr. Seuss, my personal gateway book, the one that changed everything and turned me into a bonafide addict, was Judy Blume's ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME, MARGARET, which just happens to claim the number 62 spot on the Top 100 most frequently challenged books of 1990-2000 list because apparently writing about REAL issues affecting REAL girls is somehow dangerous.
Or something.
I can't quit grasp the ideology behind the pro-book banning argument. It all seems so--dumb.
All I know is that Judy Blume says this about it:
“[I]t's not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers.”
And I totally agree.
Any who, below is the list of gateway books, some of them deemed dangerous, some not. But what I really want to know is:
DID YOUR BOOK MAKE THE LIST?
- The Nancy Drew series
- Green Eggs & Ham
- Little House on the Prairie series
- Charlotte's Web
- Cat in the Hat
- Little Women
- The Boxcar Children
- The Bobbsey Twins
- Black Beauty
- The Dick & Jane series
- Go Dog Go!
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- Goodnight Moon
- Gone With the Wind
- Heidi
- Anne of Green Gables
- Curious George
- Black Stallion
- Harry Potter series
- The Secret Garden
- The Bible
- The Pokey Little Puppy
- The Giving Tree
- A Wrinkle in Time
- The Little Engine That Could
- The Hobbit
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
- The Hardy Boys series
- Hop on Pop
- Where the Sidewalk Ends
- The Velveteen Rabbit
- Are You There God? It's me Margaret.
- The Babysitters Club series
- Pippi Longstocking
- Amelia Bedelia
- The Hatchet
- Superfudge
- Ramona Quimby books
- Cinderella
- Island of the Blue Dolphins
- The Wizard of Oz
- The Outsiders
- Winnie the Pooh
- Treasure Island
- Horton Hears a Who
- Love You Forever
- Old Yeller
- Call of the Wild
- Twilight
Top 50 Books!
WHICH BOOK SERVED AS YOUR ENTRY INTO THE WORLD OF READING?
5 comments:
Love this post, Alyson. My original Gateway book was the Nancy Drew series. :)
I loved to read in elementary and part of middle school and then I stopped for a bit. I don't remember why. But, I became a reluctant reader.
Then, during a vacation when I was sixteen I picked up Jackie Collins's book, LUCKY in a bookstore and I fell in love with reading again. After all this talk about book banning, I thanked my mom yesterday for never judging what I read and letting me read for the utter joy of it. Who knows what I would be doing with my life if my mom took away my freedom to read what I want. :)
Ditto on the Judy Blume. I don't see how any girl came of age without reading one of her books.
Keri- Well said! Nancy Drew rocks!And I also read LUCKY--and I could NOT put it down! I think I need to call my mom and thank her too!
Pam- I know. Judy Blume is like a right of passage!
I was seriously hooked on the Little House on the Prairie books as a little girl, but I think the one that hooked me hardest was Julie of the Wolves.
Trish- Aw, yes, Laura and Pa! I loved those books-- made me long for those covered wagon days . . .
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