Celebrate Banned Books Week!
List of Books
Visit the American Library Association's Banned Books Week website HERE.
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Banned Books Week
Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States. Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular—provides the foundation for Banned Books Week. BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them. Over the past ten years, American libraries were faced with 4,660 challenges.
1,720 of these challenges (approximately 37%) were in classrooms; 30% (or1,432) were in school libraries; 24% (or 1,119) took place in public libraries. There were 32 challenges to college classes; and 106 to academic libraries. There are isolated cases of challenges to materials made available in or by prisons, special libraries, community groups, and student groups. The majority of challenges were initiated by parents (almost exactly 48%), while patrons and administrators followed behind (10% each). American Library Association Top Ten List of Challenged Books for 2010 Here is ALA's Top Ten List of Challenged Books for 2010: 1. And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson Reasons: homosexuality, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to age group 2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie Reasons: offensive language, racism, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and violence 3. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley Reasons: insensitivity, offensive language, racism, and sexually explicit 4. Crank, by Ellen Hopkins Reasons: drugs, offensive language, and sexually explicit 5. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins Reasons: sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and violence 6. Lush, by Natasha Friend Reasons: drugs, offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group 7. What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones Reasons: sexism, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group 8. Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich Reasons: drugs, inaccurate, offensive language, political viewpoint, and religious viewpoint 9. Revolutionary Voices, edited by Amy Sonnie Reasons: homosexuality and sexually explicit 10. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer Reasons: religious viewpoint and violence LPHS Library's Banned Books Titles Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger Summary Since his debut in 1951 as The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield has been synonymous with "cynical adolescent." Holden narrates the story of a couple of days in his sixteen-year-old life, just after he's been expelled from prep school, in a slang that sounds edgy even today and keeps this novel on banned book lists. It begins, "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them." Reasons why it was banned -A parent objected to the use of the 'F' word. -Asked the school board to ban the novel for being "anti-white" and "obscene." -Violate the committee's guidelines covering "excess vulgar language, sexual scenes, things concerning moral issues, excessive violence, and anything dealing with the occult." -"unacceptable" and "obscene." -"blasphemous and undermines morality." -because the book contains profanities and depicts premarital sex, alcohol abuse, and prostitution. "centered around negative activity." -“is a filthy, filthy book." -Unsuited to Age Group The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie Summary When Arnold cracks open his geometry textbook, he finds his mother’s name written on the flyleaf. “My school and my tribe are so poor and sad that we have to study from the same dang books our parents studied from,” Arnold says. “That is absolutely the saddest thing in the world.” Enraged, Arnold beans his geometry teacher with the book and gets suspended from school. The targeted teacher, Mr. P., visits Arnold at home and gives him a piece of advice: Get out. Mr. P. has seen too many promising students — like Arnold’s sister, Mary Runs Away — fade year by year, beaten down by poverty and hopelessness. “The only thing you kids are being taught is how to give up,” Mr. P. says. “The Absolutely True Diary” tracks Arnold’s year of getting out. Reasons why it was Banned -one parent complained about a passage that discussed masturbation. -graphic language -graphic drawings -vulgar and racist language Brave New World by Aldous Huxley Summary "Community, Identity, Stability" is the motto of Aldous Huxley's utopian World State. Here everyone consumes daily grams of soma, to fight depression, babies are born in laboratories, and the most popular form of entertainment is a "Feelie," a movie that stimulates the senses of sight, hearing, and touch. Though there is no violence and everyone is provided for, Bernard Marx feels something is missing and senses his relationship with a young women has the potential to be much more than the confines of their existence allow. Huxley foreshadowed many of the practices and gadgets we take for granted today--let's hope the sterility and absence of individuality he predicted aren't yet to come. Reasons why it was banned -banned in Ireland for its language -anti-family and anti-religion -"centered around negative activity" -because it makes promiscuous sex "look like fun." -because of "the book's language and moral content." -characters showed contempt for religion, marriage, and family. -Parents objected to the adult themes—sexuality, drugs, suicide Twilight by Stephenie Meyer Summary When her mother remarries, Bella moves herself to her father's home for her senior year. Bella is resigned to a bored and overprotected existence with her police chief father, but to her surprise, finds herself noticed in the small school where everyone has known each other since childhood. The person she notices though is the mysterious and mercurial Edward Cullen. Topaz eyes, ivory skin, and the grace of a large cat all give off dangerous signals, but Bella is drawn in and even Edward's warning that he is dangerous will not keep her away. Bella senses there is more behind Edward's hostility, and in a plot that slowly and frighteningly unfolds, she learns that Edward and his family are vampires--though they do not hunt humans. Yet Edward cannot promise that his powerful attraction to Bella won't put in her in danger, or worse. Recklessly in love, Bella wants only to be with Edward, but when a vicious, blood-lusting predator complicates her world, Bella's peril is brutally revealed. This is a book of the senses: Edward is first attracted by Bella's scent; ironically, Bella is repelled when she sees blood. Reason why it was banned -unsuited to age group -sexually explicit -because of its "religious viewpoint," -removed from "schools because they believe the content is too sexual and goes against religious beliefs," -Religious Viewpoint -pro-vampires -very disturbing books for family values. Crank by Ellen Hopkins Summary Kristina has always been a good girl, until the summer before her senior year of high school, when her life changes forever. While visiting her long lost father, Kristina takes on the persona of Bree. Bree is everything Kristina is not – wild, flirty, bold. Bree quickly gets caught up in a world of parties and romance, and begins doing crystal meth, otherwise known as crank. Even after she returns home to the quiet suburbs, Kristina/Bree continues on her downward spiral into addiction. Author Ellen Hopkins’ use of free verse poetry pushes the plot forward, creating a sense of urgency that mirrors Kristina’s growing need for crank. Crank is an emotional page-turner that is, frighteningly, all too realistic. Reasons why it was banned -teenage drug use -profanity -graphic language -sexual content -Mature content -teenage prostitution Native Son by Richard Wright Summary Native Son (1940) is a novel by American author Richard Wright. The novel tells the story of 20-year-old Bigger Thomas, an African American living in utter poverty. Bigger lived in Chicago's South Side ghetto in the 1930s. Bigger was always getting into trouble as a youth, but upon receiving a job at the home of the Daltons, a rich, white family, he experienced a realization of his identity. He thinks he accidentally killed a white woman, runs from the police, rapes and kills his girlfriend and is then caught and tried. "I didn't want to kill," Bigger shouts. "But what I killed for, I am! Wright gets inside the head of Bigger, revealing his feelings, thoughts and point of view as he commits crimes and is confronted with racism, violence and debasement. The novel's treatment of Bigger and his motivations conforms to the conventions of literary naturalism. While not apologizing for Bigger's crimes, Wright is sympathetic to the systemic inevitability behind them. Reasons why it was banned -“objectionable" language; -"violence, sex, and profanity" -"vulgar, profane, and sexually explicit" -"sexually graphic and violent" -graphic language and sexual content. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut Summary Slaughterhouse Five follows the story of Billy Pilgrim, optometrist and time traveler. The novel jumps through time with Billy as he lives the events of his life over and over again. In this dynamic framework, the reader sees the terrors of war, the quiet desperation of suburban life and the breakdown of the psyche through Billy's time jumping eyes. Just before he is captured as a prisoner of war, Billy experiences his first time jump. Here he sees his whole life, past, present and future, unfold. After the war, Billy returns from Europe to resume his civilian life, but does not cease moving randomly through time, witnessing his birth, his death and events in between. He is eventually abducted by aliens who experience time in much the same way as Billy except that they prefer to look only at life's more pleasant moments. Despite his family's objections, Billy tells the world of his time traveling and of his abduction, highlighting the story with a detailed account of his death. Reasons why it was banned -contains and makes references to religious matters -book's explicit sexual scenes, violence, and obscene language. -foul language, a section depicting a picture of an act of bestiality -a reference to 'Magic Fingers' attached to the protagonist's bed to help him sleep -the sentence: 'The gun made a ripping sound like the opening of the fly of God Almighty." -language used in the book -depictions of torture -ethnic slurs -negative portrayals of women -because it was filled with profanity and full of explicit sexual references:' -the book was too violent. The Color Purple by Alice Walker Summary Celie is a young black girl living in the American South in the 1920's. She's a survivor. When she's 14 she starts writing letters to God about her life. She's not complaining, just telling what has happened in her life. She is 14 when her father first rapes her. She has two babies over the next few years, both of whom disappear. A widower neighbor wants to marry Celie's younger sister to take care of his children. Their father keeps putting the man off. Finally he offers Celie instead and the man reluctantly accepts. Now Celie is married to a man who loves someone else, has children she is to raise for him, doesn't work much himself, and is constantly abusing her physically and mentally.It's not much different than when she was living at home. The Color Purple is Celie's life in Celie's words. Alice Walker has written the book in first person narrative using Celie's uneducated voice in a diary or letter format. Celie doesn't whine or complain - she just tells what is happening. Her emotions are buried with only peeps showing until she starts writing to her sister Nettie rather than God. Even then, Celie is philosophical about life and the future. The Color Purple is also a snapshot of the lives of the black people in the American South during the 1920's thru the 1940's before the Civil Rights movement. But it furthers the tale by including African history (in letters from Nettie) and how the culture is changed from the long-lived native culture to the white man's future culture as well. Injustice permeates this novel. Despite the desolation and injustices presented in this book, it is an intriguing read that pulls the reader in to feel what Celie doesn't express. If you haven't lived it or heard people describe that type of life, you can't imagine it. You can only take Walker's words and feel them instead. Reasons why it was banned -Sexually Explicit - Offensive Language, -Unsuited to Age Group -Non-graphic violence -Strong sexual content My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult Summary My Sister's Keeper is the story of a girl who sues her parents for a right to make her own medical decisions. Anna was conceived after her older sister was diagnosed with leukemia. She is a perfect match for her sister, and spends her life in the hospital donating blood, marrow and whatever else her sister needs to live. As a teenager, she sues so that she will not have to give her sister a kidney. My Sister's Keeper covers the life of this family during the trial. Each chapter is told from a different character's viewpoint. It is one of Picoult's best books. Reasons why it was banned Reasons: -Sexism - Homosexuality -Sexually Explicit -Offensive Language -Religious Viewpoint -Unsuited to Age Group -Drugs -Suicide -Violence To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper E. Lee Summary To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee tells of Scout and Jem's childhood in Alabama and how a series of events shook their innocence, shaped their character and taught them about human nature. Lee examines racism and other prejudices through a page turning story told in a wonderful, Southern voice. This is a must read American classic. Reasons why it was banned -offensive language -racism -unsuited to age group -racial slurs - profanity -discussion of rape The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier Summary Stunned by his mother's recent death and appalled by the way his father sleepwalks through life, Jerry Renault, a New England high school student, ponders the poster in his locker — "Do I dare disturb the universe?" Part of his universe is Archie Costello, leader of a secret school society — the Virgils — and master of intimidation. Archie himself is intimidated by a cool, ambitious teacher into having the Virgils spearhead the annual fund-raising event — a chocolate sale. When Jerry refuses to be bullied into selling chocolates, he becomes a hero, but his defiance is a threat to Archie, the Virgils, and the school. In the inevitable showdown, Archie's skill at intimidation turns Jerry from hero to outcast, to victim, leaving him alone and terribly vulnerable. Reasons why it was banned -Nudity -Sexually Explicit -Unsuited to Age Group -references to bribery -teen masturbation -vulgar language ( 171 swear words) -shows the Church in a bad way Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling Summary Harry Potter is the most miserable, lonely boy you can imagine. He’s shunned by his relatives, the Dursley’s, that have raised him since he was an infant. He’s forced to live in the cupboard under the stairs, forced to wear his cousin Dudley’s hand-me-down clothes, and forced to go to his neighbour’s house when the rest of the family is doing something fun. Yes, he’s just about as miserable as you can get. Harry’s world gets turned upside down on his 11th birthday, however. A giant, Hagrid, informs Harry that he’s really a wizard, and will soon be attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry also learns that, in the wizarding world, he’s a hero. When he was an infant, the evil Lord Voldemort killed his parents and then tried to kill Harry too. What’s so amazing to everyone is that Harry survived, and allegedly destroyed Voldemort in the process. Reasons why it was banned - promote witchcraft - set bad examples - they're too dark -too mature - attempt to indoctrinate children in the Wicca religion Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Summary Twain starts the book by providing a notice to readers that the book is a continuation of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" that takes place between the year 1864 and 1865. He warns the reader that several dialects are used in the book, including "Penjooby," a pidgin form of Jamaican spoken widely by slaves in the nineteenth century south. As the book begins, Huck, the narrator, tells us that he and Tom have recently found a large chest full of gold and valuable French postcards, and that now he is living with Widow Douglas--who has taken him in as her son-- in her apartment. His father, he tells us, went to the store for tobacco and whiskey, but never returned. He lets us know that, though he misses him a little after five years of separation, his father often beat him when he was drunk and he would often hide in the woodshed when his father was at home. Widow Douglas tries to educate Huck, but Huck makes little progress. Huck has other interests, though: He describes a four-story tree-house he has built that includes an ingenious bathroom with crude indoor plumbing. This is Twain's way of letting readers know Huck is gifted. Reasons why it was banned - N word appears more than 200 times throughout the book - Trashy and vicious The Giver by Lois Lowry Summary How It All Goes Down Meet Jonas, an eleven-year-old boy who lives in a rigidly controlled society some time in the future. In his "community," there is no suffering, hunger, war, and, as you will soon see, no color, sex, music, or love. Everything is controlled by "the Elders," right down to who you will marry, who you receive as children, and what you will be "assigned" as a job. Individual identity has gone the way of cassette tapes, and everyone is essentially just like everyone else. It seems that no one has really left the area, except to visit other neighboring communities. To get "released" is a big deal. It only happens to sick infants or really old people, or to people who break the rules. Reasons why it was banned -Euthanasia and suicide -Seen as an endorsement for killing - This book is negative Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank Summary On her thirteenth birthday, Anne Frank’s parents give her a diary. She’s excited because she wants someone, or something, in which to confide all of her secret thoughts. Even though she has a rich social life, she feels misunderstood by everyone she knows. Anne starts writing about daily events, her thoughts, school grades, boys, all that. But, within a month, her entire life changes. As Jews in German-occupied Holland, the Frank family fears for their lives. When Anne’s sister, Margot, is called to appear before the authorities, which would almost surely mean she was being sent to a concentration camp, Anne and her family go into hiding. They move into a little section of Anne's father's office building that is walled off and hidden behind a swinging bookcase. The little diagram of the office building and "Secret Annex" along with the Thursday, July 9, 1942 entry gives us the layout. For two years, the Frank family lives in this Secret Annex. Reasons why it was banned Parents have protested against this book as being too sexually charged -pornographic -claiming it was too depressing to be taught. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseni Summary The story is narrated from the year 2002. Amir, who is thus far a nameless protagonist, tells us that an event in the winter of 1975 changed his life forever. We do not know anything about this event except that it still haunts him and that it involves something he did to Hassan, whom he calls "the harelipped kite runner." Amir takes us back to his childhood, in the final decades of the monarchy in Afghanistan. His father, Baba, was one of the wealthiest and most charitable Pashtun men in Kabul, where they lived in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood. His mother died in childbirth. Amir's closest friend, the harelipped Hassan, was also his servant and a Hazara. He was very close to his father, Ali, who was Baba's servant. Despite their differences, Amir and Hassan were inseparable. Hassan would have done anything for Amir; his first word was even "Amir." Baba was aloof and did not pay Amir much attention. He was a huge and imposing man who was rumored to have wrestled a bear. Baba did not subscribe to popular belief, preferring to cast his own opinions about issues. Baba wished Amir was athletic and brave like him instead of cowardly and bookish. Reasons why it was banned Besides the Afghanistan government’s upset over the content of the book, others around the world have challenged the book due to claims of -offensive language -sexually explicit scene in which a young boy is raped |
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Some Banned Book Titles include:
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner Blubber by Judy Blume Brave New World by Aldous Huxley Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson Canterbury Tales by Chaucer Carrie by Stephen King Catch-22 by Joseph Heller Christine by Stephen King Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau Cujo by Stephen King Curses, Hexes, and Spells by Daniel Cohen Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller Decameron by Boccaccio East of Eden by John Steinbeck Fallen Angels by Walter Myers Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure) by John Cleland Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes Forever by Judy Blume Grendel by John Champlin Gardner Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling Have to Go by Robert Munsch Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou Impressions edited by Jack Booth In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak It's Okay if You Don't Love Me by Norma Klein James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman Little Red Riding Hood by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm Lord of the Flies by William Golding Love is One of the Choices by Norma Klein Lysistrata by Aristophanes More Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier My House by Nikki Giovanni My Friend Flicka by Mary O'Hara Night Chills by Dean Koontz Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer One Day in The Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez Ordinary People by Judith Guest Our Bodies, Ourselves by Boston Women's Health Collective Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones by Alvin Schwartz Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz Separate Peace by John Knowles Silas Marner by George Eliot Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain The Bastard by John Jakes The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier The Color Purple by Alice Walker The Devil's Alternative by Frederick Forsyth The Figure in the Shadows by John Bellairs The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Snyder The Learning Tree by Gordon Parks The Living Bible by William C. Bower The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare The New Teenage Body Book by Kathy McCoy and Charles Wibbelsman The Pigman by Paul Zindel The Seduction of Peter S. by Lawrence Sanders The Shining by Stephen King The Witches by Roald Dahl The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Snyder Then Again, Maybe I Won't by Judy Blume To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary by the Merriam-Webster Editorial Staff Witches, Pumpkins, and Grinning Ghosts: The Story of the Halloween Symbols by Edna Barth |
