October: Banned Book Week and Censorship

CHALLENGED OR BANNED FOR: pro-communism and explicit sexual matter.
In 1984, London is a grim city in the totalitarian state of Oceania where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston Smith is a man in grave danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions. Drawn into a forbidden love affair, Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionary organization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be.

CHALLENGED OR BANNED FOR: Profanity, Sexual content, Violence, Being part of a Communist plot, Anti-religious, Promotive of homosexuality and perversion.
The hero-narrator of The Catcher in the Rye is an ancient child of sixteen, a native New Yorker named Holden Caufield. Through circumstances that tend to preclude adult, secondhand description, he leaves his prep school in Pennsylvania and goes underground in New York City for three days.

CHALLENGED OR BANNED FOR: profanity and descriptions of drug abuse, sexually explicit conduct, and torture.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and Winner of the National Book Award. This is the story of two sisters--one a missionary in Africa and the other a child wife living in the South--who sustain their loyalty to and trust in each other across time, distance, and silence. Beautifully imagined and deeply compassionate, this classic novel of American literature is rich with passion, pain, inspiration, and an indomitable love of life.

CHALLENGED OR BANNED FOR: obscenity, profanity, communism, anti-capitalism.
First published in 1939, Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression chronicles the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and tells the story of one Oklahoma farm family, the Joads-driven from their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California. Out of their trials and their repeated collisions against the hard realities of an America divided into Haves and Have-Nots evolves a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision, elemental yet plainspoken, tragic but ultimately stirring in its human dignity. A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one man's fierce reaction to injustice, and of one woman's stoical strength, the novel captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America.

CHALLENGED: at the Baptist College in Charleston, SC (1987) because of "language and sexual references in the book.
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald's third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. First published in 1925, this quintessential novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the mysteriously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted "gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession," it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.

CHALLENGED OR BANNED FOR: language, adult themes, may promote racism.
"Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel--a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with rich humor and unswerving honesty the irrationality of adult attitudes toward race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s.

CHALLENGED FOR: profanity, claimed to be sexually explicit.
Born with a variety of medical problems, Junior Spirit is picked on by everyone but his best friend on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to get a good education, the budding cartoonist leaves the rez to attend an all-white school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Despite being condemned as a traitor to his people and enduring great tragedies, Junior attacks life with wit and humor and discovers his own inner strength.

CHALLENGED FOR: occult beliefs, offensive language, violence, sexual references.
From "one of the nation's foremost Chicano literary artists" comes a coming-of-age classic and the bestselling Chicano novel of all time that follows a young boy as he questions his faith and beliefs. Antonio Marez is six years old when Ultima comes to stay with his family in New Mexico. She is a curandera, one who cures with herbs and magic. Under her wise wing, Tony will probe the family ties that bind and rend him, and he will discover himself in the magical secrets of the pagan past--a mythic legacy as palpable as the Catholicism of Latin America. And at each life turn there is Ultima, who delivered Tony into the world... and will nurture the birth of his soul.

CHALLENGED FOR: occult/Satanism, offensive language.
Jess Aarons has been practicing all summer so he can be the fastest runner in the fifth grade. And he almost is, until the new girl in school, Leslie Burke, outpaces him. The two become fast friends and spend most days in the woods behind Leslie's house, where they invent an enchanted land called Terabithia. One morning, Leslie goes to Terabithia without Jess and a tragedy occurs. It will take the love of his family and the strength that Leslie has given him for Jess to be able to deal with his grief.

CHALLENGED FOR: sexual content, offensive language, religious viewpoint, being unsuited to age group, and violence.
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.

CHALLENGED FOR: sexual content and offensive language.
Katherine and Michael meet on New Year's Eve and their attraction is instantaneous. Completely involved with each other, filled with all the wonder of "the first time," they are blissfully unaware of the complications real love presents.

CHALLENGED FOR: witchcraft, anti-family, violence.
Harry Potter has never been the star of a Quidditch team, scoring points while riding a broom far above the ground. He knows no spells, has never helped to hatch a dragon, and has never worn a cloak of invisibility. All he knows is a miserable life with the Dursleys, his horrible aunt and uncle, and their abominable son, Dudley - a great big swollen spoiled bully. But all that is about to change when a mysterious letter arrives by owl messenger: a letter with an invitation to an incredible place that Harry - and anyone who reads about him - will find unforgettable.

CHALLENGED FOR: being anti-ethnic, anti-family, and violent, and of having offensive language, occult/satanic references, and references to overt sexuality.
The first novel in the worldwide bestselling series by Suzanne Collins. Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun. . . . Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

CHALLENGED FOR: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit.
In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson's All Boys Aren't Blue explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. Both a primer for teens eager to be allies as well as a reassuring testimony for young queer men of color.

CHALLENGED FOR: depiction of sexual abuse, EDI content, claimed to be sexually explicit.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A PARADE BEST BOOK OF ALL TIME * From the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner--a powerful examination of our obsession with beauty and conformity that asks questions about race, class, and gender with characteristic subtly and grace. In Morrison's acclaimed first novel, Pecola Breedlove--an 11-year-old Black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others--prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful, so that people will look at her, so that her world will be different. This is the story of the nightmare at the heart of her yearning, and the tragedy of its fulfillment.

CHALLENGED FOR: drug use, claimed to be sexually explicit.
The #1 New York Times bestselling tale of addiction--the first in the Crank trilogy--from master poet Ellen Hopkins. Life was good before I met the monster. After, life was great, at least for a little while. Kristina Snow is the perfect daughter: gifted high school junior, quiet, never any trouble. Then, Kristina meets the monster: crank. And what begins as a wild, ecstatic ride turns into a struggle through hell for her mind, her soul--her life.

CHALLENGED FOR: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit.
Award-winning author and artist Mike Curato draws on his own experiences in Flamer, his debut graphic novel, telling a difficult story with humor, compassion, and love. It's the summer between middle school and high school, and Aiden Navarro is away at camp. Everyone's going through changes--but for Aiden, the stakes feel higher. As he navigates friendships, deals with bullies, and spends time with Elias (a boy he can't stop thinking about), he finds himself on a path of self-discovery and acceptance. Godwin Books

CHALLENGED FOR: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit.
Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, Gender Queer is more than a personal story: it is a useful and touching guide on gender identity--what it means and how to think about it--for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere. "It's also a great resource for those who identify as nonbinary or asexual as well as for those who know someone who identifies that way and wish to better understand."

CHALLENGED FOR: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit.
First drink. First prank. First friend. First love. Last words. Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words--and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet François Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps." Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young, who will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps. Looking for Alaska brilliantly chronicles the indelible impact one life can have on another.

CHALLENGED FOR: profanity, claimed to be sexually explicit.
The New York Times bestselling novel that inspired the hit film! This is the funniest book you'll ever read about death. It is a universally acknowledged truth that high school sucks. But on the first day of his senior year, Greg Gaines thinks he's figured it out. The answer to the basic existential question: How is it possible to exist in a place that sucks so bad? His strategy: remain at the periphery at all times. Keep an insanely low profile. Make mediocre films with the one person who is even sort of his friend, Earl. This plan works for exactly eight hours. Then Greg's mom forces him to become friends with a girl who has cancer. This brings about the destruction of Greg's entire life.

CHALLENGED FOR: depiction of sexual abuse, LGBTQIA+ content, drug use, profanity, claimed to be sexually explicit.
Read the cult-favorite coming-of-age story that takes a sometimes heartbreaking, often hysterical, and always honest look at high school in all its glory. Now a major motion picture starring Logan Lerman and Emma Watson, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a funny, touching, and haunting modern classic. The critically acclaimed debut novel from Stephen Chbosky, Perks follows observant "wallflower" Charlie as he charts a course through the strange world between adolescence and adulthood. First dates, family drama, and new friends. Sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Devastating loss, young love, and life on the fringes. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it, Charlie must learn to navigate those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.

The powerful, poignant, bestselling National Book Award finalist gives voice to a young girl robbed of her childhood yet determined to find the strength to triumph. Written in spare and evocative vignettes by the co-author of I Am Malala (Young Readers Edition), this powerful novel renders a world that is as unimaginable as it is real, and a girl who not only survives but triumphs.  

Five troubled teenagers fall into prostitution as they search for freedom, safety, community, family, and love in this #1 New York Times bestselling novel from Ellen Hopkins. "When all choice is taken from you, life becomes a game of survival."

100 Banned Books profiles well-known, often classic works that have been censored for religious, political, social or sexual reasons. Each entry gives readers a summary of the work, its censorship history and suggestions for further reading.

Bringing together diverse disciplines such as literary and legal history, modern psychology and contemporary feminism, Anatomy of Censorship sorts out the many confusing explanations and often misleading justifications for censorship to reveal the underlying conditions and motivations that lead to the suppression of various forms of communication.

Examines increasing censorship in public schools, describes the objections that lead to censorship, and discusses several case studies.

Censorship has bedeviled free expression in the United States from the time of the Pilgrims. This book reveals how and why it happens, in spite of the First Amendment. Through dramatization, anecdotes, interviews and actual trial transcripts, it shows how censorship affects politics, religion, social status, education and publishing.

A historical survey of the destruction of knowledge from ancient Babylon and China to modern times. Includes the three separate destructions of the Library of Alexandria as well as many equally significant collections around the world. Examines the causes of violence directed at repositories of knowledge. Looks at the dangers posed by digitalization of books to the free availability of knowledge in the future.

Censored & Banned Literature examines the wide range of important literary texts that have been subjected to censorship, either at the time of their first publication, later in their history, or both. Because important works frequently offer challenging responses to social, historical, and political issues, often it is the very best works that provoke - at least initially - the most hostility or discomfort. This volume includes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain (1884), The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger (1951) and Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987).

This collection of sixty-three essays provides assistance to the growing number of students, teachers, librarians, and parents who find themselves confronting a censorship situation. The contributors are both authors of fiction, drama, and poetry for adults, children, and adolescents and teachers of literature, writing about the books that are most frequently challenged in schools and libraries.

In 1950, after three decades of exemplary service, Brown was summarily dismissed from her job as librarian at the Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Public Library. Though the ostensible reason was circulating subversive materials, Robbins (Library and Information studies, U. of Wisconsin-Madison) says it was because she advocated racial equality and had helped form a group affiliated with the Congress of Racial Equality. She emphasizes the matrix of personal, community, state, and national forces that can still lead to censorship, intolerance, and suppression.

An aid in the war against escalating censorship attempts, this book offers an alphabetically-arranged list of the most frequently challenged children's books, complete with bibliographies, examples of recent challenges, awards received, and where to find support if one of your titles is attacked.

"In Not in Front of the Children, Marjorie Heins explores the fascinating history of "indecency" laws and other restrictions aimed at protecting youth. From Plato's argument for rigid censorship, through Victorian laws aimed at repressing libidinous thoughts, to contemporary battles over sex education in public schools and violence in the media, Heins guides us through what became, and remains, an ideological minefield.

Essays by past and present writers and critics assess the effects of fairy tales and comic books, the role of fear in children's books, selected classics, and the power and value of children's literature.