As promised here are more Challenged and Banned Books recommended by our staff. As you can see, I’m doing these in alpha order with more to come. Happy reading!
Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler
Well-reviewed and much-enjoyed coming of age story of a teenage fat girl who learns to care for and stand up for her self. It is a story most young women can appreciate. The book has been banned from some school libraries because of profanity and sexual references.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Classic tale of oppression and censorship, ironically Fahrenheit 451 was itself censored for many years. Publishers produced a version, originally sold to schools and school book clubs and for several years as the only version in print, with words such as “damn” and “hell” removed. A mention of a drunk man was changed to a sick man among other such alterations of Bradbury’s work. Bradbury himself was unaware that his text had been altered and was outraged when he found out. Along with Bradbury, protests from the American Library Association and teacher groups forced publishers to at least acknowledge that alterations had been made on the title page of “student editions.”
The Giver by Lois Lowry
First in a trilogy of science fiction novels set in a utopian future where security is valued above freedom. A twelve year old boy discovers the terrible truth about his society. Challenged at Troy Intermediate School in Avon Lake (1999), and elsewhere, for mature themes. Follow this book with Gathering Blue and The Messenger.
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Famous antebellum novel in which Scarlett O’Hare survives the destruction of the Old South by any means necessary. The novel was under attack as soon as it was published in 1936 for Scarlett’s immoral behavior. The attempts at censorship only fueled sales. Later objections included the negative portrayal of freed slaves and the use of the word “nigger” throughout the text.
Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
After the Joad family loses their farm to the dustbowl and the bank, they follow the promise of jobs to California where they become exploited and despised migrant workers. This passionate and political novel has a long history of censorship, starting with the real life California farmers portrayed so negatively in the novel. It has been challenged and sometimes banned, even literally burned, for its portrayal of farm workers, farm owners and the Kern, California economic order, language, its characterization of a minister as sexually profligate (though otherwise decent), and just about every other objection imaginable. Others view the book as one of the truly great American novels.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Alice Walker
A terrifying apocalyptic story of a future America run by religious fundamentalists after an environmental crisis has dramatically lowered the birthrate. The book was challenged in California where a local minister complained that the protagonist was a woman and young men would be unable to relate to her (!). Elsewhere, the book has been challenged for profanity, passages about sex, “themes of despair,” and complaints that the book was defamatory to minorities, women, God and the disabled.
Harry Potter (series) by J.K. Rowling
Magical, engaging series that drew millions of children to the joys of the written word, the first six books are among the most frequently challenged books of recent years. Challengers object to the themes of witchcraft and magic and to characters defying authority in the stories.
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
A fictionalized expose of the meat packing industry written in 1906, the book describes the humiliating and impoverishing conditions of workers in the industry and the cruel treatment of animals, and it urges social and economic reforms. The book shocked then President Theodore Roosevelt, and he sent inspectors who reported that conditions were actually worse than described in the novel. The book was banned in Lisbon, Ohio in the 1920s and was later banned from overseas U.S. libraries by the House Un-American Activities Committee.
King and King by Linda de Haan
The Queen has declared that her son, the Prince, must marry. Many beautiful women are brought before him, but he is not attracted to any of them. Then he meets another prince and true love blooms. This sweet picture book has been challenged in libraries throughout the country.
