Banned Books Week is the national celebration of our freedom to read. Launched in 1982 to draw attention to the problem of book censorship in the United States, Banned Books Week is celebrated in late September each year.
Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment. -- American Library Association's Bill of Rights
What is a Banned Book?
Books have been banned as long as there have been books and continue to be banned or challenged even today. A banned book is a book that may be:
- removed from a library or libraries;
- not allowed to be published;
- not allowed to enter an entire country;
- not allowed to exist: to be physically destroyed, typically by burning, such as the notorious book burning in Nazi Germany.
- The most extreme form of banning is the death or demand for the death of the author, as during the Inquisition, or more recently with Salman Rushdie.
- A challenged book is one that someone has tried to ban but did not succeed.
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by
This is NOT a history book.
This is a book about the here and now.
A book to help us better understand why we are where we are.
A book about race.
Call Number: OnlineISBN: 9780316453691Publication Date: 2020-03-10
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Call Number: Curriculum Collection PZ7.A382 Ab 2007bISBN: 0316013684Publication Date: 2007-09-12
Invisible Man by
First published in 1952 and immediately hailed as a masterpiece, Invisible Man is one of those rare novels that have changed the shape of American literature. For not only does Ralph Ellison's nightmare journey across the racial divide tell unparalleled truths about the nature of bigotry and its effects on the minds of both victims and perpetrators, it gives us an entirely new model of what a novel can be.
Call Number: PS3555.L625 I5 1995ISBN: 0679732764Publication Date: 1995-03-14
Habibi by
"Sprawling across an epic landscape of deserts, harems, and modern industrial clutter, Habibi tells the tale of Dodola and Zam, refugee child slaves bound to each other by chance, by circumstance, and by the love that grows between them. We follow them as their lives unfold together and apart; as they struggle to make a place for themselves in a world (not unlike our own) fueled by fear, lust, and greed; and as they discover the extraordinary depth-- and frailty-- of their connection. At once contemporary and timeless, Habibi gives us a love story of astounding resonance: a parable about our relationship to the natural world, the cultural divide between the first and third worlds, the common heritage of Christianity and Islam, and, most potently, the magic of storytelling"
Call Number: PN6727.T48 H33 2011ISBN: 9780375424144Publication Date: 2011-09-20
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Call Number: Curriculum Collection PS3553.H3469 P47 2012ISBN: 9781451696202Publication Date: 2012-08-14
The Librarian of Basra by
Reason: promote "prayer to someone other than God."
Call Number: Curriculum Collection Z720 .B24 W56 2005ISBN: 0152054456Publication Date: 2005-01-01
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by
Reason: sexually offensive and amoral
Call Number: Curriculum Collection (6th Floor) PZ7 .B6265 Ar 1990
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by
Reason: ghosts, cults, and witchcraft
Call Number: Curriculum Collection PZ7.R79835 Har 1998ISBN: 0590353403Publication Date: 1998-09-01
Heather Has Two Mommies by
Reason: homosexual themes, promoting a dangerous and ungodly lifestyle.
Call Number: Curriculum Collection (6th Floor) PZ7 .N486 He 1989
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by
Reason: insensitivity , racism , and offensive language
Call Number: Curriculum Collection PZ7 .T21723 Ro 1989
The Boy Who Lost His Face by
Reason: youthful sexuality, and schoolyard bullying and profanity are explored in the novel
Call Number: Curriculum Collection PZ7.S1185 Bo 1989ISBN: 0394928636Publication Date: 1989-11-25
Slaughterhouse-Five by
Reasons: profanity, violence, sexually explicit, racial slurs, depictions of torture
Call Number: PS3572.O5 S6 1994ISBN: 0385312083Publication Date: 1994-02-01
The Catcher in the Rye by
Reason: sexual references and profanity
Call Number: PS3537 .A426ISBN: 9780316769174Publication Date: 2001-01-30
All the King's Men by
Reasons: immoral situations, depressing view of life
Call Number: PS3545 .A748 A7 2001ISBN: 0151006105Publication Date: 2001-11-02
Animal Farm by
Reason: communist themes, controversial political theories, opposition to Islamic values
Call Number: Curriculum Collection PR6029.R8 A63 2003bISBN: 9780452284241Publication Date: 2003-05-06
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest by
Reasons: sexually explicit, glorification of criminal activity, promotion of secular humanism, violence
Call Number: PS3561.E8 O5ISBN: 9780670023233Publication Date: 1962
As I Lay Dying by
Reasons: abortion, profanity, questions existence of God, masturbation
Call Number: PS3511.A86 A8 1964ISBN: 9780679732259Publication Date: 1964
Theodore Dreiser: an American Tragedy (LOA #140) by
Reasons: "deals with low love affairs," obscene
Call Number: PS3507.R55 A7 2003ISBN: 1931082316Publication Date: 2003-03-10
The Awakening by
Reasons: morbid, vulgar, scandalous
Call Number: OnlineISBN: 0312062354Publication Date: 2014
The Lord of the Rings by Call Number: PR6039.O32 L6 2004ISBN: 0618574999Publication Date: 2005-06-01Reasons: satanism
Batman: the Killing Joke, Deluxe Edition by
The classic Batman tale by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland returns in an all-new special edition! This edition - celebrating the 20th anniversary of the landmark work - features all-new coloring by Bolland, and includes the story "An Innocent Guy," previously featured in BATMAN: BLACK AND WHITE!
Reasons: advocates rape and violence
Call Number: PN6728.B36 M66 2008ISBN: 9781401216672Publication Date: 2008-03-19
Blankets by
This groundbreaking graphic novel, winner of two Eisner and three Harvey Awards, is an eloquent portrait of adolescent yearning; first love (and first heartache); faith in crisis; and the process of moving beyond all of that.
Reasons: obscene images
Call Number: PN6727.T48 B58 2003ISBN: 9781770462205Publication Date: 2015-10-13
Drama by
The story focuses on Callie, a middle schooler and theater-lover who works in her school's drama production crew.
Reasons: sexually explicit
Call Number: Curriculum Collection PZ7.7.T45 Drs 2018ISBN: 9781338269161Publication Date: 2018-07-31
Fun Home by
A fresh and brilliantly told memoir from a cult favorite comic artist, marked by gothic twists, a family funeral home, sexual angst, and great books. This breakout book by Alison Bechdel is a darkly funny family tale, pitch-perfectly illustrated with Bechdel's sweetly gothic drawings. Like Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, it's a story exhilaratingly suited to graphic memoir form. Meet Alison's father, a historic preservation expert and obsessive restorer of the family's Victorian home, a third-generation funeral home director, a high school English teacher, an icily distant parent, and a closeted homosexual who, as it turns out, is involved with his male students and a family babysitter. Through narrative that is alternately heartbreaking and fiercely funny, we are drawn into a daughter's complex yearning for her father. And yet, apart from assigned stints dusting caskets at the family-owned "fun home," as Alison and her brothers call it, the relationship achieves its most intimate expression through the shared code of books. When Alison comes out as homosexual herself in late adolescence, the denouement is swift, graphic -- and redemptive.
Reasons: pornography
Call Number: PN6727.B3757 Z46 2007bISBN: 9780618871711Publication Date: 2007-06-05
My Father Bleeds History by
Maus is a graphic novel by American cartoonist Art Spiegelman, serialized from 1980 to 1991. It depicts Spiegelman interviewing his father about his experiences as a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor.
Reasons: anti-ethnic, depiction of the swastika on cover, unsuited for age group
Call Number: D810.J4 S643 1991ISBN: 0394541553Publication Date: 1991-11-01
Pride of Baghdad by
In the spring of 2003, a pride of lions escaped from the Baghdad Zoo during an American bombing raid, roaming the streets in a desperate struggle for their lives. "Pride of Baghdad" raises questions about the true meaning of liberation--can it be given or is it earned only through self-determination and sacrifice? And in the end, is it truly better to die free than to live life in captivity?
Reasons: sexual content
Call Number: Curriculum Collection PN6728.P75 V38 2006ISBN: 1401203140Publication Date: 2006-09-13
Sandman Vol 1 Preludes and Nocturnes 30th Anniversary Ed by
The first volume collecting Neil Gaiman's seminal horror series is available in a new edition featuring the improved production values and coloring from the Absolute Edition. In PRELUDES & NOCTURNES, collecting issues #1-8, an occultist attempting to capture Death to bargain for eternal life traps Death's younger brother Dream instead. After his 70-year imprisonment and eventual escape, Morpheus goes on a quest for his lost objects of power. On his arduous journey Morpheus encounters Lucifer, John Constantine and an all-powerful madman. This book also includes the story "The Sound of Her Wings" which introduces the pragmatic, perky Death.
Reasons: unsuited for age group, anti-family themes, offensive language
Call Number: PN6728.S26 G34 2018ISBN: 9781401284770Publication Date: 2018-10-30
The Storm in the Barn by
Certainly a case of "dust dementia" would explain who (or what) Jack has glimpsed in Talbot's abandoned barn; a sinister figure with a face like rain. In a land where it never rains, it's hard to trust what you see with your own eyes and harder still to take heart and be a hero when the time comes. With phenomenal pacing, sensitivity, and a sure command of suspense, Matt Phelan ushers us into a world where desperation is transformed by unexpected courage.
Reasons: profanity, violence, horror
Call Number: Curriculum Collection PZ7.P44882 St 2009ISBN: 0763636185Publication Date: 2009-09-08
This One Summer by Call Number: Curriculum Collection PZ7.7.T355 Thi 2014ISBN: 9781626720947Publication Date: 2014-05-06Summary: This One Summer is a coming-of-age story about two pre-teen friends, Rose and Windy, during summer in Awago, a small beach town.
Reasons: unsuited for age group
Watchmen: the Deluxe Edition by
In an alternate world where the mere presence of American superheroes changed history, the US won the Vietnam War, Nixon is still president, and the cold war is in full effect. Watchmen begins as a murder-mystery, but soon unfolds into a planet-altering conspiracy. As the resolution comes to ahead, the unlikely group of reunited heroes - Rorschach, Nite Owl, Silk Spectre, Dr. Manhattan and Ozymandias - have to test the limits of their convictions and ask themselves where the true line is between good and evil. Watchmen is collected here in a deluxe hardcover, with sketches,extra bonus material, and a new Introduction by series artist Dave Gibbons.
Reasons: unsuited for age group (attempted rape, profanity, violence)
Call Number: PN6737.M66 W39 2013ISBN: 9781401238964Publication Date: 2013-06-04
Banned Books Map
This map is drawn from cases documented by ALA and the Kids' Right to Read Project, a collaboration of the National Coalition Against Censorship and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression. "Mapping Censorship" was created by Chris Peterson of the National Coalition Against Censorship and Alita Edelman of hte American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression. The map is now updated by the American Library Association.
Movies Based on Banned Books
Harry Potter complete 8-film collection. by Call Number: DVDs 046-03913 A-HISBN: 0780674316Publication Date: 2011
One flew over the cuckoo's nest by Call Number: DVDs 046-01558ISBN: 9780790765143Publication Date: 2002
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- Library Bill of Rights "The American Library Association affirms that all libraries are forums for information and ideas, and that the following basic policies should guide their services." Article III specifically focuses on the of censoring materials.
- ALA Freedom to Read Statement Statement first adopted in 1952 jointly by the ALA Council and the AAP Freedom to Read Committee.
- ACLU and Banned Books The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) "is our nation's guardian of liberty, working daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country."
- Banned & Challenged Books From the Office for Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association. Covers Banned Books Week, Frequently Challenged Books, Resources for Librarians facing challenges.
- LGBTQ Right to Read Resource This resource specifically concerns the issue of LGBTQ-themed books and why these books need be shelved, not banned.
- Book Censorship Tool Kit Created by the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), this kit contains a "collection of materials on the topic of censorship in schools for the use of students, educators, and parents everywhere."
- Comic Book Legal Defense Fund BBW Handbook The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) has a free handbook that "that gives you the scoop about what comics are banned, how to report and fight censorship, and how to make a celebration of Banned Books Week in your community!"
- National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) "The National Coalition Against Censorship, an alliance of fifty-two participating organizations, is dedicated to protecting free expression and access to information." This page lists the participating organizations that could offer support.
- NCTE Intellectual Freedom Center The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) "offers advice, helpful documents, and other support to teachers faced with challenges to texts (e.g. literary works, films and videos, drama productions) or teaching methods used in their classrooms and schools. "