LibGuides: Banned Books: Books

Location of Books

Where Banned Books are Located

Our collection of banned books are located in a special collection area all together across from the reference shelves and behind the magazine collection.

Books from the Catalog

Maus I: a Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman
Call Number: D810.J4 S643 1986

ISBN: 9780394747231

Publication Date: 1986-08-12

Maus tells the story of Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and his son, a cartoonist coming to terms with his father's story.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexually explicit
- offensive language
- animal allegory
Night by Elie Wiesel (Preface by); Marion Wiesel (Translator)
Call Number: D810.J4 W513 2013

ISBN: 9780374534752

Publication Date: 2013-09-10

The narrative of a boy who lived through Auschwitz and Buchenwald provides a short and terrible indictment of modern humanity.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexual content
- offensive language
- violence
- religious viewpoint
- LGBTQIA+ content
- racism
- substance abuse
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank; Otto H. Frank (Editor); Mirjam Pressler (Editor); Susan Massotty (Translator); Francine Prose (Introduction by)
Call Number: DS135.N6 F73313 2010

ISBN: 9780307594006

Publication Date: 2010-10-19

In 1942, with the Nazis occupying Holland, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family fled their home in Amsterdam and went into hiding. For the next two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed to the Gestapo, the Franks and another family lived cloistered in the “Secret Annexe” of an old office building. Cut off from the outside world, they faced hunger, boredom, the constant cruelties of living in confined quarters, and the ever-present threat of discovery and death. In her diary Anne Frank recorded vivid impressions of her experiences during this period. By turns thoughtful, moving, and surprisingly humorous, her account offers a fascinating commentary on human courage and frailty and a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman whose promise was tragically cut short.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexual content
- offensive passages
All Boys Aren't Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto by George M. Johnson
Call Number: HQ76.27.A37 J644 2020

ISBN: 9780374312718

Publication Date: 2020-04-28

In a series of personal essays, journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys. -- Publisher's description.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexually explicit
- profanity
- LGBTQIA+ content
The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls
Call Number: HV5132 .W35 2005

ISBN: 9780743247535

Publication Date: 2005-03-01

Journalist Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were their curse and their salvation. Rex and Rose Mary and their four children lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains. Rex was a charismatic, brilliant man who, when sober, captured his children's imagination, teaching them how to embrace life fearlessly. Rose Mary painted and wrote and couldn't stand the responsibility of providing for her family. When the money ran out, the Walls retreated to the dismal West Virginia mining town Rex had tried to escape. As the dysfunction escalated, the children had to fend for themselves, supporting one another as they found the resources and will to leave home. Yet Walls describes her parents with deep affection in this tale of unconditional love in a family that, despite its profound flaws, gave her the fiery determination to carve out a successful life.--From publisher description.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexuality
- LGBTQIA+ representation
- violence
- substance abuse
- mature themes
- poverty
- alcoholism
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel (Illustrator)
Call Number: PN6727.B3757 Z46 2007

ISBN: 9780618477944

Publication Date: 2006-06-08

A memoir done in the form of a graphic novel by a cult favorite comic artist offers a darkly funny family portrait that details her relationship with her father--a funeral home director, high school English teacher, and closeted homosexual.
"In this groundbreaking, best-selling graphic memoir, Alison Bechdel charts her fraught relationship with her late father. In her hands, personal history becomes a work of amazing subtlety and power, written with controlled force and enlivened with humor, rich literary allusion, and heartbreaking detail." -- from cover.

Reasons for Being Banned
- offensive language
- violence
- drug use
- anti-religion
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
Call Number: PN6747.S245 P4713 2003

ISBN: 9780375422300

Publication Date: 2003-04-29

"Originally published to wide critical acclaim in France, where it elicited comparisons to Art Spiegelman's Maus, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi's wise, funny, and heartbreaking memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah's regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran's last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country. Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran: of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life and of the enormous toll repressive regimes exact on the individual spirit. Marjane's child's-eye-view of dethroned emperors, state-sanctioned whippings, and heroes of the revolution allows us to learn as she does the history of this fascinating country and of her own extraordinary family. Intensely personal, profoundly political, and wholly original, Persepolis is at once a story of growing up and a stunning reminder of the human cost of war and political repression. It shows how we carry on, through laughter and tears, in the face of absurdity. And, finally, it introduces us to an irresistible little girl with whom we cannot help but fall in love."-- Provided by publisher

Reasons for Being Banned
- sex
- violence
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende; Magda Bogin (Translator)
Call Number: PQ8098.1.L54 C313 1985

ISBN: 0394539079

Publication Date: 1985-04-12

"The House of the Spirits" is the debut novel of Isabel Allende. The novel was rejected by several Spanish-language publishers before being published in Barcelona in 1982. It became an instant best-seller, was critically acclaimed, and catapulted Allende to literary stardom. "The House of the Spirits" is a magical realist novel that chronicles the lives of three generations of the Trueba family, a powerful landowning clan in an unnamed Latin American country (widely understood to be Chile), intertwining their personal struggles with the turbulent political landscape of the region, showcasing themes of love, family, power, and the supernatural through the lens of a matriarchal family line, particularly the mystical Clara del Valle Trueba, whose clairvoyance shapes the family's fate.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexual content
- offensive language
- violence
The Annotated Alice: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll; Martin Gardner (Editor); John Tenniel (Illustrator)
Call Number: PR4611.A7 G3 2000

ISBN: 0393048470

Publication Date: 1999-11-17

"The Annotated Alice" is a 1960 book by Martin Gardner incorporating the text of Lewis Carroll's major tales, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass," as well as the original illustrations by John Tenniel. A little girl falls down a rabbit hole and discovers a world filled with nonsensical and amusing characters, and, after climbing through a mirror, Alice enters a world similar to a chess board.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexual fantasies
- drug use
The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells
Call Number: PR5774 .I5 1967

Publication Date: 1967

"The Invisible Man" is an 1897 science fiction novel by British writer H. G. Wells. Originally serialised in Pearson's Weekly in 1897, it was published as a novel the same year. The story concerns the life and death of a scientist named Griffin who has gone mad. Having learned how to make himself invisible, Griffin begins to use his invisibility for nefarious purposes, including murder. When he is finally killed, his body becomes visible again.

Reasons for Being Banned
- conflicted views on socialism & individualism
Lord of the Flies by William Golding; E. M. Forster (Introduction by); E. L. Epstein (Notes by)
Call Number: PR6013.O35 L6 2017

ISBN: 9781573226127

Publication Date: 1997-08-01

William Golding's unforgettable classic of boyhood adventure and the savagery of humanity comes to this Classics Deluxe Edition with a new foreword by Lois Lowry. As provocative today as when it was first published in 1954, "Lord of the Flies" continues to ignite passionate debate with its startling, brutal portrait of human nature. William Golding's compelling story about a group of very ordinary boys marooned on a coral island has been labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, and even a vision of the apocalypse. But above all, it has earned its place as one of the indisputable classics of the twentieth century for readers of any age.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sex
- offensive language
- violence
- prejudice
Brave New World by Huxley, Aldous, 1894-1963
Call Number: PR6015.U9 B65 1946

Publication Date: 1946

"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley depicts a dystopian future society called the "World State" where human beings are genetically engineered, socially conditioned from birth, and heavily reliant on a pleasure-inducing drug called Soma, resulting in a society that prioritizes stability and happiness over individual freedom, critical thinking, and deep emotional connections; the story follows characters like Bernard Marx, an outsider in this society, and John, a "Savage" from a reservation who represents the antithesis of the World State's values, highlighting the devastating consequences of sacrificing individuality for a seemingly perfect, controlled world.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexually explicit
- offensive language
- violence
- drug use
- racism
- anti-religion
- self-harm
Animal Farm: A Fairy Story by George. Orwell; Russell Baker (Preface by); Tea Obreht (Introduction by)
Call Number: PR6029.R8 A55 2020

ISBN: 9780451526342

Publication Date: 2020

Orwell's world famous satire on dictatorship told through a story about the happenings of an English country farm and the animal inhabitants who find it their duty to rebel against the sometimes cruel owner and prove themselves every bit mankind's intellectual equal.

Reasons for Being Banned
- social & political themes
1984 by Orwell, George, 1903-1950
Call Number: PR6029.R8 N49 2009

ISBN: 1846553288

Publication Date: 2009

"1984" is a dystopian novel that was written by George Orwell and originally published in 1949. It tells the story of Winston Smith, a citizen of the miserable society of Oceania, who is trying to rebel against the Party and its omnipresent symbol, Big Brother.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexual content
- offensive language
- social & political themes
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Twain, Mark, 1835-1910
Call Number: PS1305 .A1 2011

ISBN: 9781435129726

Publication Date: 2011

Mark Twain's classic "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (1884) is told from the point of view of Huck Finn, a barely literate teen who fakes his own death to escape his abusive, drunken father. He encounters a runaway slave named Jim, and the two embark on a raft journey down the Mississippi River.

Reasons for Being Banned
- offensive language
- racism
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Call Number: PS3503.R167 F3 1991

Publication Date: 1991

"Fahrenheit 451" is a 1953 dystopian novel by American writer Ray Bradbury. It presents a future American society where books have been outlawed and "firemen" burn any that are found.

Reasons for Being Banned
- offensive language
- drug use
- anti-religion
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Call Number: PS3511.I9 G7 1993

ISBN: 0684196476

Publication Date: 1993-12-01

One of the classics of twentieth-century literature, "The Great Gatsby" is now available in a definitive, textually accurate edition.The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan has been acclaimed by generations of readers. But the first edition contained a number of errors resulting from Fitzgerald's extensive revisions and a rushed production schedule. Subsequent printings introduced further departures from the author's words. This edition, based on the Cambridge critical text, restores all the language of Fitzgerald's masterpiece. Drawing on the manuscript and surviving proof of the novel, along with Fitzgerald's later revisions and corrections, this is the authorized text - "The Great Gatsby" as Fitzgerald intended it.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexual content
- offensive language
- violence
- alcohol use
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
Call Number: PS3515.E37 F3 1988

ISBN: 0684155621

Publication Date: 1988

"A Farewell to Arms" is about a love affair between the expatriate American Henry and Catherine Barkley against the backdrop of the First World War, cynical soldiers, fighting and the displacement of populations. The publication of "A Farewell to Arms" cemented Hemingway's stature as a modern American writer, became his first best-seller, and is described by biographer Michael Reynolds as "the premier American war novel from that debacle World War I."

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexual content
- offensive language
- anti-militarism
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Call Number: PS3515.E37 S9 1926

ISBN: 0684102501

Publication Date: 1926

"The Sun Also Rises" is the first novel by the American writer Ernest Hemingway. It portrays American and British expatriates who travel from Paris to the Festival of San Fermín in Pamplona and watch the running of the bulls and the bullfights. An early modernist novel, it received mixed reviews upon publication.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexual content
- offensive language
- excessive drinking
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston; Jerry Pinkney (Illustrator); Ruby Dee (Foreword by); Sherley Anne Williams (Introduction by)
Call Number: PS3515.U789 T639 1991

ISBN: 0252017781

Publication Date: 1991-10-01

"Their Eyes Were Watching God" is a 1937 novel by American writer Zora Neale Hurston. It is considered a classic of the Harlem Renaissance, and Hurston's best known work. The novel recounts the events of Janie Crawford's life, a Black woman who lives in Florida during the early 1900s. The story falls into sections based on Janie's marriages to three very different men. The novel begins as Janie returns to the town of Eatonville.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexual content
- offensive language
- racism
Tropic of Cancer by Henry V. Miller; Anaïs Nin (Preface by)
Call Number: PS3525.I5454 T7 1983

ISBN: 0394604350

Publication Date: 1983-06-12

"Tropic of Cancer" is an autobiographical novel by Henry Miller that is best known as "notorious for its candid sexuality", with the resulting social controversy considered responsible for the "free speech that we now take for granted in literature."

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexual content
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
Call Number: PS3537.A426 C3

ISBN: 0553149660

Publication Date: 1976-05-01

"The Catcher in the Rye" is a novel by American author J. D. Salinger that was partially published in serial form in 1945–46 before being novelized in 1951. Originally intended for adults, it is often read by adolescents for its themes of angst and alienation, and as a critique of superficiality in society.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexual content
- offensive language
- violence
- racism
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Call Number: PS3537.T3234 O34 1993

ISBN: 0140177396

Publication Date: 1993-09-01

"Of Mice and Men" is a 1937 novella written by American author John Steinbeck. It describes the experiences of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers, as they move from place to place in California, searching for jobs during the Great Depression.

Reasons for Being Banned
- offensive language
- racism
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou; Oprah Winfrey (Foreword by)
Call Number: PS3551.N464 Z466 2002

ISBN: 0375507892

Publication Date: 2002-03-05

"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" is a 1969 autobiography describing the young and early years of American writer and poet Maya Angelou. The first in a seven-volume series, it is a coming-of-age story that illustrates how strength of character and a love of literature can help overcome racism and trauma.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexual abuse/rape
- offensive language
- LGBTQIA+ content
- racism
- drug abuse
- torture
Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
Call Number: PS3552.U75 N3 1991

ISBN: 0802132952

Publication Date: 1991

"Naked Lunch" is a 1959 novel by American author William S. Burroughs. The novel does not follow a clear linear plot, but is instead structured as a series of non-chronological "routines".

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexually explicit
- offensive language
- drug use
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller; Christopher Buckley (Introduction by)
Call Number: PS3558.E476 C3 2011

ISBN: 9781451626650

Publication Date: 2011-04-05

Set in the closing months of World War II in an American bomber squadron off the coast of Italy, "Catch-22" is the story of a bombardier named Yossarian who is frantic and furious because thousands of people he has never even met keep trying to kill him.

Reasons for Being Banned
- offensive language
- violence
- racism
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Call Number: PS3562.E353 T6 2002

ISBN: 0060935464

Publication Date: 2005-07-05

In Harper Lee's timeless classic, "To Kill a Mockingbird," the author explores the complexities of apartheid and racial discrimination in 1930s Alabama.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexual abuse/rape/incest
- offensive language
- violence
- racism
Beloved: A Novel by Toni Morrison
Call Number: PS3563.O8749 B4 1987

ISBN: 0394535979

Publication Date: 1987-08-12

"Beloved" is a 1987 novel by American novelist Toni Morrison. Set in the period after the American Civil War, the novel tells the story of a dysfunctional family of formerly enslaved people whose Cincinnati home is haunted by a malevolent spirit.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexually explicit
- violence
- LGBTQIA+ content
- racism
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (Afterword by)
Call Number: PS3563.O8749 B55 1993

ISBN: 0679433732

Publication Date: 1993-12-28

"The Bluest Eye," published in 1970, is the first novel written by Toni Morrison. The novel takes place in Lorain, Ohio, and tells the story of a young African-American girl named Pecola who grew up following the Great Depression.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexual abuse/rape/incest
- offensive language
- racism
The Things They Carried: A Work of Fiction by Tim O'Brien
Call Number: PS3565.B75 T48 1998b

ISBN: 9780767902892

Publication Date: 1998-12-29

Heroic young men carry the emotional weight of their lives to war in Vietnam in a patchwork account of a modern journey into the heart of darkness.
"The Things They Carried" depicts the men of Alpha Company: Jimmy Cross, Henry Dobbins, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, and of course, the character Tim O'Brien who has survived his tour in Vietnam to become a father and writer at the age of forty-three. They battle the enemy (or maybe more the idea of the enemy), and occasionally each other. In their relationships we see their isolation and loneliness, their rage and fear. They miss their families, their girlfriends and buddies; they miss the lives they left back home. Yet they find sympathy and kindness for strangers (the old man who leads them unscathed through the mine field, the girl who grieves while she dances), and love for each other, because in Vietnam they are the only family they have. We hear the voices of the men and build images upon their dialogue. The way they tell stories about others, we hear them telling stories about themselves. With the creative verve of the greatest fiction and the intimacy of a searing autobiography, "The Things They Carried" is a testament to the men who risked their lives in America's most controversial war. It is also a mirror held up to the frailty of humanity. Ultimately The Things They Carried and its myriad protagonists call to order the courage, determination, and luck we all need to survive.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexual content
- offensive language
- violence
- drug use
- self-mutilation
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Call Number: PS3572.O5 C3 1998

ISBN: 038533348X

Publication Date: 1998

"Cat's Cradle" is a satirical postmodern novel, with science fiction elements, by American writer Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut's fourth novel, it was first published on March 18, 1963, exploring and satirizing issues of science, technology, the purpose of religion, and the arms race, often through the use of morbid humor.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexual content
- offensive language
- anti-religion
- political themes
The Color Purple: A Novel by Alice Walker
Call Number: PS3573.A425 C6 1982

ISBN: 0151191530

Publication Date: 1982-06-01

"The Color Purple" is a 1982 epistolary novel by American author Alice Walker that won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction. "The Color Purple" follows an African-American teenager named Celie being raised in rural Georgia in the early 1900s. Through letters written by Celie to God, we follow her struggle with an abusive father, teenage pregnancy, and abusive marriage.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexually explicit
- child abuse
- offensive language
- domestic violence
- homosexuality
- teen pregnancy
- racism
Lawn Boy: A Novel by Jonathan Evison
Call Number: PS3605.V57 L39 2019

ISBN: 9781616209230

Publication Date: 2019-03-19

Mike Muñoz is a young Mexican American not too many years out of high school--and just fired from his latest gig as a lawn boy on a landscaping crew. Though he tries time and again to get his foot on the first rung of that ladder to success, he can't seem to get a break. But then things start to change for Mike, and after a raucous, jarring, and challenging trip, he finds he can finally see the future and his place in it.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexually explicit
- LGBTQIA+ content
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Call Number: PS3608.O832 K58 2003

ISBN: 1573222453

Publication Date: 2003-06-02

"The Kite Runner" is the first novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini.[1] Published in 2003 by Riverhead Books, it tells the story of Amir, a young boy from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul. The story is set against a backdrop of tumultuous events, from the fall of Afghanistan's monarchy through the Soviet invasion, the exodus of refugees to Pakistan and the United States, and the rise of the Taliban regime.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexually explicit
- offensive language
- LGBTQIA+ representation
- violence
- religious viewpoints
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (National Book Award Winner) by Sherman Alexie
Call Number: PZ7.A382 Ab 2007

ISBN: 9780316013680

Publication Date: 2007-09-12

Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexual content
- offensive language
- anti-religion
- drug & alcohol use
- racism
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Call Number: PZ7.A54385 Sp 1999

ISBN: 0374371520

Publication Date: 1999-10-22

A traumatic event near the end of the summer has a devastating effect on Melinda's freshman year in high school.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexually explicit
- offensive language
- political viewpoints
- male bias
Catching Fire (Hunger Games, Book Two) by Suzanne Collins
Call Number: PZ7.C6837 Cat 2009

ISBN: 9780439023498

Publication Date: 2009-09-01

By winning the annual Hunger Games, District 12 tributes Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark have secured a life of safety and plenty for themselves and their families, but because they won by defying the rules, they unwittingly become the faces of an impending rebellion.

Reasons for Being Banned
- offensive language
- violence
- anti-ethnic
- anti-family
Mockingjay (Hunger Games, Book Three) by Suzanne Collins
Call Number: PZ7.C6837 Moc 2010

ISBN: 9780439023511

Publication Date: 2010-08-24

Katniss Everdeen's having survived the Hunger games twice makes her a target of the Capitol and President Snow, as well as a hero to the rebels who will succeed only if Katniss is willing to put aside her personal feelings and serve as their pawn.

Reasons for Being Banned
- offensive language
- violence
- anti-ethnic
- anti-family
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
Call Number: PZ7.M992 Mon 1999

ISBN: 0060280786

Publication Date: 1999-05-05

"Monster," published April 21, 1999 by HarperCollins, is a young adult drama novel by American author Walter Dean Myers. It was nominated for the 1999 National Book Award for Young People's Literature, won the Michael L. Printz Award in 2000, and was named a Coretta Scott King Award Honor the same year.

Reasons for Being Banned
- sexual content
- offensive language
- violence
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Call Number: PZ7.M5717515 Tw 2005

ISBN: 0316015849

Publication Date: 2006-09-06

When seventeen-year-old Bella leaves Phoenix to live with her father in Forks, Washington, she meets an exquisitely handsome boy at school for whom she feels an overwhelming attraction and who she comes to realize is not wholly human.

Reasons for Being Banned
- violence
- religious viewpoints
- prejudice
- mature themes
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Call Number: PZ7.R79613 Ele 2013

ISBN: 9781250012579

Publication Date: 2013-02-26

Two misfits. One extraordinary love. Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds-- smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. Eleanor-- Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough. Park-- He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises--Publisher's description.

Reasons for Being Banned
- offensive language
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling; Mary GrandPré (Illustrator)
Call Number: PZ7.R79835 Haj 1999

ISBN: 0439064864

Publication Date: 1999-07-01

When the Chamber of Secrets is opened again at the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, second-year student Harry Potter finds himself in danger from a dark power that has once more been released on the school.

Reasons for Being Banned
- witchcraft/magic

Definitions

Challenge:

An attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others.

Censorship:

A change in the access status of material, based on the content of the work and made by a governing authority or its representatives. Such changes include exclusion, restriction, removal, or age/grade level changes.

Intellectual Freedom:

The right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause or movement may be explored.

Challenges to Library Materials
Discussion, with definitions, of how and why materials are challenged.
Intellectual Freedom and Censorship Q & A
Overview of the issues in a Q&A format

Top 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books: 2010-2019

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Captain Underpants (series) by Dav Pilkey
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Looking for Alaska by John Green
George by Alex Gino
And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
Drama by Raina Telgemeier
Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James
Internet Girls (series) by Lauren Myracle
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
I Am Jazz by Jazz Jennings and Jessica Herthel
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Bone (series) by Jeff Smith
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan
A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss
Sex is a Funny Word by Cory Silverberg
Alice McKinley (series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
It's Perfectly Normal by Robie H. Harris
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
Scary Stories (series) by Alvin Schwartz
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
It's a Book by Lane Smith
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones
A Child Called "It" by Dave Pelzer
Bad Kitty (series) by Nick Bruel
Crank by Ellen Hopkins
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby by Dav Pilkey
This Day in June by Gayle E. Pitman
This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki
A Bad Boy Can Be Good For A Girl by Tanya Lee Stone
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Goosebumps (series) by R.L. Stine
In Our Mothers' House by Patricia Polacco
Lush by Natasha Friend
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
The Holy Bible
This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
Gossip Girl (series) by Cecily von Ziegesar
House of Night (series) by P.C. Cast
My Mom's Having A Baby by Dori Hillestad Butler
Neonomicon by Alan Moore
The Dirty Cowboy by Amy Timberlake
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
Draw Me a Star by Eric Carle
Dreaming In Cuban by Cristina Garcia
Fade by Lisa McMann
The Family Book by Todd Parr
Feed by M.T. Anderson
Go the Fuck to Sleep by Adam Mansbach
Habibi by Craig Thompson
House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
Jacob's New Dress by Sarah Hoffman
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
Nasreen’s Secret School by Jeanette Winter
Saga by Brian K. Vaughan
Stuck in the Middle by Ariel Schrag
The Kingdom of Little Wounds by Susann Cokal
1984 by George Orwell
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher
Awakening by Kate Chopin
Burned by Ellen Hopkins
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
Glass by Ellen Hopkins
Heather Has Two Mommies by Lesle´a Newman
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Madeline and the Gypsies by Ludwig Bemelmans
My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis
Prince and Knight by Daniel Haack
Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology by Amy Sonnie
Skippyjon Jones (series) by Judith Schachner
So Far from the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins
The Color of Earth (series) by Tong-hwa Kim
The Librarian of Basra by Jeanette Winter
The Walking Dead (series) by Robert Kirkman
Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
Uncle Bobby’s Wedding by Sarah S Brannen
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

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