Banned Books Week 2024: Banned Books Virtual Displays

1. Gender Queer: A Memoir

Learn More: 

• Book Résumé

Availability: 

• Available in print at Smiley Memorial Library
• Libby eBook

2. All Boys Aren't Blue

Learn More

• Book Résumé

Availability:

• Request a print book through MOBIUS
• Libby audiobook

3. This Book Is Gay

Learn More: 

• Book Résumé

Availability:

• Request a print book through MOBIUS
• Libby eBook
• Libby audiobook

4. The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Learn More:

• Book Résumé 

Availability: 

• Movie adaptation (DVD Format) 
• Libby Audiobook 
• Request a print book through MOBIUS

5. Flamer

Learn More: 

• Book Résumé

Availability:

• Request a print book through MOBIUS

6. The Bluest Eye

Learn More:

• Book Résumé 

Availability:

• Available in print at Smiley Memorial Library
• Libby eBook
• Libby audiobook

7. (TIE): Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Learn More:

• Book Résumé 

Availability:

• Libby audiobook

7. (TIE): Tricks

Learn More:

• Book Résumé 

Availability:

• Request a print book through MOBIUS
• Libby audiobook

9. Let's Talk About It

Learn More:

• Book Résumé 

Availability:

• Request a print book through MOBIUS

10. Sold

Learn More:

• Book Résumé 

Availability:

• Available in print at Smiley Memorial Library
• Libby audiobook

1. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (National Book Award Winner)

Learn More

• Book Résumé

Availability:

• Available in print at Smiley Memorial Library (course reserves) 
• Libby eBook 
• Libby audiobook

2. Captain Underpants (Series)

Availability

• Print copies at Smiley Memorial Library

3. Thirteen Reasons Why

Availability: 

• Print copy available at Smiley Memorial Library
• Libby audiobook
• Libby eBook

4. Looking for Alaska

Learn More

• Book Résumé

Availability: 

• Print copy available through Smiley Memorial Library
• Libby audiobook

5. Melissa (previously Published As GEORGE)

Learn More

• Book Résumé

Availability 

• Available in print at Smiley Memorial Library

6. And Tango Makes Three

Learn More:

• Book Résumé

Availability: 

• Available in print at Smiley Memorial Library

7. Drama: a Graphic Novel

Learn More: 

• Book Résumé

Availability: 

• Available in print at Smiley Memorial Library

8. Fifty Shades of Grey

Availability: 

• Libby eBook
• Movie Adaptation (DVD)
• Print copy requestable through MOBIUS

9. Internet Girls (Series*)

*Four books in the series 

Availability: 

• Book three (l8r, g8r) is available in print at Smiley Memorial Library

10. The Bluest Eye

Learn More:

• Book Résumé 

Availability:

• Available in print at Smiley Memorial Library
• Libby eBook
• Libby audiobook

View the full list of the 100 most frequently challenged books of the past decade (2010-2019)

Speak

Challenged for its discussions of sexual violence and "'bias against male students'" (qtd. in Yorio)

Learn More:

• Laurie Halse Anderson Discusses Censorship, its Frightening Impact, and the Need for Conversation, Kara Yorio, School Library Journal

To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird has been challenged repeatedly since the 1970s because the book contains "profanity... adult themes... and racial slurs." (Source: American Library Association) 

Maus

Challenged for language, nudity, violence, and "ethnic insensitivity" (Comic Book Legal Defense Fund) 

Learn More: 

• A Tennessee school board removed the graphic novel ‘Maus,’ about the Holocaust, from curriculum due to language and nudity concerns, CNN, 2022

• Case Study: Maus, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Challenged for depictions of sexual violence, LGBTIA content, and for being "anti-white" (qtd. in Chamberlain)

Learn More: 

• OC activists want Angelou book removed, ABC 7 Eyewitness News

• Spotlight on Censorship: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Katherine Chamberlain, Intellectual Freedom Blog

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Often challenged because of depictions of magic, spells, and curses. 

Read more:

• Harry Potter and the Poorly-Read Exorcists, Margaret Renkl, The New York Times

• Harry Potter books removed from St. Edward Catholic School due to 'curses and spells', Holly Meyer, The Tennessean

The Giver

Commonly challenged in the late 1990s and early 2000s because of complaints of "violence" and that the book is "unsuited to the Age Group" because it deals with themes such as suicide and euthanasia (Ben Blatt, Slate).

The Catcher in the Rye

Challenged since its 1951 publication for profanity, depictions of violence, and immorality. 

Read More: 

• The Hunger Games Reaches Another Milestone: Top 10 Censored Books, TIME staff, Sept. 2008

• In a Small Town, a Battle Over a Book, Seth Mydans, The New York Times, Sept. 3, 1989

Bridge to Terabithia

Challenged in 1986 because of the book's use of profanity (Celebrate the Freedom to Read Timeline)