Guides: Library Displays: Banned Books Week 9/2021

Banned Books Week

Starting Friday, September 17, 2021, we will be featuring items from our collection in recognition of the American Library Association (ALA)'s annual Banned Books Week, held this year from September 26 to October 2, 2021. The titles featured have all been targeted for restriction or removal in libraries and schools.

Below you will find frequently challenged books that appear in either the top-ten most challenged books for the years 2019 and 2020, or appear in all-time lists of most challenged books. The entries below also include the reasons those titles were challenged according to ALA records.

1984 by George Orwell
Call Number: PR6029 .R8 N5 1977
Publication Date: 1977
Reasons it has been challenged include: allegations of "pro-communist" positions, political themes, and sexual content.
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Call Number: PS3561 .N68 S4 1986
Publication Date: 1987
Reasons it has been challenged include: sexual content, offensive language, and "negative attitudes."
And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson; Peter Parnell; Henry Cole (Illustrator)
Call Number: Juvenile Collection PZ10.3 .R414 T36 2005
Publication Date: 2015
Reasons it has been challenged include: featuring a same-sex relationship, concerns over appropriateness for school-aged children, "anti-family values," political viewpoints, and for allegedly "promoting a homosexual agenda."
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Call Number: PR6029 .R8 A63 1995
Publication Date: 1996
Reasons it has been challenged include: allegations of "pro-communist" dogma, indecency, and "controversial" political ideology.
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Call Number: PS3511 .A86 A86314 1967
Publication Date: 1967
Reasons it has been challenged include: references to "controversial" acts, offensive language, and "blasphemous" content .
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Call Number: PS3563 .O8749 B58 2000
Publication Date: 1993
Reasons it has been challenged include: sexual content, depictions of child abuse, "controversial issues," and violence.
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
Call Number: PS3537 .A426 C3
Publication Date: 1951
Reasons it has been challenged include: offensive language and profanity, concerns over it "undermining morality," sexual content, violence, and "blasphemous" content.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Call Number: PR6058 .A245 C87 2003
Publication Date: 2004
Reasons it has been challenged include: offensive language and profanity, atheism, concerns from religious viewpoints, and potential unsuitability for intended age group.
George by Alex Gino
Call Number: Juvenile Collection PZ7.1 .G566 G46 2015
Publication Date: 2015
Reasons it has been challenged include: focus on a transgender character, LGBTQIA+ content, discussion of sexuality and sexual references, allegations of conflict with "family values" and "religious viewpoints," and age appropriateness for young children.
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Call Number: ONLINE
Publication Date: 1998
Reasons it has been challenged include: profanity, vulgar themes, sexual content, and political themes.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling; Mary GrandPré (Illustrator)
Call Number: PZ7.R79835 H37 1998
Publication Date: 1999
The entire series has been targeted by challenges.
Reasons it has been challenged include: magic, witchcraft, and the occult; alleged satanism, inclusion of "actual curses and spells", violence, "nefarious and immoral" character actions, and alleged "anti-family and anti-religious" values.
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas; Nikki Giovanni (Foreword by)
Call Number: Young Adult PZ7.1.T448 H38 2017
Publication Date: 2017
Reasons it has been challenged include: allegations of promoting an "anti-police" message, offensive language and profanity, drug use, and sexual references.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Call Number: PS3608 .O832 K58 2003
Publication Date: 2007
Reasons it has been challenged include: sexual violence, concerns about religious viewpoints, and concerns that it would "lead to terrorism" and "promote Islam."
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou; Oprah Winfrey (Foreword by)
Call Number: PS3551 .N464 Z466 1969
Publication Date: 2009
Reasons it has been challenged include: racist themes, homosexuality, offensive language, sexual content, and violence.
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov; Martin Amis (Introduction by)
Call Number: PG3476 .N3 L6
Publication Date: 1993
Reasons it has been challenged include: obscenity, sexual content, inappropriate sexual themes, and its unsuitability for minors.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding; Lois Lowry (Foreword by)
Call Number: PR6013 .O35 L6 2016
Publication Date: 2016
Reasons it has been challenged include: violence, concerns of age-appropriateness for intended audience, racist content, sexual content, and "negative moral implications."
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Call Number: PS3537 .T324 O2 1937A
Publication Date: 1963
Reasons it has been challenged include: racist slurs and stereotypes, profanity and vulgar language, sexual content, negative portrayals of the developmentally disabled, "blasphemous" language, violence, "depressing and immoral" themes, and the author's personal political views.
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
Call Number: PS3561 .E667 O61 1962
Publication Date: 1963
Reasons it has been challenged include: sexual content, "glorifying criminal activity," graphic violence, morbid content, and promoting "secular humanism."
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Call Number: PN6747 .S245 P4713 2003
Publication Date: 2004
Reasons it has been challenged include: depictions of gambling, offensive language, racial insensitivity, graphic violence, and political themes.
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Call Number: PS3572.O5 S6 2008
Publication Date: 2008
Reasons it has been challenged include: violence, profanity, explicit and inappropriate sexual content, "blasphemous" language, torture, and negative depictions of women.
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds; Ibram X. Kendi
Call Number: Young Adult E184.A1 R49 2020
Publication Date: 2020
Reasons it has been challenged include: claims of "selective storytelling" regarding incidents depicted, allegations that it does not encompass racism against all peoples, and criticism for the authors' political views and public statements.
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Call Number: Young Adult PZ7 .A8155 T45 2007
Publication Date: 2007
Reasons it has been challenged include: suicide, drug and alcohol use, mature themes, and sexual content.
This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki (Illustrator); Mariko Tamaki
Call Number: PN6727 .T363 T55 2014
Publication Date: 2014
Reasons it has been challenged include: sexual content, profanity, violence, gambling, underage drinking, religious viewpoints, and LGBTQIA+ characters.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Call Number: PS3562 .E352 T6
Publication Date: 1960
Reasons it has been challenged include: racial slurs and allegations of racism, sexual themes, violence, a "white savior" protagonist, racial themes, and "objectional values."
Banned Books by Marcia Amidon Lusted (Editor)
Call Number: Z658 .U5 B35 2018
Publication Date: 2017
Beyond Banned Books by Kristin Pekoll
Call Number: ONLINE
Publication Date: 2019
Critical Insights: Censored & Banned Literature by Robert C. Evans (Editor)
Call Number: ONLINE
Publication Date: 2019

Library Displays

Banned Books Week

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