Book bans aren’t exactly new, but their scope and frequency certainly seem to have exploded in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, as school systems, teachers, parents, and political activists scramble over the details. of Education. in the united states, from the opening of schools and quarantine protocols across the country to the discussion in class of potentially controversial topics such as systemic racism and prejudice. yet these are all precisely the kind of complex social problems that literature essentially exists to grapple with.
Many of the books that are listed as the most frequently questioned or banned titles (the United States Library Association maintains a fairly extensive database as part of its Office for Intellectual Freedom) have several significant things about them. common. they regularly use difficult or disturbing images to tell complicated stories. they often focus on the experiences of marginalized groups and the discrimination they often face due to their specific identities. several contain complex depictions of sexuality, realistic portrayals of mental illness, self-harm, and even death. for the most part, they are not easy reads. but that’s okay. not everything should be.
You are reading: List of banned books
And as Oscar Wilde once said in The Picture of Dorian Gray: “The books the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.” if one of these titles, or any book that frequently appears on banned, contested, or other lists that warn people to stay away from them for whatever reason, makes us, as readers, feel uncomfortable, complicit, or guilty? maybe we should ask ourselves why.
These are just a few of the most frequently banned books we think everyone should read.
maus by art spiegelman
At this point, you’ve probably already heard of the Tennessee school district that banned the award-winning graphic novel maus by unanimous vote. but here’s hoping that if there’s even the smallest of positives to what is an objectively terrible situation, it’s that it probably means that more people than ever before are now aware of and likely to seek out the story of art spiegleman, a black and white . white caricature depicting the victims of the holocaust as mice and their Nazi oppressors as cats. (It also shows all sorts of other Nazi-enacted atrocities, from gas chambers and forced labor to the murder of babies, and is generally unflinching in how it depicts both the horrors and lasting impact of war.) p >
maus is a difficult read, often uncomfortable, but one that feels more necessary than ever at this time, given the creeping rise of authoritarianism and anti-Semitism around the world. won the pulitzer prize in 1992.
the handmaid’s tale by margaret atwood
Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale has resurfaced in popularity in recent years thanks to a confluence of multiple real-world events: the launch of a prestigious television adaptation on Hulu. Donald Trump’s rise to political prominence and the slow erosion of reproductive freedoms in several states across the country.
Atwood’s story, originally published in 1985, suddenly feels almost unbearably prescient in many ways, as it envisions a United States that is taken over by a totalitarian Christian theocracy and turned into Gilead, a country where the handful of women who are still capable of bearing children are stripped of their names and agency and forced to serve as broodmares for the elite. Its unsettling premise, sexual violence, and strong mistrust of religion have made it a frequent target of critics, but as Atwood herself once stated, nothing happens in The Handmaid’s Tale. that it hasn’t happened to women throughout history, a horrible truth that underscores the necessity of this book’s very existence.
to kill a mockingbird by harper lee
harper lee’s pulitzer prize-winning novel about a white lawyer who defends a black man accused of rape in a small town in alabama has been adapted into both an oscar-winning film and an award-winning play. a tony since its publication in 1960. yet to kill a mockingbird still ranks among the top ten books most frequently banned or questioned by schools and public libraries, according to the wing’s office of intellectual freedom, some sixty-odd years after its publication.
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Lee’s book often draws the ire of many quarters due to its use of racial slurs and its unflinching portrayal of overt racism. It has been criticized for everything from portraying Atticus Finch as some kind of white savior to simply making those who read it uncomfortable. but then again, that is a purpose of literature, to confront us with the things that make us uncomfortable and to hold up a mirror of the worst of ourselves alongside the best of us. And Lee’s story has few equals in that.
the hate you give for angie thomas
Angie Thomas’s first young adult novel, The Hate You Give, was published in 2017, but it was an instant bestseller and garnered rave reviews for its straightforward depiction of the emotional devastation caused for police brutality. . (which is, of course, why so many people instantly disliked him.) The story follows Starr, a black teenager, who witnesses Ella’s friend Khalil De Ella being killed by a white police officer during a traffic stop. As her death becomes a topic of national debate, Starr deals with her grief and her anger by becoming an increasingly public advocate for racial justice, even as she tries to live life in his majority-white school.
a complex depiction of the many facets of a deeply tense and uncomfortable subject, and one that may well help many readers (both young and old) not only understand the causes and potential harm of entrenched prejudices, but that we can do it in our own lives to combat it.
loved by tony morrison
toni morrison’s books are frequent targets of book ban campaigns thanks to their uncompromising portrayal of some of the worst aspects of humanity. Morrison’s first novel, The Bluest Eye, is perhaps the most frequent member of banned book lists thanks to its painful scenes of sexual abuse and incest. But Morrison’s later novel, Beloved recently came under fire as part of the heated debate over how we discuss race and history during Virginia’s 2021 gubernatorial race.
The novel explores the atrocities of slavery from the perspective of Sethe, a woman who was once a slave and is now free, yet cannot escape memories of the horrors she experienced. Morrison’s prose is unflinching in her depiction of everything from sexual assault to the murder of a child, and the terror and trauma that Sethe can’t shake are insidious, visceral things that impact and follow the rest of life. her. given the book’s often horrifying subject matter, it should disturb and baffle those who read it, but we should read it anyway.
thirteen reasons why by jay asher
Teen suicide is the kind of tough subject likely to draw criticism from many quarters, but Jay Asher’s 2007 novel 13 Reasons Why, a book that devoted a total of 228 weeks to new york times bestseller list—achieved the kind of mainstream popularity among young adult readers that guaranteed people would complain about it. particularly after the novel was adapted into a popular netflix series in 2017, one that made several key changes to the source material, including the decision to not only show hannah’s suicide on screen, but also make it much more graphic than in the book.
13 Reasons Why follows the story of clay, a high school boy who receives a box of thirteen pre-recorded cassettes from his classmate hannah baker after she takes her own life. each tape is about one person who hannah says played some role in her decision. is an uncomfortably realistic portrayal of depression, drug use, bullying, sexual assault, and consent, and feels true to the reality of many of the struggles teens must face in their everyday lives.
the kite runner by khaled hosseini
Khaled Hosseini’s award-winning bestseller, The Kite Runner, is a story told from a perspective we don’t often see in mainstream popular fiction, so the fact that it has been repeatedly challenged by those who wish to have
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Having it removed from the curriculum and from school libraries is very discouraging. despite the fact that the kite runner was first published in 2003, it consistently ranks in wing’s top ten list for most frequently questioned books, reaching the top five in 2017 (Most cited reasons for this include the fact that the novel includes sexual violence and is believed to “lead to terrorism” and “promote Islam. Feel free to roll your eyes here.)
The story centers on the unlikely friendship between rich young Afghan Amir and the son of his father’s servant, Hassan. But when Amir essentially abandons Hassan to Afghanistan’s political and ethnic unrest of the 1980s, he spends the next thirty years trying to atone for the mistakes he made against his friend, including returning to Afghanistan to try and save Hassan’s son. , sohrab, of the Taliban. A beautifully harrowing tale of the horrors of betrayal and the hope of redemption, The Kite Runner is riveting, familiar, and strangely hopeful all at once.
looking for alaska by john green
Although John Green’s 2012 novel The Fault In Our Stars seemingly made all the ugly guys cry together, his first book, Looking for Alaska, published in 2005, it is a title that is still frequently questioned today. (Actually, it was the most complained about title in 2015, if you can believe it. I assumed it was due to the recent hulu adaptation, but nope, it didn’t come out until 2019!)
The story of a group of teens at an Alabama coeducational boarding school, Looking for Alaska features a fair amount of smoking, drinking, cursing and awkward sex. A fairly traditional coming-of-age saga, the book grapples with themes such as grief, hope, the meaning of life, and how we all must learn to go on living in the face of tragedy. The novel won the 2006 Michael L. prinz award from the american library association.
jeanette wall’s glass castle
jeannette walls the glass castle is a harrowing and emotional read, a memoir that includes stories from her dysfunctional childhood featuring everything from domestic abuse, alcoholism, and mental illness, to the many days. the current hardships that a life of absolute misery can cause. Set in Appalachia, the story is an unflinching look at a struggling section of the country that much of America is willing to ignore, and though the book has been criticized for its strong language and crude depictions of various forms of abuse.
however, the glass castle is ultimately a story of hope and perseverance, and should be celebrated as such.
not all boys are blue by george johnson
All Boys Aren’t Blue by George Johnson is a memoir/manifesto examining black masculinity and queer sexuality. Her collection of essays largely follows Johnson’s journey of growing up as a queer black man in New Jersey and Virginia, wrestling with many heavy and difficult issues from consent and sexual agency to institutional violence. however, there is also a lot of joy and a special focus on the power of being seen and supported by oneself to change lives and communities.
All Boys Are Not Blue has been removed from school libraries in at least ten states and is most frequently criticized for its allegedly sexually explicit content, a complaint against which the author himself has refused.
lacy baugher milas is the book editor for paste magazine, but she loves learning about all kinds of pop culture. you can find her on twitter @lacymb.