September 18 – 24 is Banned Books Week, which “celebrates the freedom to read and spotlights current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools.” For over 40 years, Banned Books Week has brought people together in “shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.”
Banned Books Week is both a reminder of the unifying power of stories and the divisiveness of censorship, and a call to action for readers across the country to push back against censorship attempts in their communities.
Below is a sampling of books available in our library collection that have been challenged or banned in the United States. Click on the book title to be taken to the eBook.
To learn more about books that have been challenged or banned, visit “Frequently Challenged Books” page from the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom
Fun Home Alison Bechdel
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl: a Novel by Jesse Andrews
Between the World and Me: Notes on the First 150 Years in America by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
The immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
The Autobiography of Malcolm X with the assistance of Alex Haley