Banned and Challenged Books
(September 21, 2005)
Banned Books Week, observed the last week of September, celebrates the freedom to read. Every year, books in the United States and around the world are challenged. Some of the challenged books are banned, some are not. A challenge is 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. Banned Books Week reminds people not to take intellectual freedom for granted. Here is a list, compiled by Reader Advisor Brandon Kempf, of books that have frequently been banned or challenged in other libraries.
To order any of these titles, contact the library by email, mail or phone. You may also request these titles online through our OPAC. Happy Reading!
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.
RC 57349, BR 10687.
Tom Sawyer's friend young Huck Finn explains the reasons he is running away from home and recounts his exploits floating down the Mississippi River on a raft with Jim, an escaped slave. Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn series. Series Code TOMS. Some strong language.
American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis.
RC 32488.
Ellis's notorious novel portrays a materialistic and desensitized world of the 1980s and coldly describes apocalyptic horror. Patrick Bateman is a 27-year-old New York investment banker whose glitzy exterior conceals an empty life. His facade masks a warped, twisted monster that rapes, tortures, and murders at will. This book contains extreme violence, strong language, and many explicit descriptions of sex. Also available as a descriptive video, DV 529.
Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret by Judy Blume.
RC 37405, BR 7171.
Margaret is lonely after her parents buy a new house in Farbrook, New Jersey. Because she is from the city, the new girls expect her to be more grown up than they are, but Margaret's body has not yet begun to mature and she has never kissed a boy. For grades 4 through 7.
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.
RC 49914, BR 12618.
Eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove, poor, ugly, and black, desperately wants blue eyes, which she thinks would solve all her problems. But instead she is subjected to rejection, violence, and an unwanted pregnancy. Slowly, she begins to descend into madness. Strong language and some explicit descriptions of sex.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
RC 47108, BR 11922.
A satire set in a future technocratic society in which people are rigidly classified by the state and kept happy by a government-administered drug. When two bureaucrats, Lenina and Bernard, travel to a "savage" reservation, they "rescue" a woman and her adult son, abandoned long ago, and return them to civilization. For senior high and older readers.
The Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Peterson.
RC 48732, BR 10864.
Jess finds his biggest rival and best friend in Leslie, a girl who moves to his rural Virginia community from the city. Together they create Terabithia, a secret kingdom in the woods where they reign supreme, until tragedy strikes. Newbery Medal. For grades 5 through 8.
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.
RC 47480, BR 11909.
As Christmas vacation begins, Holden Caulfield recounts his feelings and reactions to flunking out of Pencey, his third prep school. Instead of heading straight home, he wanders around New York City. This account of his adventures conveys his dismay at the adult world. Strong language. For senior high and older readers.
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier.
RC 33593, BR 8680.
A freshman in a parochial high school for boys discovers the devastating consequences of refusing to join in the school's annual fundraising drive. His decision provokes the wrath of school bullies and the revenge of a sadistic teacher. Strong language. For junior and senior high readers.
Crazy by Benjamin Lebert.
BR 13345.
The German teenage author's sixteen-year-old protagonist is repeating the ninth grade, this time in a remedial boarding school. Benni's roommate welcomes him into a group of friends who easily accept his partial paralysis and introduce him to sex and other wild behavior. Explicit descriptions of sex and strong language.
Cujo by Stephen King.
RC 17301, BR 4981.
Cujo is a 200-pound Saint Bernard, the beloved pet of the Joe Cambers family in a small Maine town. One day Cujo pursues a rabbit into a cave and is bitten by a rabid bat. Circumstances conspire to conceal his growing illness until a horrid succession of bloody deaths terrorizes everyone around including the Cambers. Strong language.
Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen.
RC 9529.
Recounts curses on families, creatures, places, and ghosts. Also describes amulets and talismans that protect against evil and misfortune. For grades 6 through 9.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
RC 34963, BR 15332.
Social satire set in the future, when owning or reading books is a crime. Guy Montag, the fireman-hero, becomes a fugitive when he succumbs to temptation. Some strong language.
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers.
RC 29775.
With dreams of college fading, Ritchie Perry, a black youth from Harlem, enlists in the army. He is sent to Vietnam and into a bloody, violent nightmare where he sees desperate heroism and equally desperate cowardice. He struggles to survive racist officers, pitched battles, guerrilla raids, and multiple wounds. Strong language and violence. For high school and older readers.
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes.
RC 33245, BR 333.
The narrator, a mentally impaired man of 32, receives an operation to increase his learning ability. But although his mentality develops at high speed, there is always the possibility of regression. For junior and senior high and older readers.
Fools Crow by James Welch.
RC 25273.
This historical novel focuses on the Lone Eaters, a tribe of Blackfeet in Montana after the Civil War, and shows how misunderstanding, venality, internal dissension, and physical plague wipe them out. The central character is a young brave named White Man's Dog, who, after taking part in a daring horse-robbery, is given a stronger name: Fools Crow. Some strong language and violence.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling.
RC 47260, BR 11879.
On Harry Potter's eleventh birthday, he learns that he is more than an unwanted orphan. The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry recruits him because he has inherent magical abilities. As he purchases his school supplies including robes, wand, and messenger owl, Harry looks forward to attending his new boarding school. For grades 4 through 7. Harry Potter, Book 1. Series Code POH. Also available as a descriptive video, DV 423.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.
RC 57200, BR 15665.
Memoir by African American poet and college professor Maya Angelou. She describes her childhood and adolescent years in rural Arkansas, in St. Louis, and in San Francisco, and the racial and gender hardships she endured. Some descriptions of sex and some violence. Maya Angelou Autobiographies, Book 1. Series Code ANM.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
RC 48388, BR 9480.
With horrifying implications, a group of English boys are wrecked on a desert island and have to establish their own system of government. For senior high and older readers.
Native Son by Richard Wright.
RC 25087.
Classic work shows the plight of victimized blacks fighting against the political and social conditions of Chicago in the 1930s. A frustrated and resentful black man is driven to violence and murder.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.
RC 48515, BR 8851.
A tale of the far-reaching bonds of friendship between two itinerant ranch workers: George, the more levelheaded, and Lennie, more dependent. Their dream of owning a small farm is doomed by Lennie's unintentional overuse of his physical strength and George's honorable attempt to resolve the problem it causes. Some strong language.
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut.
RC 28083, BR 1062.
Based on the firebombing of Dresden in World War 2. The hero survives capture by the Germans to become a rich doctor in Ilium, New York, until he is kidnapped by a flying saucer. Strong language and violence.
Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi.
RC 38888.
Trudi, born in Germany in 1915, is a Zwerg or dwarf. After her troubled mother dies, Trudi lives with her beloved father, helping in his library and learning the stories of the townspeople. She has friends, but her role in the town is shaped by the hidden or blatant disgust she generates in some. As a child Trudi strikes back, but later, working against Hitler's regime, Trudi learns to belong: to initiate, build, and be. Some violence.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
RC 36414, BR 12850.
Scout Finch is an outspoken and literate six-year-old tomboy when she begins her tale of growing up in a small Alabama town with her brother Jem and her attorney father Atticus. The children's intense curiosity about a reclusive neighbor is eclipsed by Atticus's attempt to defend a black man against charges of raping a white woman. Pulitzer Prize winner. For high school and older readers. Also available as a descriptive video, DV 148.
RC 19994, BR 10287.
Deals with a single day, June 16, 1904, in the life of Leopold Bloom, a Dublin advertising salesman. The stream-of-consciousness style and the use of interior monologues expose the personalities of the characters. Strong language and explicit descriptions of sex.