As journalists, it's our job to seek out the truth even when it's uncomfortable. We value diverse perspectives, are open to new ideas and respect intellectual freedom. So it should come as no surprise that the thought of banning a book would make us riled.
What happens when a book is challenged in school boards and public libraries? Titles can be removed from school curriculums or library shelves. Most public schools and libraries have boards made up of elected officials or members appointed by elected officials. It is by the power of these officials that a book can go from challenged to banned in a school district or public library. Even if it happens only once, it is one time too many.
Sure, there is the argument that we can bypass places such as public libraries and purchase a book. But that is true only for those with the financial resources to do that. For many, particularly children and young adults, school and public libraries are the only means to access literature.
With that in mind, USA TODAY staff looked at challenged and banned books and chose those that are meaningful to them. In the books' defense, we've written why they deserve a place in our schools, libraries and society.
Banned books explained:Book bans are on the rise. What are the most banned books and why?
Check out: USA TODAY's weekly Best-selling Booklist
We’re failing young queer readers, specifically Black and young people of color, if a book like activist George M. Johnson’s “All Boys Aren’t Blue” stays on banned-book lists. Published in 2020, this memoir-manifesto follows the author’s journey of growing up a queer Black person and is an indispensable piece of literature for high school readers. Johnson explores their childhood, adolescence and college years while revisiting traumatic and transformative experiences and weaves in important statistics about the LGBTQ community. Johnson candidly – and some might think, explicitly – explores their sexuality and unpacks their experiences with sexual assault in a way that’s necessary for readers to heal. The American Library Association listed the book No. 3 on its list of the 10 most-challenged books of 2021. Both a primer for teens looking to be allies to the LGBTQ community and a YA book meant to make young queer readers feel seen, Johnson’s “All Boys Aren’t Blue” is a force to be reckoned with. – Pamela Avila
Why do we tell teens to shave their legs if we resent having been told to ourselves? This question, among so many others, has been haunting me since I read “Gender Queer,” Maia Kobabe’s autobiographical graphic novel that explores the author's experience coming out as nonbinary and asexual. Through the novel, Kobabe vividly unravels small personal moments common to so many young people, exploring the discomfort inherent in everyday experiences like routine Pap smears. Kobabe raises a lot of excellent questions about the social mores of gender and the avidity with which society feels compelled to assign gender even though it is unique to individuals. Reading “Gender Queer” for the first time was like experiencing a jolt of adrenaline. It’s a book about Kobabe’s journey, but it allowed me to reframe mine, offering me the space to excavate my past and challenge my own self-concept. “Gender Queer” encourages growth and self-acceptance, and its removal from libraries is a huge disservice to teens. – Madison Durham
One of the most challenged books in the country is this award-winning, bestselling middle-grade novel. Since the book’s release in 2017, it has been no stranger to controversy. The book’s critics say there’s too much sex and profanity. Some said it breeds contempt for police. The crux of the story, however, is systemic racism. Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter loses her best friend, Khalil, after he is shot and killed by a police officer. It’s a familiar story: Khalil, a Black kid, was unarmed when the white officer shot him. Khalil’s death becomes national news. Protests ensue. And a narrative forms, painting Khalil as a troublemaker and drug lord. Starr is caught between two worlds: her poor neighborhood and the rich prep school she attends. It’s the same story many Black children have lived. After Khalil’s death, Starr finds her voice of activism and pride in her Black identity. The banning of Thomas’ book is another reminder many people are uncomfortable with the message of the Black Lives Matter movement. – Tracee Herbaugh
Sixteen-year-old Simon Spier has a crush on an anonymous gay classmate who goes by the name Blue online, and with whom he has been exchanging increasingly flirtatious emails. One problem: Neither knows the other’s real identity. Another problem: Simon is still closeted. But when a nosey classmate finds Simon’s emails and threatens to out him, cautious Simon needs to step outside his comfort zone before he’s pushed out. What’s so welcome about Albertalli’s tale of high school high jinks, secret crushes and fraught friend-group dynamics is how ordinary and familiar it is. This sweet and funny high school story is light on trauma and big on laughs, and a balm to queer readers who want to see themselves reflected in happy coming-out stories. (It also has a rather good film adaptation, “Love, Simon,” starring Nick Robinson and Jennifer Garner.) – Barbara VanDenburgh
This is one of the most hauntingly, mind-bendingly beautiful books I've ever read. The surreal novel weaves two parallel plots that meld music and metaphysics, time and fate, and loss and alienation as it follows the young Kafka Tamura, who is fleeing an Oedipal curse, and Satoru Nakata, an old man with a knack for talking to cats. "Kafka on the Shore" is an imaginative literary puzzle sure to challenge students and their conceptions of what a novel could, or should, be. Chock-full of surreal happenings, nothing is clearly defined in this book. Murakami leaves the story open-ended for readers, giving them space to decide what to draw from it – a level of freedom they may not often be afforded when dissecting more “classic” novels typically included in curriculums. In a setting where students are often instructed to find "the right answer," "Kafka on the Shore" is a breath of fresh air that can stretch their imaginations. – Christine Fernando
When I was 13 years old, I snuck into my sister’s room and grabbed a copy of "Twilight." It was just before the "Breaking Dawn – Part 1" movie release, and "Twilight" fever had hit my school. The story of Bella, Edward, vampires and forbidden love features all the hallmarks of coming-of-age literature and introduced me to themes I hadn’t seen in media yet. "Twilight" brought me together with my peers to talk about reading, giving me new worlds to explore and new friends to talk about them with. Banning "Twilight" severely limits the opportunity for students to take reading into their own hands and enjoy a coming-of-age story full of fantasy and imagination. – Chris Panella
For young women struggling with mental health struggles, the loss of a loved one, the loss of innocence and outdated expectations that often come with growing up in a Latino household, Sanchez’s 2017 YA novel “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter” can be a lifeline. In August, Madison County Schools in Mississippi removed 10 books from general library circulation, including Sanchez’s. High school is a tough time, and young people in particular pick up a book to escape reality or to make sense of the changing world around them – reading makes them feel safe enough to express how they’re feeling. And making a book like Sanchez’s inaccessible hinders the representation young Latino readers need. – Avila
Odysseus’ 10-year journey after the Trojan War back home to Ithaca to his wife, Penelope, and son, Telemachus, has a lot going on – a lot dark going on. Witches, slavery, tricks, betrayal, Cyclopses, grim and gory deaths, cannibal giants, varied monsters, murderous guests and mass slaughter all feature in the epic (in the original sense) tale from the eighth century BCE. It’s a wild ride with bad role models, and there couldn’t be a more classic example of the Books by Dead White Men vein of literature. That being said: “The Odyssey,” both the book itself and the themes it explores, are so deeply woven into the fabric of our modern culture that the name itself is a genre. Knowing "The Odyssey" is like getting a peek into the source code of innumerable (truly) works of literature spanning 28 centuries, giving any reader a deeper, more nuanced understanding of not just countless works of art but of culture itself. (And as it happens, it’s a fantastic, gripping story that’s a joy to read in its own right.) – Jennifer Ernst Beaudry
It's funny that "Speak" is so challenged, considering I was in high school when I read it. Apparently, it "exposes children to immorality" – reasoning you don't know whether to laugh or cry at. Adults who think teenagers aren't already exposed to everything probably don't remember what it was like being a teenager. Sexual assault, unhappy families and the nuances of high school life are real-world issues that teens are already aware of. Kids need books that start difficult conversations, that demonstrate the importance of using your voice and having someone who listens, that show you can rise above adversity. "Speak" is beautiful in its spare prose and simplicity. Many can relate to, and laugh with, Melinda's dry humor and cynical voice. It's a necessary story that gives permission to students whose voices are silenced to take up space – and speak. – Nusrat Sultana
I was in eighth grade when the Columbine shooting happened, back when the concept of a school shooting was new. Children and teens today live in a very different reality, with active shooter drills and school shootings as part of their everyday life and consciousness. Parents have challenged this book because of its depictions of a school shooting; the bullying and romantic partner violence that led up to it; and the trauma and suicides that came after. Children are bullied. Teenagers are in abusive relationships. They get pregnant and grapple with decisions about abortion. Adolescents struggle to define their sexuality. Young people contemplate suicide and kill themselves. Banning books about these topics doesn’t make them cease to exist. The story, so beautifully told, touches on all of these topics because these are the traumas teens battle, some of which have directly contributed to violence in schools. If we’re unwilling to let young people read about, think about, process and dissect the very traumas they experience all around them, how can ever hope to solve these problems? – Katie Wedell
I read “Blubber” in fifth grade, and it's the most pivotal book of my youth. The book’s main character is a young fifth grader, Jill, who joins the more popular kids in the class to ostracize Linda, a girl nicknamed Blubber because of her size. The main reason the book has been banned is because nothing happens to Jill and her fellow bullies. That is precisely why I needed this book. In the fifth grade, I was Linda. “Blubber” was inspired by an incident in the author’s daughter’s own fifth grade class, and what Blume saw was not the exception but often the rule. In real life, bullies often get away with their behavior. While the similarity between myself and Blubber stung, it also provided solace. I was not alone. This was not something that happened only to me. Others knew how I felt. And that meant everything. It is always satisfying to read stories with happy endings, but it is just as important to read ones that don’t. Because in life, there are bullies and unresolved endings, and that is something that every fifth grader should know. – Mary Cadden
Golding uses preteen boys to show readers how a group of people will mistreat those they simply don’t like and even beat a child to death out of fear arising from a conspiracy theory. The use of boys as main characters may make it easier for some to understand the forces that can erode a society, or may make readers feel alarmed about the “end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart.” Either way, this book can prompt young readers think deeply about governance and societal leadership in a way that will inform them throughout their lives. – Erin Mansfield
"Of Mice and Men" revolves around the friendship between two migrant workers during the Great Depression. I remember reading the book for my high school English class and thinking about loneliness as well as companionship. The two protagonists are brought together by a shared dream of purchasing land that's eventually shattered by the predatory social environment for migrant workers at that time. With this book, school-age readers have the opportunity to examine the conflict between reality and the American dream, in addition to human friendships. – Rayna Song
Silverstein’s collections of poetic nonsense was a classic on our living room bookshelf. His fantastical black-and-white sketches begged a wild imagination and a healthy sense of humor. They posed impossible scenarios, built as much for wordplay as they were for plot. "A Light in the Attic" has been banned in some schools over claims it promotes disrespect and violence. To argue this is to argue that children are unable to understand hyperbole. I am a deep believer that adolescent minds should be taken seriously, that they always understand more than we think and that they grow best when we overestimate them. The greatest children’s authors know this. I want the next generation to learn just as I did from Silverstein the joy of twisting words in different ways, of laughing at themselves, and of finding poetry and humor in everyday life. – Anna Kaufman
Rowell’s novel captures what it means to be a misfit teenage girl in a world that wants to cast you aside. As a teenager, this book made me feel seen as it keys into the nuances of being an outcast while coming into your own. This book has been banned for coarse language and sexuality, but it covers difficult topics such as racism, domestic abuse and body image that are enlightening for teen and adult readers alike. With high school years being a turbulent time for many, "Eleanor & Park" provides a much-needed perspective on surviving your teenage years in the face of adversity. – Samantha Mangino
I revisited “Two Boys Kissing” almost 10 years after first reading it, and – in the best possible way – it was more of a gut-punch than I'd recalled. The narration by a Greek chorus of men who died of AIDS is an emotional reminder of the strong bonds of chosen family. This book feels especially timely as progress on LGBTQ rights faces renewed political backlash and as monkeypox spreads mainly through our community. Reading “Two Boys Kissing” today shows how much has changed in the past decade while highlighting what work there still is to be done – and what we may be in danger of losing if we become complacent about our progress. The young characters remind us what is at stake and who most needs to hear these stories and feel a community’s love today. – Zach Wichter
As this book follows a Black family and a white family discussing the police shooting of a Black man, its first page reads, “the grown-ups didn’t think the kids knew about it.” Amid nationwide conversations about race, many parents assume children are in the dark or unable to have meaningful discussions about racism. But children hear the murmurings and have questions. Shutting those down means lost opportunities for learning. A growing body of research shows children begin to notice race years before adults want to talk about it with them. Delaying these conversations and ignoring the realities of racism could make children more susceptible to racist beliefs. After all, it’s the adult’s responsibility to help children make sense of their social world. “Something Happened” approaches these conversations with care and includes child-friendly discussion guides curated by child psychologists to help encourage vital parent-child conversations about race. – Fernando
Every person I’ve spoken to who read “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” when they were in high school remembers it as a teenagehood-defining book. Chbosky writes beautifully and timelessly from the mind of high school freshman Charlie, an introvert who gets taken under the wing of a group of upperclassmen and learns the value of letting others into his life. Some of the content throughout can be intense or inappropriate for younger readers – topics include alcohol, drugs, sex, abortion, mental health struggles, suicide and sexual abuse. But these are all things high schoolers can and often do experience, and blocking them from a story that explores them in a thoughtful, empathetic way doesn’t do anyone any good. More, it holds teenage readers back from discovering a story that may guide them through a tumultuous period. Years later, I count myself one of the lucky many to have found this story when I did. – Hannah Yasharoff
Angelou’s beautifully written autobiographical novel touches on two important and painful subjects that often get it banned from schools: rape and racism. While they may not be the most comfortable topics, they’re still as prevalent in 2022 as they were in 1969, when the book was published. It features some graphic depictions, but the sad truth is these topics are not new to many young adults, and reading about Angelou’s healing journey is instrumental in letting them know they’re not alone. Simply banning a book that depicts rape and racism doesn’t shield readers from facing them in their lives; it just removes another resource that may help them move forward. – Kate Ellsworth
There are some novels that read like poetry, and "The House on Mango Street" is on that list. Cisneros uses short vignettes to show key moments in the life of Esperanza, a 12-year-old Latina girl growing up in Chicago, poised in the awkward time between childhood and adolescence. The writing is truly lovely, and the use of vignettes creates a feeling of being inside someone’s memories. Through Esperanza, Cisneros creates a portrait of a community, both the love and support as well as the restrictive and painful aspects. The latter includes moments of domestic and sexual abuse, and as Esperanza ages within the novel, her understanding and descriptions of those situations become more explicit, although never graphic. It is easy to understand why the book has won multiple awards, as Cisneros plays with narrative form and storytelling, and questions what it means to belong in a fascinating and wonderful way. – Rebecca Viser
Spiegelman's semi-autobiographical novel about his parents' experiences in Auschwitz and his family's subsequent lifelong traumas is a masterpiece of Holocaust literature and should be essential to all school-age readers. Though "Maus" is not a children's book, its graphic medium and depiction of Jews and Germans as mice and cats makes the topic more approachable for younger readers still trying to get their heads around the unfathomable historical horror. The only way to avoid a second Holocaust is to teach the first. –VanDenburgh
American public school reading curriculum is heavily white. I can attest to that with my own experience: In my 12 years as a student in American public schools, I was assigned only one novel by an African American writer, and that was Taylor’s Newbery Medal-winning story of the Logan family, sharecroppers in rural Mississippi whose love for one another helps them survive the cruelties of the Jim Crow South. I grew up a pretty privileged white kid with no personal experience of racism, and I can keenly recall how hot I burned with the unfairness of it reading “Roll of Thunder” for the first time in the second grade. If we want to create more anti-racists, we need to assign more diverse books in schools, and “Roll of Thunder” is still a great place for young readers to start. – VanDenburgh
I first read it in middle school in Phoenix, only a few years after my family had escaped communist Vietnam in 1975. I checked it out of my school library because of the title and was ready for enchanted spiders and pigs like in “Charlotte's Web” by E.B. White. Instead, in Orwell’s attack on the Soviet Union, I recognized all too well what my family was hearing from relatives who hadn’t been able to flee the fall of Saigon. Daily indoctrination classes, South Vietnamese officers sent to reeducation camps and their homes confiscated and given to communist officers. Those who could still afford radios risked imprisonment to listen to Voice of America because you couldn’t believe the state-run media. Orwell wrote “Animal Farm” because he wanted to tell the story of the Russian Revolution in a way anyone could understand. And children everywhere need to. – Thuan Le Elston
A 2019 study revealed that about 3% of American teens (ages 13 to 17) identify as transgender or gender-nonconforming. In this book, Kuklin interviews six trans teens about their childhoods, their coming-out experiences and where they are today. It brings hope to trans teens that there is a future for them, and it provides a clear look into their minds for loved ones to truly understand their points of view. Despite this book receiving many awards, it was in the top 10 Most Challenged Books lists for 2015 and 2019 for “its effect on any young people who would read it.” To the contrary, this book provides a unique perspective on gender and sexuality to help teens learn about themselves from other people their age. I believe this book does a great service to the young LGBTQ community. – Melissa Rorech
I first read the story of Junior as he leaves his school on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington for an all-white school during Banned Books Week in middle school. As Junior struggles to find his place in a school where the only other Indian is the mascot, he grapples with generational poverty and discrimination. While I cannot fully understand Junior’s experience, I, as a person of color at an extremely white school, saw myself in his battle to explore identity in an environment that seeks to erase it. While the classroom offered a whitewashed, sanitized reality of Native Americans’ experiences, this book offered me a glimpse into the systemic oppression Native communities have faced since colonization. It shows tribes as part of the current fabric of our nation rather than merely part of history. And it examines a dimension of diversity that’s often forgotten: disability. In the hands of a trusted teacher who can guide students through difficult conversations, this story has the power to push readers into uncomfortable but important spaces and allow students whose experiences are often ignored in classrooms to be seen – all through the lens of an uproariously funny teen. – Fernando
It’s fun to be scared. Granted, in controlled environments – movie theaters, haunted houses, or between the covers of a book. Or in the case of Stine’s beloved horror series, dozens of books starring a bevy of spooky frights: werewolves, ghosts, haunted Halloween masks and even an evil ventriloquist's dummy. These books have long been challenged in school libraries for being too scary, but those who object clearly don’t remember what it was like to be a kid with a vivid imagination. In a world so full of real horrors, the pretend ones offer escape and catharsis. Besides, if my generation could survive the “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” illustrations, what possible danger could a few “Goosebumps” books be? – VanDenburgh
Farm boy Jess Aarons and imaginative, bright-eyed new girl Leslie Burke become friends and create Terabithia, a fantasy kingdom in the woods. Inspired bythe magic they brought to that wooded glade, I once made my own Terabithia in a circle of tall trees in my backyard while playing outside with my friends. But (spoiler alert) after Leslie fell to her death when the rope they used to swing to Terabithia snapped, I was shocked. I didn’t know then that Leslie’s death and Jess’ experience of it would feel much like how my own loss would feel in the many years to come – random and senseless. Seeing Jess in the aftermath of Leslie’s death prepared many of us for what loss would feel like, the unsparing pendulum swinging between the good days and the bad. Their story also taught me the power of joyful imagination and creativity, that people are complicated (even the bullies) and that, despite the devastating reality of death, there is hope for life after loss. – Fernando
Few classic sci-fi novels bear a more direct resemblance to modern times than "Brave New World." Huxley explores a future in which the government’s obsessive need for economic growth creates an endless consumerist cycle and a society divided into a rigid caste system that separates people by jobs, intelligence and appearance. The world is painted as a utopia but only because its citizens are kept complacent by entertainment and mood-altering drugs. They believe they receive everything they want, but their places in society have been carefully curated by the government (and cloning technology). There’s no room to be an individual in Huxley’s futuristic England, and anyone who tries is punished. Consumerism. Prejudice. Happiness above truth. These are all things we continue to grapple with as a modern, global society. It’s as if Huxley traveled through time to 2021 before writing his novel. – Joanna Nelius
“Why would anyone want to ban ‘Are You There God’?” my sixth grade daughter asked. “It’s my favorite book.” Grace is 11, the same age I was when I read Blume’s classic novel – only it was too new to be called a “classic” back then – about preteen girls grappling with puberty (breasts and periods, anyone?), religion and sexuality. As with Grace today, it was my favorite book then. I found comfort and familiarity in Margaret, her friends and her conversations with God. Their world was my world, and Blume paints an unvarnished picture of what life is like for maturing girls. Those frank discussions of sensitive topics – often challenging for tweens and adults alike – are why girls love the book and adults challenge it. And why this mom is thrilled that it’s still one sixth graders reach for and cherish, a generation later. – Kristen DelGuzzi
Twenty years ago, a school board member in small-town South Carolina checked out Salinger's work from the high school libraries in his district. He planned to pay for the copies instead of returning them, he told the local newspaper. He didn't want students to read the “filthy, filthy" book and said the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, was a poor role model. He already had tried once to ban it. His second attempt failed as well – though it wasn’t part of any curriculum. When I agreed to write about "The Catcher in the Rye" as part of this year’s Banned Book Week, I had no idea that the most infamous protest against it happened at my high school. Or that it played out when I was a sophomore, only a few years younger than the fictional Caulfield, in the throws of the kind of angst and ennui that defined Salinger’s prose. I didn’t read it until my mid-20s. Afterward, I realized I’d missed the moment. My rebellious years were behind me and I’d forgotten how isolating they could be. How much I could have used a book like that at the time. Finally, learning why it had been kept from me has reignited some of that disquiet. It’s not lost on me that old men who think they know best and stand in the way of students reading great literature are exactly the sort of people Caulfield railed against. So let me now be the proverbial catcher for the next generation: Kids, read it all. Especially the ones The Man tells you not to. – Cara Kelly
When I first read “Persepolis” in college, I was immediately enchanted with the punk rock protagonist of the graphic memoir. I never lived through the Islamic Revolution in Iran, but to see Satrapi depict how the revolution disrupted people, families and communities has always stuck with me. I’m very much a supporter of women and girls who like to talk back, as Beyonce once sang, and who challenge the status quo. I’m not sure how anyone can read “Persepolis” and not be touched by how loving Satrapi’s family is even when they fear for her safety. Satrapi showed us what life was like as a young, rebellious woman growing up in Iran during the 1980s. For those who found a way to survive, they lived life as best they could. And like so many other young women coming of age, Satrapi had sex (gasp!) and cursed and used drugs. Experimenting is what young people do. It’s an insult to her vulnerability that some have tried to ban her book. – Mabinty Quarshie
I first read "The Glass Castle" on assignment as a rookie reporter in my college town. The memoir had been selected by the university and county library as a summer book. It was an appropriate choice for two institutions little more than 100 miles from Welch, West Virginia, the closest thing the author has to a hometown. Many of the issues Walls faced as a kid are endemic to the area: poverty, substance abuse, violence. She tackled them head-on – so much so that her detailed descriptions have been used as fodder to ban the book from school curriculums. That shortsightedness misses how masterfully Walls infuses the truth about her problematic childhood with a sense of pride and perseverance. As a reporter in the Appalachian mountains, I knew kids there and across America were suffering the same social ills (and still do, made worse by the opioid epidemic, COVID-19 and financial downturns). Walls' writing tells them that they shouldn’t be ashamed of their circumstances and the decisions of adults around them, and that they don’t have to carry the stigma of poverty or abuse. I can think of few more meaningful messages. Save, maybe, the one she inscribed in my copy: “Just tell the truth!” – Kelly
This was among the first books I read with a neurodiverse character at its core. Instead of letting Christopher sit on the periphery, Haddon brings the reader into Christopher’s perception of the world by writing the text in ways that make it more representative of his lived experience. The novel directly shows how Christopher perceives things, including how signs at a busy airport become overwhelming walls of text. This allows Haddon to bring into question whether what most people think of as “normal” is actually better. Christopher’s world is more compassionate and empathetic toward animals, including his pet rat, Toby, and the dog whose mysterious death he sets out to solve. Aside from being a phenomenal bildungsroman, the novel stands the test of time. I read it first as a teenager, and again in my senior year of college. Both times I walked away feeling as though I’d learned more than you’d think a fictional book could ever teach. – Lindsey Vickers
The Vietnam War may have started more than 60 years ago, but that doesn't make the war stories of "The Things They Carried" any less relevant for young readers today. It's not an easy read – but that's the point. Learning about the day-to-day struggles soldiers have to endure is not supposed to be easy. It's supposed to be uncomfortable. It's supposed to be vulgar, explicit, and confusing because that's exactly what soldiers face. The novel provides an unfiltered view of war that vastly contrasted the way people felt about World War II. It represents a pivotal point in history and mirrors the public sentiment of the ’70s when people stopped romanticizing war and started critically examining why we go to war and how it affects those who fight. This book presents a much-needed glimpse into the real lives of soldiers, and while it may not be a feel-good read, it’s a necessary one. – Ellsworth
The same reason as to why “The Golden Compass” was banned is the reason it should be a must-read. The novel is often described as the antithesis of “The Chronicles of Narnia,” which is known for its Christian allegories, because of its supposed message of atheism. Pullman’s first book in "His Dark Materials" fantasy trilogy pushes the boundaries with young characters seeing through the lies of organized religion (in this case the Magisterium) and eventually killing “God” himself. Regardless of the readers’ religion, it’s important for children to learn to question any and all institutions. Through a more contemporary lens, readers will surely appreciate Pullman’s themes even if they don’t agree with his conclusions. – Josh Rivera
Motherhood in the U.S. has never been easy. We are a nation that reveres motherhood without providing the resources moms need to thrive. Just look at how many mothers suffered during the coronavirus pandemic. Now imagine the trauma of being an enslaved Black mother who doesn’t even control her own body, much less her children's. “Beloved” shows us the impossible choices Black mothers were forced to make during slavery. Who could blame Sethe, the protagonist, for doing anything to prevent her children from being enslaved – even to the point of death? I certainly can’t. Slavery has never been pretty, and it never will be. There are moments of incredible pain and violence inflicted upon Black men and women in “Beloved.” We can’t look away from these horrors because a few people refuse to accept that racism was a fundamental part of U.S. history. Holding up the nation’s sins to our faces was a heroic choice Morrison made in her writing. And we were all the better for it. – Quarshie
When the school board in Biloxi, Mississippi, argued "To Kill a Mockingbird" should be kept out of the classroom in 2017 because it makes people "uncomfortable,” they actually nailed the best reason to keep it on the shelves. Everything in the book is uncomfortable, and not because it accurately describes overt racism in sometimes noxious language. It’s uncomfortable because it holds up a mirror to our present: the ease with which neighbors will embrace lies and willingly fall in with a mob; a legal system working overtime to send a Black man to prison; how fear informs our uninformed view of the mentally ill; and the brutal dividing line between the poor and the privileged. This is a provocative book, not a perfect one. But the shortcomings of 1930s race, society and language it depicts which so distress critics – and made the Biloxi school board so uncomfortable – are not failings of the author’s words. They are the continued failings of our world. Now is not the time to look away. – Patricia Beall
Winner of the Man Booker Prize, "The God of Small Things" focuses on twins and their family in Kerala, India. Roy explores how her characters’ lives – both past and present – are shaped by their social, political, religious and environmental surroundings. She provides readers with an insightful look into India’s colonial history, discriminatory caste system and the rise of the Communist Party in the nation in the late ’60s while challenging notions of forbidden love to present a complex portrait of an era and its societal consequences years later. It's an important read for students to understand the legacy of colonialism and the devastating impacts of discrimination. – Grace Hauck
When Johnny Cade implores Ponyboy Curtis to “stay gold,” it’s more than a wish from a dying friend. It’s a prayer of sorts to be carried throughout life, an adage to turn to when we need to offer encouragement or uplift ourselves. That line, taken from Robert Frost’s poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” is the moral centerpiece of Hinton’s “The Outsiders” and its study of innocence lost. Pitting the blue-collar “Greasers” against the wealthy “Socs” is a frequently employed trope, but the melancholy that pervades Hinton’s debut novel (which she wrote in high school!) resonates beyond a seemingly simplistic setup of contrasting socioeconomic status. Some find the murder in the book – Johnny and Ponyboy get jumped by the Socs and Johnny knifes one in self-defense – unsuitable for teen readers. But when Johnny later tries to rescue some schoolchildren from a burning church (and dies from his injuries), the point is made. Golden is eternal. – Melissa Ruggieri
Because of needed context, I wouldn’t read it before “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” But “Tom” was a fling; “Huck” still holds my hand when I write. I can’t remember when I first read them, but English is my second language, and both helped me learn not only how English has changed but also how America has changed. When I met Huck, I heard only the boy’s voice and saw only what he understood. Upon rereading and realizing what Jim had been saying all along, I entered another universe through the eyes of a Black enslaved man, ripped from his family and fighting through his fear to survive. I never forgot how Twain gave depth to such different voices in “Huck.” He helped me write and rewrite my own novel. Keep “Huck,” for its teaching mechanics as well as its wise heart. – Elston
In a time in which we consider ourselves forward thinkers, it is shocking to still consider any conversation revolving around sex taboo. "50 Shades" is one of the most well-known and controversial erotica novels, but there are a vast number of authors trying to broach the subject, many worrying their writing is good only behind closed doors. In writing "50 Shades," James gives those writers a voice – those that have been waiting for the right moment to share their deepest, darkest desires with the world. It is necessary to normalize thoughts about sex and not slap tape across our lips to keep from expressing our tastes in the bedroom. – Nishka Dhawan
The world would be a poorer place without Walker’s “The Color Purple.” Taking inspiration from her literary foremother Zora Neale Hurston, Walker centers on Southern Black women, who are all too often misrepresented in American culture. I was a little girl when I first picked up “The Color Purple” but it would take until I was an adult to fully comprehend the courage it took for Celie to let go of all the oppressive teachings she internalized and find her own freedom. Oftentimes, what people call “controversial” in literature is simply an author refusing to ignore the truth. Walker gave a gift to Black women and everyone else with “The Color Purple.” Celie’s relationship with Shug Avery may be a relationship that makes some people uncomfortable. But for Black LGBTQ people, it’s a necessary and affirming literary coupling. Don’t we all deserve to see our lives and truths reflected in the literature we read? – Quarshie
A must-read dystopian novel for any teen, I first read this book in middle school, and then I reread it in high school and college. The main character, a tween named Jonas, is given the important role as ‘Receiver of Memory,’ where he is supposed to retain the beautiful and dark moments others in his community can't see. He can see color in a black-and-white world as well as the environment, animals, human emotions and past experiences. The book sheds light on the importance of freedom and living life as one chooses to, but the message goes deeper than that. Valuing our relationships with our friends, family, and colleagues in the real world is a gift. Oftentimes, we lose sight of what makes our life beautiful, even though it is right in front of us. And those lessons are conveyed elegantly in this book, from start to finish. Life is spontaneous and crazy, and there shouldn’t be someone telling us how to live our life when we have the ability to carve our own destiny. Banning this book would be a loss for children, not a gain – Sudiksha Kochi
I first read Knowles’ 1959 novel “A Separate Peace” at 14 as a closeted gay teenager. I next read “A Separate Peace” at 29 as an out gay adult. I provide this context because it absolutely shaped the way I read the story about wealthy teens at a New England boarding school at the start of World War II, and understood the relationship between Gene and Finny – one of platonic love bordering on romantic, one of pride bordering on envy and one of playing around bordering on violence. As clarified in David Levithan's afterword included in my edition, Knowles did not intend on homoeroticism between the characters. But Levithan gets to the heart of how I felt: “Knowles did not write about two boys who know they are gay or have conscious gay feelings, but he certainly created a compelling resonance for boys who do.” Thank you, Knowles, either way. – David Oliver
Setting aside every major literary award bestowed upon her, Morrison’s oeuvre is too important to American literature to ever be cast aside or banned. I was a teenager the first time I read “The Bluest Eye,” too young to truly grasp the horror of what Morrison was writing about. Now, as a dark-skinned Black woman rereading it, I understand the suffering that Pecola Breedlove was subjected to. Little Black girls deserve literature that doesn’t shy away from the pain that white supremacy and patriarchy inflicts upon them. If we can’t read and contemplate the horrors that are inflicted upon our children, how will we ever make the world a better place? Yes, “The Bluest Eye” takes an unflinchingly look at sexual violence and incest. But in a nation still reeling from the #MeToo movement, we cannot afford to look away. Black women, like Native American women, are at a disproportionate risk for sexual violence. The literature written about African American women shouldn’t ignore these horrifying statistics either. – Quarshie
Atwood said she didn’t include any events in the book that hadn’t already happened in history or any technology not already available. “No imaginary gizmos, no imaginary laws, no imaginary atrocities,” she wrote in The New York Times in 2017. The result is a book about a theocratic dictatorship that takes over the United States after climate change and declining birth rates threaten to cripple the nation’s economy. Fertile women are reproductive slaves, forced to bear children for the elite. In the 1980s, when it was published, the book read as a response to the political rise of Christian fundamentalists, the bombing of abortion clinics and the control of those behind the Iron Curtain. As we sit in 2021 with climate change threatening our coastlines and crops, a rising threat of nationalism and attempts to chip away at the hard-fought rights of women, minorities and the LGBTQ community, the plot seems evermore an apt prediction. What could be more important now than a book that explores the dangers of totalitarianism as we watch democracy challenged on the very steps of Congress? A book that explores the power of women as the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements push the next wave of feminism forward? A book with dire warnings about what can happen when resources get scarce, as drought and wildfires have become the new norm for a swath of our country? Because of its plausibility, "The Handmaid’s Tale" is timeless and relevant. It was a necessary book in the 1980s, and it's still a necessary book in 2021. – Wedell
I read "1984," one of the most thought-provoking and interesting dystopian books I have come across, back in high school when it was assigned reading for my English class. There is simply no other book that can show readers what it would be like to live in a society where the freedom to think and make choices for oneself is not allowed. The book sheds light on why it is important for people to express themselves and make choices, and why freedom of expression is important in society. Another important theme that struck my attention was misinformation and disinformation being spread by the ruling party. As an early career reporter, I strive to make sure the public knows the truth and the facts. This book is a must-read for any high schooler because it teaches lessons you wouldn’t get from any other book – Kochi
I fell down the "Hunger Games" rabbit hole during the pandemic. What started as something to pass time turned into a deep dive into Collins' post-apocalyptic world of Panem, a society deeply divided by wealth disparity, where the elite are more concerned with pageantry than basic human rights. I couldn’t help but notice some striking parallels between the dystopia and our pandemic-riddled nation. The rich got richer. The poor got poorer. And although we don’t send a boy and girl from each district to their televised demise, the constant loop of the trauma of Black and brown bodies being killed by police felt similar in the summer of 2020. The tale may have beenoutrageously dystopian when Collins published her first installment in 2008, but it is not as outrageous in the lens of 2021. Some Twitter users even compared the 2021 Met Gala in New York to a lavish party in District 1 as many communities grapple with the lasting effects of COVID-19. That’s exactly why this book shouldn’t be banned. – Cydney Henderson
The first time I read “A Wrinkle in Time,” I was even younger than the sci-fi classic’s 13-year-old heroine, Margaret (Meg) Murray. At the time, I didn’t know how much I needed a heroine like her in my life. As I’ve reread the book (and read it to my own kids) many years later, I’ve sent up a brief word of thanks that I was introduced to Meg. She is thrust into impossible peril with unfathomable stakes, and she overcomes it. Resentfully, even angrily, she saves her family, not despite her flaws but because of them. A wild, strange, sprawling tale, “A Wrinkle in Time” let me know, just as it has for generations of young readers, that there’s immense power in being yourself; that the galaxy is weird, wide and wonderful; that love is the answer no matter the question; and that you can be terrified and do brave things anyway – in fact, you must. – Beaudry
Noah’s 2016 memoir, "Born A Crime," is at its core a love letter to his mother, whose romantic relationship with a Swiss man was a punishable offense in South Africa’s apartheid state. She rears Trevor through apartheid and its chaotic collapse, and eventually through her own abusive relationship with his stepfather by a mix of tough love, gallows humor and religion. Yet "Born A Crime" forces the reader – particularly American-born consumers – to look critically into corners where we too easily looked away. Certainly, apartheid was touched on in our history or government classes. Too often, though, its abstract presentation – brutal colonization, minority rule, a worthy martyr named Nelson Mandela – never encouraged us to get too close, lest we recognize our own pathologies. "Born A Crime" is breezy and sweet and often hilarious, a dubious target for censure, it would seem. Yet it does not equivocate in recounting a brutal chapter of history. – Gabe Lacques
It's a shame that Rowling tarnished her own legacy in recent years by attacking transgender people – for fans, her hate speech felt like a betrayal of the very values her books espoused. "The Harry Potter" novels have been frequently challenged by religious groups for supposedly promoting witchcraft. But snatching these books out of the hands of children because of that supernatural bogeyman would be doing them an awful disservice. The series taught a generation of readers about empathy, friendship and courage in the face of political danger – themes that Rowling would do well to apply to her own recent comments. Harry Potter is a powerful example of fiction's ability to make us more thoughtful and discerning people, and for that, it should not be banned. The books should continue to be shared and obsessed over, as they've been by readers of all ages for the past two decades. – Jason Lalljee
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