Hello people of the internet!
If you read the title, then you know the journey I’m about to embark on. My reading challenge will be to read all of the banned or frequently challenged books in America.
For each book I finish, I will write a little blog post giving my review of the book and some background on why it was banned and where. I am a huge believer in stepping outside your comfort zone and reading things that make you uncomfortable and question your beliefs. I think what makes words and books so beautiful are the many different perspectives showcased.
This list was put together through a lot of Googling and article compilations, so it may not be a comprehensive list. If you have a banned book recommendation, then feel free to send it to me to add! You can email me at busygirlspod@gmail.com or comment your suggestions on any of the posts about the challenge.
Let me first set some ground rules:
Since some authors have more than one of their books banned or challenged, I will start by reading their most popular banned book. I may later read another one of their banned books, but for now, I am going to stick to one book per author.
I'm a busy girl, so there won't by a schedule of when I post these reading challenge updates.
I can't promise I won't DNF books, but I will be completely transparent when that happens.
Now, I have already read some of these, so I will cross them out and put a quick review and rating beside them.
All Boys Aren’t Blue by George Johnson
Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
The Bluest Eye
A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Carrie by Stephen King
The Catcher in the Rye - Read my sophomore year of high school for class. The reason why the novel is banned in some places is because of foul language. I have strong feelings about this book, and they are all negative. The main character annoyed me.⭐️
The Color Purple by Alice Walker - Read my senior year of high school for class. The book has been banned in a lot of schools since 1984 due to “graphic sexual content and situations of violence and abuse.” I won’t lie, it is violent and can be triggering, but it is also one of my all time favorite books. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer - Read my sophomore year of high school for class. I was honestly surprised it was on this list, but an Illinois high school banned it for “its use of lewd and possible offensive materials.” I don’t remember this novel being offensive at all. I also watched the movie in class. This was one of the few books I liked reading for class because it uniquely tells the story of the aftermath of 9/11. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Fifty Shade of Grey by E.L. James
Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine - Also a surprising addition to this list. I remember everyone reading these growing up. According to Teen Vogue, the series was banned because parents felt they were too graphic and scary and contained “excessive violence.” I think these books are classic kids books. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling - OK this seems ridiculous to me. Apparently, Harry Potter is banned in some schools because it promotes witchcraft and are too dark. Also, according to the Toledo Library, Harry Potter books are now the most challenged books of the 21st century. I seriously don’t get it. They are amazing books, and I would read them to my kids as bedtime stories (If I ever have kids). ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas - I definitely guessed the reason why this book is banned. It does include strong language, but the other reason, which I think is crazy, is “it was thought to promote anti-police views.” Yes, this book is about a police officer killing an unarmed Black teenager, but the book in itself is not anti-police. It’s anti-systemic racism and calls it out in a scenario that happens all too often. I really think students would benefit from reading this book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins - Read in seventh grade. Violence is the reason why this book is banned, but some of the other reasons were “insensitivity, offensive language, anti-family, anti-ethic and occult/satanic.” It is a book about children being put in a gladiator-style arena to fight to the death until one remains, so I get the violence part. Although as a seventh grader, I didn’t really think it was horrendously violent. I really liked this series, and I recommend it to people who like YA and want to get back into reading. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
In the Night Kitchen by Mauric Sendak
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Melissa by Alex Gino
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck - Read this book senior year of high school for class. Now, this one is definitely violent and does not have a happy ending. It was also written a long time ago and is set in the Dust Bowl era, so there are some racial slurs and profanity. That being said, John Steinbeck is an incredible writer. This book really made me want to read his other novel East of Eden, but I haven’t gotten around to it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien - Read this book junior year of high school for class. This book is EXTREMELY heavy because it is about the Vietnam War. It was banned for “vulgar language, sexual content and violence.” This wasn’t one of my favorite books, but I think it gives a little insight into the experience of soldiers in the war. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - Read freshman year of high school for class. I think this is one of the most famous banned books. It is banned in some schools for its themes of rape, use of profanity and racial slurs. Hot take: I didn’t like this book. I know people rave about it, but I just struggled to read it and stay interested in it. ⭐️⭐️
Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut
All American Boys by Jason Reynolds
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
Stamped by Jason Reynolds
This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson - Read in elementary school. I cried for days because of this book, but I was confused why it was on this list. Apparently, it has been challenged because of profanity and references to witchcraft and atheism. It’s been a while since I read it, but I really liked it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
1984 by George Orwell - Read sophomore year of high school in class. This book was challenged for allegedly being “pro-communist and sexually explicit.” The book has a lot of political themes, but I am of the belief that you should read books that challenge your own political opinions. I liked the book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X
The Bookseller of Kabul by Asnne Seierstad
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - Read junior year of high school. This one surprised me as well. Apparently, it was challenged by the Baptist College in Charleston, South Carolina, for it’s language and for sexual references. This is definitely a classic that is a super quick read. I read it on the plane ride home from New York City. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ulysses by James Joyce
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Animal Farm by George Orwell
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Native Son by Richard Wright
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Heminway
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
A Clockwork Orange by Anothony Burgess
The Awakening by Kate Chopin - Read this senior year of high school for class. This book does deal with an affair and a woman’s sexual awakening as well as suicide, so there needs to be some trigger warnings before reading it. The book itself was published in 1899, and it was banned everywhere because it distrubed critics. It wasn’t my favorite book. ⭐️⭐️
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Sophie’s Choice by William Styron
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Women in Love by DH Lawrence
Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
Rabbit, Run by John Updike
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The 1619 Project
A Time to Kill by John Grisham
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Looking for Alaska - Read in high school. I am shocked this is on the list, but apparently it was banned because it is considered "sexually explicit" and it depicts teens smoking. I really didn't think this book was that provocative. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
What If It’s Us by Beck Albertalli
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore
How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
The Da Vinvi Code by Dan Brown - Read in high school. Also shocked about this one, but it was banned in multiple countries and by the Vatican because of its "blasphemous content" about Christianity. I thought it brought an interesting historical perspective, and I really loved the modern-day murder mystery component. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Manufacturing Consent by Edward S. Herman
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez
Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
Feed by M.T. Anderson
Stranger in a Stranger Land by Robert A. Heinlein
Water for Elephants by Dara Gruen
Different Seasons by Stephen King
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Assata: An Autobiography by Assat Shakur
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Always Running by Luis J. Rodriguez
Impulse by Ellen Hopkins
The Red Badge of Courage by Stepehn Crane
The Freedom Writers Diary by The Freedom Writers
Black Boy by Richard Wright
Critical Race Theory by Kimberle Crenshaw
This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson
Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez
Four Hundred Souls by Ibram X. Kendi
Tweak: Growing Up on Methaphetamines by Nic Sheff
Skeleton Crew: Stories by Stephen King
Blood in the Water by Heater Ann Thompson
I Am Not Your Negro by James Baldwin
The Pentagon Paper by Neil Sheehan
Crank by Elle Hopkins
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Me and Earl and The Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
Ok, let's get this show on the road!
Which book should I read first?
The Handmaids Tale
Fahrenheit 451
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