In response to several comments on my Instagram post: “What is the title of a banned book that you would recommend?” I became cognizant of the need to continue the thread about the censure of authors’ works. Accordingly, I highlighted 9 books that were relegated to the list of banned books.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Synopsis: The Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression, a book that galvanized—and sometimes outraged—millions of readers.
First published in 1939, Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression chronicles the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and tells the story of one Oklahoma farm family, the Joads—driven from their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California. Out of their trials and their repeated collisions against the hard realities of an America divided into Haves and Have-Nots evolves a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision, elemental yet plainspoken, tragic but ultimately stirring in its human dignity. A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one man’s fierce reaction to injustice, and of one woman’s stoical strength, the novel captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America. At once a naturalistic epic, captivity narrative, road novel, and transcendental gospel, Steinbeck’s powerful landmark novel is perhaps the most American of American Classics.
Reason for ban: In many communities The Grapes of Wrath was banned and burned, both for its occasional inappropriate language and its prevalent themes. Some perceived it as communist propaganda, and many farmers and agricultural groups were furious that it fomented anger about their labor practices—the book was “a pack of lies,” the Associated Farmers of California declared.
The Diary of A Young Girl by Anne Frank
Synopsis: Discovered in the attic in which she spent the last years of her life, Anne Frank’s remarkable diary has become a world classic—a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit.
In 1942, with the Nazis occupying Holland, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family fled their home in Amsterdam and went into hiding. For the next two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed to the Gestapo, the Franks and another family lived cloistered in the “Secret Annexe” of an old office building. Cut off from the outside world, they faced hunger, boredom, the constant cruelties of living in confined quarters, and the ever-present threat of discovery and death. In her diary Anne Frank recorded vivid impressions of her experiences during this period. By turns thoughtful, moving, and surprisingly humorous, her account offers a fascinating commentary on human courage and frailty and a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman whose promise was tragically cut short.
Reason for ban: Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl is still periodically taken off shelves or reading lists. Not because students might experience nightmares over the revelation that the Frank family had to hide in an attic until they were dragged into Nazi death camps, but because at one, brief point, 14-year-old Anne describes her maturing anatomy.
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Synopsis: The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it. To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic.
Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, To Kill A Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior—to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos. Now with over 18 million copies in print and translated into forty languages, this regional story by a young Alabama woman claims universal appeal. Harper Lee always considered her book to be a simple love story. Today it is regarded as a masterpiece of American literature.
Reason for ban: Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird has a long history with censorship. According to the American Library Association’s top ten most challenged and banned books list, To Kill a Mockingbird ranked 7th in 2017. The narrative also appeared on the 2009 and 2011 lists respectively. Harper Lee’s novel has been challenged for the portrayal of violence, offensive language, and racism.
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Synopsis: The Bluest Eye is Toni Morrison’s first novel, a book heralded for its richness of language and boldness of vision. Set in the author’s girlhood hometown of Lorain, Ohio, it tells the story of black, eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove. Pecola prays for her eyes to turn blue so that she will be as beautiful and beloved as all the blond, blue-eyed children in America. In the autumn of 1941, the year the marigolds in the Breedloves’ garden do not bloom. Pecola’s life does change-in painful, devastating ways. The Bluest Eye remains one of Toni Morrisons’s most powerful, unforgettable novels—and a significant work of American fiction.
Reason for ban: PBS wrote critics of The Bluest Eye have objected to, “sexually explicit material,” “lots of graphic descriptions and lots of disturbing language,” and “an underlying socialist-communist agenda.” One complaint ostensibly called it a “bad book.”
Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Synopsis: A young boy named Max, after dressing in his wolf costume, wreaks havoc through his household is sent off to bed without his supper by his mother. In his room, he imagines sailing far away to a land of Wild Things. Instead of eating him, the Wild Things make Max their king.
Reason for ban: Where The Wild Things Are was pulled from shelves in most southern US states in 1963, due to the belief that the story endorsed “witchcraft and supernatural elements.” Source: The Intellectual Freedom Project
A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Synopsis: It was a dark and stormy night.
Out of this wild night, a strange visitor comes to the Murry house and beckons Meg, her brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin O’Keefe on a most dangerous and extraordinary adventure—one that will threaten their lives and our universe.
Winner of the 1963 Newbery Medal, A Wrinkle in Time is the first book in Madeleine L’Engle’s classic Time Quintet.
Reason for ban: History.com confirmed that since its publication in 1962, A Wrinkle in Time has become one of the most frequently banned or challenged books, for many different reasons. People have contended that it’s too complicated for children, and earlier critics disapproved of its plucky female protagonist.
The Kite Runner by Khaled
Synopsis: The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father’s servant, The Kite Runner is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country that is in the process of being destroyed. It is about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption; and an exploration of the power of fathers over sons—their love, their sacrifices, their lies.
A sweeping story of family, love, and friendship told against the devastating backdrop of the history of Afghanistan over the last thirty years, The Kite Runner is an unusual and powerful novel that has become a beloved, one-of-a-kind classic.
Reason for ban: In 2016 The Kite Runner was suspended by the Buncombe County (NC) schools. The female complainant, a proclaimed “conservative government watchdog,” cited state law requiring local boards of education to include “character education” in the curriculum. She also claimed schools must teach sex education from an abstinence-only perspective. Source: Marshall Libraries
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
Synopsis: “Once there was a tree…and she loved a little boy.”
So begins a story of unforgettable perception, beautifully written and illustrated by the gifted and versatile Shel Silverstein.
Every day the boy would come to the tree to eat her apples, swing from her branches, or slide down her trunk…and the tree was happy. But as the boy grew older he began to want more from the tree, and the tree gave and gave and gave.
This is a tender story, touched with sadness, aglow with consolation. Shel Silverstein has created a moving parable for readers of all ages that offers an affecting interpretation of the gift of giving and a serene acceptance of another’s capacity to love in return.
Reason for ban: In 1988 The Giving Tree was banned by a Colorado library for its “sexist” depiction of a greedy, selfish boy and an overly compliant female tree.
Speak by Laurie Laurie Halse Anderson
Synopsis: The first ten lies they tell you in high school.
“Speak up for yourself—we want to know what you have to say.”
From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. She is friendless, outcast, because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. Only her art class offers any solace, and it is through her work on an art project that she is finally able to face what really happened at that terrible party: she was raped by an upperclassman, a guy who still attends Merryweather and is still a threat to her. Her healing process has just begun when she has another violent encounter with him. But this time Melinda fights back, refuses to be silent, and thereby achieves a measure of vindication.
In Laurie Halse Anderson’s powerful novel, an utterly believable heroine with a bitterly ironic voice delivers a blow to the hypocritical world of high school. She speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while demonstrating the importance of speaking up for oneself.
Reason for ban: Sadly, Speak is also a frequently censored book. In response to her book’s many challenges, Anderson remarks,
“Some people are uncomfortable talking about rape. It makes them feel awkward or powerless, or ashamed. They often can’t put their feelings about it into words. They find it easier to avoid the discussion. These are the kinds of people who try to remove Speak fromthe classroom.”
What do you think about the censorship of books? Have you read any of the books included in this blog post? Do you think trigger warnings are adequate for advising readers about potential conflicts related to the author’s content?
