This Mom Reads Banned Books
Banned Books Week is October 1-7 this year and to celebrate my right to choose what I read and provide my children to read, I wanted to highlight a short list of banned books that intersect my favorite reads list. I’m planning a personal project for next year to re-read some of the books that shaped my childhood and I think a few of these will be included! The Substack
is crowd-sourcing essays around a similar topic and it’s interesting to see which books transformed other readers’ lives.
Popular Banned Books
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Reasons: Banned and challenged for racial slurs and their negative effect on students, featuring a “white savior” character, and its perception of the Black experience.Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Reasons: Banned and challenged for racial slurs and racist stereotypes, and their negative effect on students.Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
Reasons: banned and forbidden from discussion for referring to magic and witchcraft, for containing actual curses and spells, and for characters that use “nefarious means” to attain goals.The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: drugs/alcohol/smoking, homosexuality, offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group. Additional reasons: “date rape and masturbation”.The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Reasons: religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group.Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
Reasons: occult/Satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit.Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Reasons: religious viewpoint, violence.The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group.Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Reasons: occult/Satanism, offensive language.Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Reasons: themes of pedophilia and incest.
This information comes from the American Library Association. Their website is robust and a treasure trove of resources for anyone who wants to fight censorship and advocate for equity, diversion, and inclusion in school and library reading materials.
Have you read any of these books? Are you planning to read any banned books this week? I have to admit that I haven’t read many of the contemporary banned books so I need to add some to my TBR list.
I also enjoyed reading this newsletter from Danika with some recent book censorship news.
I’ve been following the story of Mary Wood from my home state who was reported by her own students for teaching from Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book Between the World and Me.
Book ban attempts reached a record high in 2022 and I’m keeping my eye on the stats to see what I can do to help locally. I hope you will too.
I've read SO many of these books! We read To Kill A Mockingbird and Catcher in the Rye for school. Harry Potter is one of my favorite series. The Perks of Being A Wallflower is an excellent read. I personally couldn't get through Lolita as Nabokov's writing was very difficult for me to read. It didn't sustain my interest. Looking at the lengthy list on ALA, my goodness, so many great titles, banned. It's a shame and ridiculous.
Thanks for shedding light on this topic! I wrote about it earlier in the year at my disappointment about these book bans. I really fail to see how this is okay? I truly believe in the right of the adult to decide what is okay for their kids to be exposed to; I don’t believe in that right being extended to MY kids. I could go on and on but I think you know what I mean. I’m planning on writing a post about my favorite banned picture books (so sad that this is even a sentence I have to write) just to show how crazy these bans are!