How fantastic is it that the theme for this year’s Banned Books Week (Sept. 25 – Oct. 1) is Frequently Challenged Books with Diverse Content? We are all about books with diverse content here (well, not ALL, but it’s one of the themes we feature frequently), and books with difficult, important themes are often found among the banned and/or challenged book lists.
This year’s list of Frequently Challenged Books with Diverse Content and more info can be found at this link, but I’ve also reprinted it below. How many have you read? I’ve only read 13! And parts of a couple others (y’know, lit class excerpts and such). It is an interesting list. Take a look, and let loose in the comments.
- A Gathering of Old Men by Ernest J. Gaines
- A Hero Ain’t Nothin But a Sandwich by Alice Childress
- A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines
- Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
- All American Boys by Jason Reynolds
- Always Running by Luis J Rodriguez
- Am I Blue?: Coming Out from the Silence by Marion Dane Baue
- And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
- Anne Frank: The Diary of a Girl
- Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
- Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X; Alex Haley
- Baby Be-Bop by Francesca Lia Block
- Beloved by Toni Morrison
- Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin
- Black Boy by Richard Wright
- Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A Anaya
- Color of Earth by Kim Dong Hwa
- Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
- Drama by Raina Telgemeier
- Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
- Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel
- Geography Club by Brent Hartinger
- George by Alex Gino
- Habibi by Craig Thompson
- Heather Has Two Mommies by Lesléa Newman
- Hoops by Walter Dean Myers
- I Am Jazz by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
- Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
- Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
- King & King by Linda de Haan
- Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
- Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
- Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress by Christine Baldacchino
- My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis
- Nappy Hair by Carolivia Herron
- Nasreen’s Secret School by Jeanette Winter
- Palestine: A Nation Occupied by Joe Sacco
- Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
- Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez
- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D Taylor
- Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
- So Far From the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins
- Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
- The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
- The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
- The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- The Librarian of Basra by Jeanette Winter
- The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
- The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox
- This Book is Gay by James Dawson
- This Day in June by Gayle Pitman
- Two Boys Kissing, by David Levithan
- Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher
