Banned Books Week: 10 Books to Share With Students

This month, people around the country will be celebrating Banned Books Week, an annual awareness campaign that celebrates the freedom to read by drawing attention to banned or challenged books, and highlighting persecuted individuals.

In school, from September 21-27, celebrate the individual's right to read all books of their choosing by providing students with lists of banned or challenged books. Encourage students to read these books and discover if these books are merited to be banned or challenged. 

In celebration of Banned Books Week, EducationWorld has curated a three-part series listing ten banned books with a description and link to Amazon.com. The list is generated from the American Library Association's Banned and Challenged Classics. 

1.     To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: This book is on the list because of its offensive language, racism, and it being unsuited certain age groups. To Kill a Mockingbird follows Scout Finch and her brother, Jem, during the arrest and trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Along with big themes of race, the book  also looks at human error, class, justice, and childhood. 

2.     1984 by George Orwell: This book is challenged for its mention of Communism, sexual content, immortality, and profanity. The book, written in 1948, presents a vision of a totalitarian, bureaucratic world and one's effort to find individuality. 

3.     Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling: The Harry Potter series is among the list of banned books due to its occult, or satanist references. This book follows Harry Potter through his first year as a young wizard at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 

4.     The Color Purple by Alice Walker: The Color Purple is considered to be a banned and challenged book due to its offensive language, sexually explicit content, and unsuitability to  certain age groups. The story follows two sisters--a missionary to Africa and a child wife living in the South. The two sisters remain loyal to each other across time, distance, and silence.

5.     The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: This book falls on the banned list due to language and sexual references in the book. Follow Nick Carraway as he observes and meets Jay Gatsby, a rich, love-sick man who desperately tries to win over the love of his life, Daisy Buchanan. 

6.     Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: For decades, this book has been one of the most controversial books in history, for its inclusion of  racial conflicts and offensive language. Follow Huckleberry Finn and his adventures as he takes sail along the Mississippi River. 

7.     The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X, Alex Haley: This book makes the list for its racial slurs and because critics believe this is a "how-to" manual for crime.. Malcolm X tells his story of his transformation from a criminal to a civil rights activist. 

8.     Catch-22 by Joseph Heller: Catch-22 has a spot in the banned books list due to its offensive language and sexual references. The book follows Yossarian, a war hero, who is running from his enemies, which may be his own army. 

9.     Beloved by Toni Morrison: This book makes the banned books list because of its violence, language, topics of bestiality, racism, and sex. Beloved follows Sethe, who was born as a slave, and escapes to Ohio, but still is not free 18  years later. 

10.   The Call of the Wild by Jack London: This book made the banned list because of its socialist views, The Call of the Wild is a story of a dog who lives the life of a pampered house pet until he gets a job pulling a sled. 

According to the American Library Association website Banned Books Week started in 1982. It is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association; American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; the American Library Association; American Society of Journalists and Authors; Association of American Publishers; Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; the Freedom to Read Foundation; National Coalition Against Censorship; National Council of Teachers of English; National Association of College Stores; PEN American Center and and Project Censored. It is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

Article by Kassondra Granata, EducationWorld Contributor