It's not a banned book but House of Stairs was eye opening for me as a teen. You don't realize the lesson you're learning until the last pages. It's about being true to you and making decisions for yourself.
Lady Chatterley’s Lover , DH Lawrence , not openly published in UK until 1960. At the obscenity trial a prosecuting lawyer famously said “ not the kind of book you’d want your wife or servant to read ..”
My point was that supporting problematic authors is also something to be concerned about. The book isn’t banned because the author is a trash person, but for its depictions of abuse, genocide, etc. Sort of like HP/JKR HP is banned bc xtians are against witchcraft/magic but JKR is a transphobe.
The ending in "Ender's Game" is very disturbing. I don't know how old your daughter is but you may want to read it so you can talk to her about it. I was an adult and the ethics of it still bothered me greatly. But it is a classic.
Not a banned book that I know of (yet), but The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig about pre-war Europe. It stayed with me for showing how quickly modern life can fall apart.
I loved that. It was such a charmed life, getting to enjoy pre-passport travel, buying a ticket in Europe, getting on a ship and jumping off in America with no hassles.
I loved the sensuous way he described music and his obsession with original manuscripts and the creative process.
For anyone who has a teen, Boston Public Library has a program through Libby called Books Unbanned that gives access to a ton of these books in both ebook and audiobook formats. It is easy to obtain an online library card, and you can live anywhere ( you don't have to be in state).
Maus 1&2. The life of a slave girl. A people’s history of the world/ A People’s History of the US. Stamped. Creating Black Americans. The Color of Law. Critical Race Theory.
* Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (also a fabulous animated movie)
* Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
* Native Son by Richard Wright
* Black Boy by Richard Wright
* Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
* The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Currently studying the handmaids tale and 1984. It's so good. I think it's possible the hunger games are also good even though it's not a banned book. Also, we studied a song of snakes and songbirds as it's a better depiction than 1984 of the insidiousness of using hope to control a population.
I’ve read three and I’ll add the rest to my list. The year 2025 will be the year of reading banned books. I’ll buy them and then pass them on to all the teens and young adults I know.
Upton Sinclair, Sinclair Lewis, Kurt Vonnegut, Maya Angelou, Judy Blume, John Steinbeck, TC Boyle, etc. If they aren't all on the banned list, they soon will be when they roll that out nationally (and I assume they will, given the extremists already tapped for key posts).
Brave New World, Huck Finn, A Separate Peace, The Bluest Eye, Persepolis, The Kite Runner, Speak, A Child Called It, The Catcher in the Rye, Bless Me, Ultima, The Giver, The Things They Carried- these are ones I taught as a hs English teacher
This book is not banned, yet. However, it and those like it will be increasingly dismissed and discarded if certain organizations continue their oppressive agenda of blotting out the contributions of Black Americans in our history.
Consider replacing handmaid and testaments with Parable of the sower and parable of the talents. Atwood is a terf, and the talents series give a much wider and fuller view of oppression/liberation and the consequences of a radically conservative government shift.
It hasn’t been placed yet to my knowledge but A Separate Peace by John Knowles — it is believed to have a homosexual theme based in the area of WWII which is why I believe they might ban it at some point if it isn’t already. But it’s actually a well thought out story of loss of innocence and people.
A Wrinkle in Time (Madeline L'Engle) and The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton) changed my life when I was young. I still can't read them without crying. And Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe.
get some toni morrison books. Beloved and The Bluest Eye. Also I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. Gender Queer has been the most challenged books a few years in a row
That may well be so, but it remains a text that changed thinking about trauma in positive ways. Worth reading to understand shifts in views. I’m currently re-reading to hopefully get beyond the historical context and see how useful it is now.
Beloved. Their Eyes Were Watching God. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. Between The World and Me. Native Son. The Autobiography of Malcom X. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. Song of Solomon.
The Joy Luck Club changed my thoughts. “Know your worth” flipped a switch inside me that my own mother had turned off when I was a child. I’ve always felt every girl should read it.
Anne Frank wrote about a female friend in a way that suggested she was attracted to her. So the book was deemed “pornographic” due to homosexual themes.
George Orwell, Anne Frank, Ruth Ginsburg. What has become of our country? I’m a first family of Tennessee and can hardly tolerate looking at my brethren. When did they lose their minds and conscience in one fell swoop?
Catcher in the Rye, Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, Uncle Toms Cabin, Harry Potter is banned in some places… Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, To Kill a Mockingbird, Maus, …
Quick note - Ali Velshi (MSNBC) hosts a banned bookclub… you can listen on Apple Podcasts. Often, he interviews the authors of said, banned books. Don’t know how old your girls are, but might be worth a listen or at least a peek at his list of covered books.
Comments
Whatever for?
It’s forthcoming by me and my partner @rosmith.bsky.social
Sure to get banned soon!
I've heard its possibly going to be banned. It is a fabulous book!
To Kill a Mockingbird
Brave New World
I loved the sensuous way he described music and his obsession with original manuscripts and the creative process.
* Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
* Native Son by Richard Wright
* Black Boy by Richard Wright
* Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
* The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Farm.
Egalia's Daughters I don't know if it's banned but I'm sure it's on some lists!
Not banned, but Zinn’s People’s History won’t be high on their list because it tells an alternate history in their eyes.
all wonderful banned books written with strong, smart, and creative women characters and I cannot recommend them enough!
Catcher in the Rye
The Kite Runner
#BooksIRead
Educated
To Kill A Mockingbird
Night
American Dirt
When the Moon is Low
“Tranny,” by Laura Jane Grace
And 1984 and Animal Farm were required reading when I was in hs 😅
https://www.amazon.com/History-World-J-M-Roberts/dp/0199936765