Banned Books

2010-2022: American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) and PEN America's Index of School Book Bans

Showing 1 - 20 of 175  There are a total of 381 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "Clap when you land"
Star rating for Clap when you land
Average Rating:
2.3 stars
Description:
"Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people . . . In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal's office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash. Separated by distance -- and Papi's secrets -- the two girls are forced...
Book cover for "The poet X"
Star rating for The poet X
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
When Xiomara Batista, who pours all her frustrations and passion into poetry, is invited to join the school slam poetry club, she struggles with her mother's expectations and her need to be heard.
Book cover for "Half of a yellow sun"
Star rating for Half of a yellow sun
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Description:
Re-creates the 1960s struggle of Biafra to establish an independent republic in Nigeria, following the intertwined lives of the characters through a military coup, the Biafran secession, and the resulting civil war.
Book cover for "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens agenda"
Star rating for Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens agenda
Average Rating:
4.8 stars
Description:
"Sixteen-year-old, not-so-openly-gay Simon Spier is blackmailed into playing wingman for his classmate or else his sexual identity and that of his pen pal will be revealed" --Provided by publisher.
Book cover for "The undefeated"
Star rating for The undefeated
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"The Newbery Award-winning author of The Crossover pens an ode to black American triumph and tribulation, with art from a two-time Caldecott Honoree" -- Provided by publisher.
Book cover for "The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian"
Star rating for The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Description:
Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.
Book cover for "The house of the spirits"
Star rating for The house of the spirits
Average Rating:
4.7 stars
Description:
"The unforgettable first novel that established Isabel Allende as one of the world's most gifted and imaginative storytellers. The House of the Spirits brings to life the triumphs and tragedies of three generations of the Trueba family. The patriarch Esteban is a volatile, proud man whose voracious pursuit of political power is tempered only by his love for his delicate wife, Clara, a woman with a mystical connection to the spirit world. When their...

8. Speak

Book cover for "Speak"
Star rating for Speak
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
A traumatic event near the end of the summer has a devastating effect on Melinda's freshman year in high school.

9. Feed

Book cover for "Feed"
Star rating for Feed
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
In a future where most people have computer implants in their heads to control their environment, a boy meets an unusual girl who is in serious trouble.
Book cover for "The Haters"
Star rating for The Haters
Description:
A road trip adventure about a trio of jazz-camp escapees who, against every realistic expectation, become a band.
Book cover for "Me and Earl and the dying girl"
Star rating for Me and Earl and the dying girl
Average Rating:
2.8 stars
Description:
Seventeen-year-old Greg has managed to become part of every social group at his Pittsburgh high school without having any friends, but his life changes when his mother forces him to befriend Rachel, a girl he once knew in Hebrew school who has leukemia.
Book cover for "I know why the caged bird sings"
Star rating for I know why the caged bird sings
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
"Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou's debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey,...
Book cover for "Meet cute"
Star rating for Meet cute
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
A collection of short stories exploring the moment when a couple meets for the first time--from an African American girl in upstate New York who simultaneously finds a prom dress and a date to a transgender girl who confronts the student blocking her right to use the school restroom.
Book cover for "Infandous"
Star rating for Infandous
Description:
"Once there was a mermaid who dared to love a wolf. Her love for him was so sudden and so fierce that it tore her tail into legs." Sephora Golding lives in the shadow of her unbelievably beautiful mother. Even though they scrape by in the seedier part of Venice Beach, she's always felt lucky. As a child, she imagined she was a minor but beloved character in her mother's fairy tale. But now, at sixteen, the fairy tale is less Disney and more Grimm....
Book cover for "Red Hood"
Star rating for Red Hood
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
"Since her grandmother became her caretaker when she was four years old, Bisou Martel has lived a quiet life in a little house in Seattle . . . But then comes the night of homecoming, when she finds herself running for her life over roots and between trees, a fury of claws and teeth behind her. A wolf attacks . . . A new moon rises. And with it, questions." -- Adapted from back cover.
Book cover for "What girls are made of"
Star rating for What girls are made of
Description:
Sixteen-year-old Nina Faye navigates the difficult world of teenage relationships and dysfunctional family dynamics.
Book cover for "Thirteen Reasons Why"
Star rating for Thirteen Reasons Why
Author:
Average Rating:
3.3 stars
Description:
**THE BOOK THAT STARTED IT ALL, NOW A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES**
The #1 New York Times bestseller and modern classic that's been changing lives for a decade gets a gorgeous revamped cover and never-before-seen additional content, including:

·         An introduction from its award-winning author, Jay Asher;
·        
...
Book cover for "The handmaid's tale"
Star rating for The handmaid's tale
Series:
Handmaid's tale volume 1.
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
Set in the near future, The handmaid's tale describes life in what was once the United States and is now called the Republic of Gilead, a monotheocracy that has reacted to social unrest and a sharply declining birthrate by reverting to, and going beyond, the repressive intolerance of the original Puritans. The regime takes the Book of Genesis absolutely at its word, with bizarre consequences for the women and men in its population. The story is told...
Book cover for "The testaments"
Star rating for The testaments
Series:
Handmaid's tale volume 2.
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Description:
More than fifteen years after the events of The Handmaid's Tale, the theocratic regime of the Republic of Gilead maintains its grip on power, but there are signs it is beginning to rot from within. At this crucial moment, the lives of three radically different women converge, with potentially explosive results. Two have grown up as part of the first generation to come of age in the new order. The testimonies of these two young women are joined by...
Book cover for "Morris Micklewhite and the tangerine dress"
Star rating for Morris Micklewhite and the tangerine dress
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
A young boy faces adversity from classmates when he wears an orange dress at school.