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 21  There are a total of 381 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "Bless me, Ultima"
Star rating for Bless me, Ultima
Description:
"Antonio Marez is six years old when Ultima comes to stay with his family in New Mexico. Ultima is a curandera, one who cures with herbs and magic. Under her wise wing, Tony will probe the family ties that bind and rend him as he discovers himself in the magical secrets of the pagan past-a mythic legacy as palpable as the Catholicism of Latin America. And at each life turn, there is Ultima, who delivered Tony into the world . . . and will nurture...
Book cover for "The perks of being a wallflower"
Star rating for The perks of being a wallflower
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor. Since its first publication in 1999, Stephen Chbosky's haunting debut novel has received critical acclaim, provoked discussion and debate, grown into an international phenomenon, and inspired a major motion picture. Now, to mark the anniversary of his beloved cult classic, Charlie has written a new letter, his first in...
Book cover for "The miseducation of Cameron Post"
Star rating for The miseducation of Cameron Post
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"In the early 1990s, when gay teenager Cameron Post rebels against her conservative Montana ranch town and her family decides she needs to change her ways, she is sent to a gay conversion therapy center." --Library of Congress.
Book cover for "Lawn boy"
Star rating for Lawn boy
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
"Mike Muñoz is a young Mexican American not too many years out of high school--and just fired from his latest gig as a lawn boy on a landscaping crew. Though he tries time and again to get his foot on the first rung of that ladder to success, he can't seem to get a break. But then things start to change for Mike, and after a raucous, jarring, and challenging trip, he finds he can finally see the future and his place in it"--
Book cover for "Lord of the flies"
Star rating for Lord of the flies
Average Rating:
3.2 stars
Description:
William Golding's unforgettable classic of boyhood adventure and the savagery of humanity. 65 years after it was first published, William Golding's compelling story about a group of very ordinary boys marooned on a coral island has been labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, and even a vision of the apocalypse. But above all, it has earned its place as one of the indisputable classics of the twentieth...
Book cover for "The kite runner"
Star rating for The kite runner
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
An epic tale of fathers and sons, of friendship and betrayal, that takes us from Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy to the atrocities of the present day. The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy Afghan youth and the son of his father's servant, The Kite Runner is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country that is in the process of being destroyed. It is about the power of reading, the price of...
Book cover for "The color of Earth"
Star rating for The color of Earth
Series:
Color trilogy volume 1.
Description:
Ehwa, looked down upon as the daughter of a widowed tavern manager in Korea, begins to open herself to the possibility of love in her own life after watching her mother fall in love again.
Book cover for "To kill a mockingbird"
Star rating for To kill a mockingbird
Author:
Series:
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
The setting is a dusty Southern town during the Depression. A white woman accuses a black man of rape. Though he is obviously innocent, the outcome of his trial is such a foregone conclusion that no lawyer will step forward to defend him--except the town's most distinguished citizen. His compassionate defense costs him many friendships but earns him the respect and admiration of his two motherless children.
Book cover for "The bluest eye"
Star rating for The bluest eye
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Description:
The story of eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove -- a black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others -- who prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful, so that people will look at her, so that her world will be different.
Book cover for "Juliet takes a breath"
Star rating for Juliet takes a breath
Average Rating:
4.7 stars
Description:
Juliet Milagros Palante is a self-proclaimed closeted Puerto Rican baby dyke from the Bronx. Only, she's not so closeted anymore. Not after coming out to her family the night before flying to Portland, Oregon, to intern with her favorite feminist writer—what's sure to be a life-changing experience. And when Juliet's coming out crashes and burns, she's not sure her mom will ever speak to her again. But Juliet has a plan—sort of. Her internship...

11. Cherry

Book cover for "Cherry"
Star rating for Cherry
Description:
"Four best friends make a pact to lose their virginity before they graduate high school"--
Book cover for "The catcher in the rye"
Star rating for The catcher in the rye
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Description:
A 16-year old American boy relates in his own words the experiences he goes through at school and after, and reveals with unusual candour the workings of his own mind. What does a boy in his teens think and feel about his teachers, parents, friends and acquaintances?
Book cover for "Push"
Star rating for Push
Description:
Relentless, remorseless, and inspirational, this "horrific, hope-filled story" ("Newsday") is certain to haunt a generation of readers. Precious Jones, 16 years old and pregnant by her father with her second child, meets a determined and highly radical teacher who takes her on a journey of transformation and redemption.
Book cover for "The last to let go"
Star rating for The last to let go
Description:
"When her mother is arrested for killing Brooke's abusive father, Brooke must confront the shadow of her family's violence and dysfunction"--
Book cover for "Chicken girl"
Star rating for Chicken girl
Description:
After a cruel online post causes her to trade in her vintage clothes for a job as a sign waver in a chicken costume, former optimist Poppy meets a young girl who changes her perspective about the struggles that others in her life are facing.
Book cover for "Not my problem"
Star rating for Not my problem
Description:
"Aideen has plenty of problems she can't solve. But when she stumbles upon overachiever Meabh Kowalska having a full-blown meltdown, she sees one that she can actually fix. Meabh is desperate to escape her crushing pile of extracurriculars. Aideen volunteers to help--by pushing her down the stairs. Meabh's sprained ankle is the perfect excuse to ditch her overwhelming schedule. But when one of their classmates learns about their little scheme, more...
Book cover for "Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe"
Star rating for Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe
Series:
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Description:
Fifteen-year-old Ari Mendoza is an angry loner with a brother in prison, but when he meets Dante and they become friends, Ari starts to ask questions about himself, his parents, and his family that he has never asked before.
Book cover for "On the come up"
Star rating for On the come up
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least win her first battle. As the daughter of an underground hip-hop legend who died right before he hit big, Bri's got massive shoes to fill. But it's hard to get your come up when you're labeled a hoodlum at school and your fridge at home is empty after your mom loses her job. So Bri pours her anger and frustration into her first song, which goes viral—for all the...
Book cover for "The adventures of Huckleberry Finn"
Star rating for The adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Average Rating:
3.5 stars
Description:
The tale of a boy's picaresque journey down the Mississippi on a raft, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn conveyed the voice and experience of the American frontier as no other work had done before. When Huck escapes from his drunken father and the 'sivilizing' Widow Douglas with the runaway slave Jim, he embarks on a series of adventures that draw him to feuding families and the trickery of the unscrupulous 'Duke' and 'Dauphin'. Beneath the exploits,...
Book cover for "The color purple"
Star rating for The color purple
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:
The lives of two sisters -- Nettie, a missionary in Africa, and Celie, a child wife living in the South -- are revealed in a series of letters exchanged over thirty years.