Banned Books Display: Home
Celebrate Banned Books Week with the Shapiro Library!
Banned Books Week is an annual event that highlights the value of free and open access to information. Here at the Shapiro Library we celebrate these freedoms with our compiled list of print, audio, and eBook resources. The Shapiro Library also provides access to a variety of other resources including movies on streaming platforms such as Kanopy This link opens in a new window, Swank This link opens in a new window, and more! And, remember, print materials can be shipped to off-campus users anytime via our Off-Campus Library & Interlibrary Loan Service!
- ALA Banned Books Resources This link opens in a new window
Browse commonly challenged books, learn more about the startling rise of book challenges in recent years, and read about the chequered history of censorship in the United States.
- The Marshall Project This link opens in a new window
Find out what books are banned in your state's prisons
Find a Banned Book at the Library!
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Call Number: Juv. Alexie, S. Absolutely ERCISBN: 9780606072960Publication Date: 2009CHALLENGED FOR profanity, sexual references, and allegations of sexual misconduct
The Handmaid's Tale by ISBN: 0395404258Publication Date: 1986CHALLENGED FOR profanity and for “vulgarity and sexual overtones”
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Call Number: Y.A. Andrews, J. Me ERCISBN: 9781419705328Publication Date: 2013CHALLENGED FOR: profanity and because it was claimed to be sexually explicit
Monster by ISBN: 0064407314Publication Date: 2019CHALLENGED FOR the book's engagement with themes of racial injustice, as well as the use of adult language and references to sexual themes.
The Bluest Eye by Call Number: PS3563.O8749 B55 1993ISBN: 0679433732Publication Date: 1993CHALLENGED FOR depiction of sexual abuse, EDI content, and because it was claimed to be sexually explicit
The Kite Runner by Call Number: PS3608 .O832 K58 2004ISBN: 1594480001Publication Date: 2004CHALLENGED FOR sexual violence and was thought to “lead to terrorism” and “promote Islam.”
Naked Lunch by Call Number: PS3552.U75 N3 2001ISBN: 9780802116390Publication Date: 2003CHALLENGED FOR drug use, sexually explicit acts and obscene language.
The Grapes of Wrath by ISBN: 9780143039433Publication Date: 1939CHALLENGED FOR foul language, religious themes, sexual overtones, and communist implications.
Walking Dead Compendium Volume 1 by ISBN: 9781607060765Publication Date: 2009CHALLENGED FOR graphic imagery
Beloved by ISBN: 0394535979Publication Date: 1987CHALLENGED FOR sexually explicit scenes, religious viewpoint, violence
To Kill a Mockingbird by ISBN: 0446310786Publication Date: 1988CHALLENGED FOR offensive language and depictions of racism
I Am Jazz by ISBN: 9780803741072Publication Date: 2014-CHALLENGED for LGBTQIA+ content, political charge, fear of brainwashing, inappropriate for age, and inaccuracies.
Of Mice and Men by ISBN: 0140186425Publication Date: 1994CHALLENGED for vulgarity, racism, and its treatment of women. The challenges don't seem to go away as time goes on; even in the twenty-first century, the book is still being challenged.
1984 by ISBN: 0151660387Publication Date: 1983CHALLENGED for its pro-communist and sexually explicit content, along with subversive and a dystopian setting.
