Banned or Challenged Books

Allende, Isabel. The House of Spirits.  368 p.

            Presents a novel set in an unnamed Latin American country and describes the struggles, passions, and secrets of the Trueba family that spans three generations.

Alvarez, Julia.  How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents.

Angelou, Maya.  I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Anonymous.  Go Ask Alice.  213 p.

            Based on the diary of a fifteen-year-old drug user chronicling her struggle to escape the pull of the drug world.

Atwood, Margaret.  The Handmaid’s Tale.  311 p.

            Set in the near future, America has become a puritanical theocracy and Offred tells her story as a Handmaid under the new social order whose function is to breed.

Baskin, Julia (et. Al). The Notebook Girls.

Blume, Judy.  Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.  149 p.

            Faced with the difficulties of growing up and choosing a religion, a twelve-year-old girl talks over her problems with her own private God

Blume, Judy.  Deenie.  144 p.

            A thirteen-year-old girl seemingly destined for a modeling career finds she has a deformation of the spine called scoliosis.

Brown, Dan.  The DaVinci Code.

Chbosky, Stephen.  The Perks of Being a Wallflower.  213 p.

            Charlie, a freshman in high school, explores the dilemmas of growing up through a collection of letters he sends to an unknown receiver.

Chevalier, Tracy.  Girl with a Pearl Earring. 

Cooney, Caroline B.  The Face on the Milk Carton.  184 p.

            A photograph of a missing girl on a milk carton leads Janie on a search for her real identity.

Cooney, Caroline B.  The Terrorist.  198 p.

            Sixteen-year-old Laura, an American living in London, tries to find the person responsible for the death of her younger brother Billy, who has been killed by a terrorist bomb.

Cormier, Robert.  Fade.  310 p.

            In the summer of 1938, Paul Moreaux, the thirteen-year-old son of French Canadian immigrants, inherits the ability to become invisible, but this power soon leads to death and destruction.

Cormier, Robert.  I am the Cheese.   220 p.

            A young boy desperately tries to unlock his past yet knows he must hide those memories if he is to remain alive.

Cormier, Robert.  We All Fall Down.  193 p.

            As The Avenger searches for the teenage boys who trashed a house in his neighborhood, Buddy, one of the trashers, increases his drinking in order to cope with his parents' separation. . .

Crutcher, Chris.  Running Loose.  190 p. (and many of his others)

            Louie, a high school senior in a small Idaho town, learns about sportsmanship, love, and death as he matures into manhood.

Crutcher, Chris.  Whale Talk.  220 p.

            Intellectually and athletically gifted, TJ, a multiracial, adopted teenager, shuns organized sports and the gung-ho athletes at his high school until he agrees to form a swimming team and recruits some of the school's less popular students.

Davis, Jenny.  Sex Education.  150 p.

            As a project for an unusually open class in sex education, Livvie and her boyfriend David learn to care for a pregnant young neighbor, and as they become deeply involved with her and with each other, they learn about love and caring and eventually about pain and courage.

Draper, Sharon M. and Adam Lowenbein. Romiette and Julio.

Duncan, Lois.  Killing Mr. Griffin.  223p.

            A teenager casually suggests playing a cruel trick on the English teacher, but did he intend it to end with murder?

Esquirel, Laura.  Like Water for Chocolate.  246 p.

            A romantic and poignant tale of love and family life in turn-of-the-century Mexico. Includes recipes for dishes prepared in the novel, such as quail in rose petal sauce and chiles in walnut sauce.

Ferris, Jean.  Eight Seconds.  186 p.

            Eighteen-year-old John must confront his own sexuality when he goes to rodeo school and finds himself strangely attracted to an older boy who is smart, tough, complicated, gorgeous, and gay.

Follett, Ken.  The Pillars of the Earth.  983 p.

            The construction of a cathedral involves a story of betrayal, revenge and love in twelfth-century England.

Fox, Paula.  The Slave Dancer.  176 p.

            Kidnapped by the crew of an Africa-bound ship, a thirteen-year-old boy discovers to his horror that he is on a slaver and his job is to play music for the exercise periods of the human cargo.

Frank, E. R.  America: a novel.

Frank, E. R. Life is Funny.  263 p.

            The lives of a number of young people of different races, economic backgrounds, and family situations living in Brooklyn, New York, become intertwined over a seven year period.

Freedom Writers.  The Freedom Writer’s Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing

to Change Themselves and the World Around Them.

Freymann-Weyr, Garret.  My Heartbeat.  154 p.

            Fourteen-year-old Ellen, totally in love with her adored big brother Link's longtime best friend James, sets off a disturbing chain of events when it is suggested to her that Link and James might be a couple.

Garden, Nancy.  Annie on My Mind.  234 p.

            Seventeen-year-old Liza puts aside her feelings for Annie after the disaster at school, but eventually she allows love to triumph over the ignorance of people. Includes an interview with the author.

Garden, Nancy. Good Moon Rising.  230 p.

            Jan begins her senior year of high school not expecting that she will lose the starring part in the school play, take over as director when her beloved drama teacher becomes ill, and realize that she is a lesbian.

George, Jean Craighead.  Julie of the Wolves.  17 0 p.

            While running away from home and an unwanted marriage, a thirteen-year-old Eskimo girl becomes lost on the North Slope of Alaska and is befriended by a wolf pack.

Going, K. L. Fat Kid Rules the World.

Golding, William.  Lord of the Flies.  243 p.

            After a plane crash strands them on a tropical island while the rest of the world is ravaged by war, a group of British schoolboys attempts to form a civilized society but descends into brutal anarchy.

Greene, Bette.  The Drowning of Stephan Jones.  217 p.

            As her mother battles a citizens' group that wants to ban all "anti-Christian" literature from the public library, Carla faces her own battle of torn loyalties when her boyfriend starts persecuting the homosexual owners of an antiques shop.

Greene, Bette.  Summer of My German Soldier. 199 p.

            Sheltering an escaped German prisoner of war is the beginning of some shattering experiences for a twelve-year-old Jewish girl in Arkansas.

Guest, Judith.  Ordinary People.   263 p.

            After spending eight months in a mental institution following a suicide attempt, seventeen-year-old Conrad returns home and finds that he must rebuild his life.

Hartinger, Brent.  Geography Club. 

            A group of gay and lesbian teenagers finds mutual support when they form the “Geography Club" at their high school.

Hinton, S. E.  The Outsiders.  180 p.

            The struggle of three brothers to stay together after their parent's death and their quest for identity among the conflicting values of their adolescent society.

Huxley, Aldous.  Brave New World.  199 p.

            A satirical novel about the utopia of the future, a world in which babies are decanted from bottles and the great Ford is worshipped.

Keyes, Daniel.  Flowers for Algernon.  60 p.

            After being mentally retarded for all of his thirty-two years, Charlie Gordon undergoes an operation designed to change his life.

King, Stephen.  Carrie.  196 p.

            Presents the unnerving story of a terribly ostracized young girl with supernatural powers of telekinesis.

Larson, Rodger.  What I Know Now.  262 p.

            In 1957 in California, having fallen in love with a young man who has come to his house to build a garden, a fourteen-year-old gay boy finds his life and his world view changing.

Lee, Harper.  To Kill a Mockingbird.  281 p.

            Eight-year-old "Scout" Finch tells of life in a small Alabama town where her father is a lawyer.

L’Engle, Mdeleine.  A Wrinkle in Time.  198 p.

            Three extraterrestrial beings take Meg and her friends to another world.

Levitt,  Steven D. and Stephen J. Dubner.  Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the

Hidden Side of Everything.

Lipsyte, Robert.  One Fat Summer.  150 p.

            An overweight fourteen-year-old boy experiences a turning-point summer in which he learns to stand up for himself.

Lowry, Lois.  The Giver.  179 p.

            Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other. He then learns the terrible truth about the Community.

Mackler, Carolyn.  The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things.  246 p.

            Feeling like she does not fit in with the other members of her family, who are all thin, brilliant, and good-looking, fifteen-year-old Virginia tries to deal with her self-image, her first physical relationship, and her disillusionment with some of the people closest to her.

Mackler, Carolyn.  VeganVirgin Valentine.

Mathabane, Mark.  Kaffir Boy. 350 p.

            The author recalls his personal experiences growing up under South African Apartheid during the 1970s, the poverty and oppression of living in the ghettos of Alexandra, and of those who helped him escape from it.

Morgan, Melissa J. TTYL

Morrison, Toni.  Beloved.  273 p.

            Sethe, an escaped slave living in post-Civil War Ohio, struggles to keep Beloved, an intruder, from gaining possession of her present while throwing off the legacy of her past.

Morrison, Toni.  The Bluest Eye.  160 p.

            An eleven-year-old African-American girl in Ohio, in the early 1940s, prays for her eyes to turn blue so that she will be beautiful.

Morrison, Toni.  Song of Solomon.  341 p.

            Follows the life of Macon Dead, Jr., the son of the richest black family in a midwestern town, as he leaves home on a quest for personal freedom.

Myers, Walter Dean.  Fallen Angels.  309 p.

            Seventeen-year-old Richie Perry, just out of his Harlem high school, enlists in the Army in the summer of 1967 and spends a devastating year on active duty in Vietnam 

Paterson, Katherine.  The Great Gilly Hopkins.  148 p.

            An eleven-year-old foster child tries to cope with her longings and fears as she schemes against everyone who tries to be friendly.

Rennison, Louise.  On the Bright Side, I’m Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God.  243 p. (and others in the series)

            Fourteen-year-old Georgia continues her diary in which she records her misadventures trying to reclaim the attention of seventeen-year-old Robbie, while coping with her friends, family, and dog-like cat Angus at the same time.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter series. 

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in th Rye. 214 p.

            An adolescent boy, knowing he is about to be dropped by his school, spends three days and nights in New York City.

Sanchez, Alex.  Rainbow Boys.   233 p.

            Three high school seniors, a jock with a girlfriend and an alcoholic father, a closeted gay, and a flamboyant gay rights advocate, struggle with family issues, gay bashers, first sex, and conflicting feelings about each other.

Sebold, Alice.  Lovely Bones.

Sijie, Dai.  Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress.  184 p.

            Two boys, moved to the country for "re-education" as part of Mao's Cultural Revolution, find little to amuse them, but things change when they discover a stash of Western classics in Chinese translation and use the stories of Balzac to capture the attention of the beautiful daughter of the local tailor.

Steinbeck, John.  Of Mice and Men.  118 p.

            Sustained by the hope of someday owning a farm of their own, two migrant laborers arrive to work on a ranch in central California

Stine, R. L. The Knife.  163 p.

Stine, R. L.  The Girlfriend.  161 p.

            Scotty meets a new girl while his girlfriend is out of town, but his one wild night becomes a nightmare when she decides she loves him to death!

Tan, Amy.  The Joy Luck Club.  332 p.

            In 1949 four Chinese women began meeting in San Francisco to play mah jong. They called their gathering the Joy Luck Club. Forty years later they look back and remember.

Taylor, Mildred.  Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry.  276 p.

            An African-American family living in the South during the 1930s is faced with prejudice and discrimination which its children do not understand.

Thompson, Craig.  Blankets.

Twain, Mark.  Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  445 p.

            Huckleberry Finn, the son of the town drunk, and Jim, an escaped slave, make a break for freedom down the Mississippi River on a raft, sharing many adventures along the way.

Twain, Mark.  The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.  221 p.

            The tale of a mischievous boy growing up in a nineteenth-century Mississippi River town.

Vonnegut, Kurt.  Slaughterhouse-Five.

Von Ziegesar, Cecily.  The Gossip Girls Series.

Walker, Alice.  The Color Purple.  295 p.

            Tells the story of two African-American sisters: Nettie, a missionary in Africa, and Celie, a child-wife living in the south, in the medium of their letters to each other and in Celie's case, the desperate letters she begins, "Dear God."

Waugh, Evelyn.  Brideshead Revisited.  319 p.

            Captain Charles Ryder returns to the country estate of Brideshead where he indulges in a sentimental journey that takes him back twenty years to his schoolmates at Oxford and to his memories of the Marchmains.

Wood, Maryrose.  Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love.