In honor of Banned Books week, we are showcasing our own collection of books that have been targeted in other parts of the world.
Flamer by Mike Curato ~ “Award-winning author and artist Mike Curato draws on his own experiences in Flamer, his debut graphic novel, telling a difficult story with humor, compassion, and love.” – GoodReads
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson ~ “In 1956, toward the end of Reverend John Ames’s life, he begins a letter to his young son, an account of himself and his forebears. Ames is the son of an Iowan preacher and the grandson of a minister who, as a young man in Maine, saw a vision of Christ bound in chains and came west to Kansas to fight for abolition.” – GoodReads
All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson ~ “In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia.” – GoodReads
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison ~ “A powerful examination of our obsession with beauty and conformity, Toni Morrison’s virtuosic first novel asks powerful questions about race, class, and gender with the subtlety and grace that have always characterized her writing.” – GoodReads
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini ~ “AÂ poignant tale of two motherless boys growing up in Kabul, a city teetering on the brink of destruction at the dawn of the Soviet invasion.” – GoodReads
Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison ~ “Lawn Boy is an important, entertaining, and completely winning novel about social class distinctions, about overcoming cultural discrimination, and about standing up for oneself.” – GoodReads
The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman ~ “Maus is a haunting tale within a tale. Vladek’s harrowing story of survival is woven into the author’s account of his tortured relationship with his aging father. Against the backdrop of guilt brought by survival, they stage a normal life of small arguments and unhappy visits.” – GoodReads
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz ~ “Spanning more than four hundred years, this classic bottom-up peoples’ history radically reframes US history and explodes the silences that have haunted our national narrative.” – GoodReads
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky ~ “Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it, Charlie must learn to navigate those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.” – GoodReads
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie ~ “Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.” – GoodReads
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews ~ “Greg Gaines has only one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time making movies until Greg’s mother forces him to rekindle his childhood friendship with Rachel, who has been diagnosed with leukemia. When Rachel stops treatment, Greg and Earl decide the thing to do is to make a film for her.” – GoodReads
The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas ~ “Caught between her poor neighborhood and her fancy prep school, sixteen-year-old Starr Carter becomes the focus of intimidation and more after witnessing the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend, Khalil, by a police officer.” – GoodReads
