Skip to main content

Banned Books Week 2020: Banned Books We Read

Participants read 2-3 minute excerpts from diverse banned, challenged, or otherwise censored books on September 30th, at a virtual banned books “read-in” hosted by the Student College, Academic, and Research Libraries Association (SCARLA) and the Library and Information Science Student Association (LISSA), also co-sponsored by New Brunswick Libraries.

The following titles represent the diversity of books banned for various reasons, noted in the legend for each, over time in the United States and elsewhere in  the world. Click on the image to access the title either from Rutgers University Libraries (RU-restricted) or WorldCat to find a copy in a library nearby.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower has been challenged for drugs/alcohol/smoking, homosexuality, offensive language, sexually explicit, being unsuited for age group. and more in various school districts in the US.
Because it is seen to encourage “disruptive behavior,” The Adventures of Captain Underpants is widely censored/banned in US schools. Since 1997 to date series regularly makes ALA Top 10 Most Challenged Books.
A parody children’s book featuring Vice President Mike Pence’s pet rabbit Bundo (aka BOTUS, the Bunny of the United States), who discovers his gay identity. It was challenged by a patron at the public library of Terrell (TX) on religious grounds.
cover art
On the ALA top challenged books list since 2016, some have found the content of the book offensive because the book’s young protagonist is transgender, George, who knows she’s a girl named Melissa.

 

cover art
Shortly after publication in 1962, it was banned in New Orleans, United States; importation banned & access restricted in Australia for sexuality including same-sex & interracial relationships, portrayal of race relations.
In 1985 was challenged in Beloit, WI because of the poem “How not to Dry the Dishes” ” telling children to break them instead of drying. The poems were seen as promoting disobedience, violence, suicide, Satan and even cannibalism.
cover art
The Case Worker was banned in Hungary and Eastern Bloc after the 6,000 copies of its first edition were sold out in one day, since it describes a Hungarian society as cruel and miserable it was, in contrast to the party line line how ”happy workers are building socialism.”
covert art
Leaves of grass was legally banned in Boston in 1882, i.e., the 1881 edition—an edition that Whitman constructed to resemble a bible, informally banned elsewhere. Poetry is said to be too sensual and obscene.

Top 10 Most Challenged Books in 2019 (from ALA Banned Books Week)