Banned Books Week is September 22-28 this year. To celebrate, EVPL is pitting eight of the most famous banned or challenged books of the 20th century against the top eight of 2023. Starting Tuesday, September 3, you can visit any EVPL location, or scroll down on this blog post, to cast your vote for which banned books you think should move on to the next round. The bracket will update each Monday. On Saturday, September 28, we’ll learn which banned title EVPL loves the most!
You can learn more about these commonly challenged books below.
JUMP TO: Vote for your favorite Banned Book | Frequently challenged or banned titles | More about Banned Books Week | Beyond the Bracket
Week 1
To place your vote, click on the title and then click on the VOTE button.
Frequently challenged or banned titles
Classic Titles • 20th Century
- Ulysses by James Joyce: sexual content
- Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston: language and sexual explicitness
- 1984 by George Orwell: pro-communist and contained explicit sexual matter
- The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger: offensive language, unsuited for age group
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou: offensive language, sexually explicit
- Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison: offensive language, sexually explicit
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling: anti-family, occult, religious viewpoint, violence
Modern Titles • 2023
- Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe: LGBTQIA+ content and sexually explicit
- All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson: LGBTQIA+ content and sexually explicit
- This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson: LGBTQIA+ content, sexually explicit, sexual education
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky: sexually explicit, LGBTQIA+ content, rape, drugs, profanity
- Flamer by Mike Curato: LGBTQIA+ content and sexually explicit
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison: rape, incest, sexually explicit, EDI content
- Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews: profanity and sexually explicit
- Tricks by Ellen Hopkins: sexually explicit, drugs, rape, LGBTQIA+ content
Why celebrate Banned Books Week?
The first Banned Books Week was held in 1982 as a response to the rise of book bans and challenges in schools, public libraries, and more across the United States. The goal is to bring attention to censorship attempts and to stress the importance of free access to information. Banned Books Week also provides a way for the literary communities most affected by these challenges – teachers, librarians, booksellers, etc. – to come together and exchange ideas and support. Every year is given a theme and this year’s theme is Freed Between the Lines. Everyone can find freedom in books, but only if efforts to seek that freedom remain unfettered.
It can be argued that Banned Books Week is an important celebration now more than ever. According to the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom, 2023 faced the highest number of individual book challenges and bans since they began tracking their data in the 1990s. The number of titles targeted in 2023 was also over double the amount of the previous year. It’s important to keep in mind as well that this data is just a snippet of what may actually be happening since not all challenges are reported to the ALA or covered in the media.
Almost half of the books banned or challenged in 2023 were written by, or feature the lives and experiences, of marginalized communities. Why is it so important that these books remain readily available to everyone despite opposition? The answer can perhaps be found in this final quote by Rudine Sims Bishop in her article “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors,”
“When there are enough books available that can act as both mirrors and windows for all our children, they will see that we can celebrate both our differences and our similarities, because together they are what makes us all human.”
Beyond the Bracket
Want more ways to be Freed Between the Lines this September? Check out these other programs celebrating Banned Books Week at EVPL!
- Banned Books Buttons at EVPL Stringtown
- Saturday, Sep. 14 • 2:00 – 3:00 pm
- Uncensored: Banned Books in Discussion at River City Coffee + Goods
- Friday, Sep. 20 • 3:00 – 6:00 pm
- Drop-in Button Making at EVPL Red Bank
- Tuesday, Sep. 24 • 3:00 – 5:00 pm
- Banned Books Week Zine Making at EVPL Oaklyn for Teens
- Thursday, Sep. 26 • 3:30 – 4:30 pm
- Banned Books Write-In at EVPL Red Bank
- Thursday, Sep. 26 • 4:00 – 5:00 pm
- Banned Book Buttons at EVPL East
- Saturday, Sep. 28 • All day
