Inspired by Hazel’s Article “Lifting Up Voices: Updating and Expanding Our Banned Books Collection” and her tireless work putting together our library’s banned book section, I want to highlight banned books each week in the newsletter as well as in the Library. So please share some of your favorite banned books.
To kick us off, I reached out to some of the banned books aficionados in my life. I asked them for some recommendations and they came through. So here are some of my families favorite banned books.
-Megan’s Pick: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
It’s very hard for me to make ONE banned book recommendation (come find me and talk to me about other banned or challenged books I love!), so I will share about The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. I don’t always remember the details of books I read, but I remember how a book makes me feel, and when I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower as a teenager, I was moved. This book has been banned or challenged for being sexually explicit, LGBTQIA+ content, profanity and drug use. But, for me, this book was about grief and loss, trauma and pain, growth and repair, and love and connection. I wanted to get coffee with the main characters, not shun them for the real and hard life experiences laid on the pages of this book.
If you know me personally, you know how passionate I am about books, and I try to read as many banned books as I can. My daughter and I have taken trips to our library for the purpose of picking out banned books to read, sometimes together. Reading banned books has helped me become a more understanding person, broadened my knowledge around many different experiences and perspectives, and simply helped me grow.
As a side note, for the fellow readers out there who track their books using the Goodreads app, I encourage you to check out StoryGraph and support a Black woman-owned business instead of Amazon.
-Charlotte’s Picks
I would personally recommend Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, I would also recommend Heartstopper, and Drama.
-My Brother, Dan’s Pick: The Kite Runner
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a poignant and thought-provoking novel that delves into the complexities of human emotion and conflict, making it an invaluable read for understanding both personal and societal struggles. Set against the backdrop of Afghanistan’s political turmoil, the story explores the universal antagonism of racism, class division, the weight of childhood trauma, religious zealotry, and the scars left by war. Through the experiences of two childhood friends, readers are confronted with the complexity of friendship, loyalty, betrayal, redemption and the long-lasting impact of past actions, offering a powerful reflection on the intersection of personal identity and the broader socio-political landscape. The novel’s exploration of these themes transcends cultural boundaries, and should be required reading in every high school curriculum.
-My Sister-in-law, Stacia’s Pick: Sold
Sold, by Patricia McCormick, is a book that everyone should read. It is based on real-life situations and happenings. Even if something is scary or difficult to read, that does not mean that it should be removed from shelves or banned from a library, school, or community. McCormick has heavily researched the situation she writes about: “A 13-year-old [girl] leaves her poor mountain home in Nepal thinking that she is to work in the city as a maid only to find that she has been Sold into the sex slave trade in India and that there is no hope of escape” (uniteagainstbookbans.org). Sold is educational and based on situations that actually exist; banning the book does not make that go away. We need to read about situations like this in order to make change happen in the world.
Nick’s Note: Stacia is the Librarian for the School of Education at St. John Fisher College and my go to resource for relevant children’s books. She suggest the book All the way to the Top that I shared for a Time for All Ages and inspired our kids passion for an accessible and inclusive Gateways Center.
-My Pick: A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo
I love children’s books and I love passive aggressive comedy. I also love normalizing things that may seem different. So many of our children’s books highlight hetero-normative romances with princesses and other damsels in distress. But A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo highlights a loving relationship between two male cartoon bunnies. It was written by Last Weekend tonight writer, Jill Twiss. It was a reaction to Vice President’s anti-gay views. So the book both shares a wonderful story for children while engaging in some light protest. And it’s pretty funny too.