Banned Books Week 2012: Set Books Free

Banned Books Week is the last week in September and is set aside to remind people of the importance of the freedom to choose books. It highlights books that have been removed from schools, libraries, or attempted to be removed through censorship.

This year Banned Books Week runs from September 30th through October 6th.  We’re celebrating by having our Teen Advisory Board (TAB) design and make a display of books that have been banned elsewhere.   Our theme this year is  Set Books Free.  This year, the TAB designed a prison display that patrons can ‘free’ banned books from.  It’s up to everyone to keep books from being locked away.  Do your part by checking out a book that has been banned or challenged in the past.   

For a list of frequently challenged books ask for our bibliography from at the Reference Desk or go to:  http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek 

Below is a list of classics that have been challenged, banned, and even burned. 

 

Banned and Challenged Classics

CHALLENGED: repeatedly challenged in

schools and libraries

BANNED: made illegal to sell or removed

from public view in schools or libraries at

one point somewhere in America or by

other Governments

BURNED: literally burned by groups or

governments

Holy Bible, Torah, Koran BANNED, BURNED

A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess FIC BURGESS BANNED, CHALLENGED

Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs FIC BURROUGH BANNED, CHALLENGED

The Awakening, Kate Chopin FIC CHOPIN  BANNED, CHALLENGED

An American Tragedy, Theodore Dreiser FIC DREISER BANNED, BURNED, CHALLENGED

Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison FIC ELLISON BANNED, CHALLENGED

The Lord of the Flies, William Golding FIC GOLDING CHALLENGED

The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway FIC HEMINGWA BANNED, BURNED, CHALLENGED

Brave New World, Aldous Huxley FIC HUXLEY BANNED, CHALLENGED

Ulysses, James Joyce FIC JOYCE BANNED BURNED, CHALLENGED

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey FIC KESEY BANNED, CHALLENGED

 A Separate Peace, John Knowles FIC KNOWLES CHALLENGED

Women in Love, DH Lawrence FIC LAWRENCE BANNED,CHALLENGED

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee FIC LEE CHALLENGED

The Naked and the Dead, Norman MailerFIC MAILER BANNED, CHALLENGED

Tropic of Cancer, Henry MillerFIC MILLER BANNED, CHALLENGED

Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell FIC MITCHELL CHALLENGED

Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov FIC NABOKOV BANNED

The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger FIC SALINGER CHALLENGED

The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck FIC STEINBECK BANNED, BURNED, CHALLENGED

Sophie's Choice, William Styron FIC STYRON CHALLENGED

Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut FIC VONNEGUT BANNED, BURNED CHALLENGED

The Color Purple, Alice Walker FIC WALKER CHALLENGED