This year’s Banned Books Week has officially begun! This is a time to reflect on access to materials and the importance of supporting the freedom to seek and acquire knowledge. Check out some recommended titles below, and view our full collection of banned book recommendations at Betterworldbooks.com.
All American Boys: A Novel
by Jason Reynolds & Brendan Kiely
A bag of chips. That s all sixteen-year-old Rashad is looking for at the corner bodega. What he finds instead is a fist-happy cop, Paul Galluzzo, who mistakes Rashad for a shoplifter, mistakes Rashad s pleadings that he s stolen nothing for belligerence, mistakes Rashad s resistance to leave the bodega as resisting arrest, mistakes Rashad s every flinch at every punch the cop throws as further resistance and refusal to STAY STILL as ordered. But how can you stay still when someone is pounding your face into the concrete pavement? There were witnesses: Quinn Collins a varsity basketball player and Rashad s classmate who has been raised by Paul since his own father died in Afghanistan and a video camera. Soon the beating is all over the news and Paul is getting threatened with accusations of prejudice and racial brutality. Quinn refuses to believe that the man who has basically been his savior could possibly be guilty. But then Rashad is absent. And absent again. And again. And the basketball team half of whom are Rashad s best friends start to take sides. As does the school. And the town. Simmering tensions threaten to explode as Rashad and Quinn are forced to face decisions and consequences they had never considered before.
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All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto
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. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys. Both a primer for teens eager to be allies as well as a reassuring testimony for young queer men of color, All Boys Aren’t Blue covers topics such as gender identity, toxic masculinity, brotherhood, family, structural marginalization, consent, and Black joy. Johnson’s emotionally frank style of writing will appeal directly to young adults.
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Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out
by Susan Kuklin
A groundbreaking work of LGBT literature takes an honest look at the life, love, and struggles of transgender teens. Author and photographer Susan Kuklin met and interviewed six transgender or gender-neutral young adults and used her considerable skills to represent them thoughtfully and respectfully before, during, and after their personal acknowledgment of gender preference. Portraits, family photographs, and candid images grace the pages, augmenting the emotional and physical journey each youth has taken. Each honest discussion and disclosure, whether joyful or heartbreaking, is completely different from the other because of family dynamics, living situations, gender , and the transition these teens make in recognition of their true selves
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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
by J.K. Rowling
What did Harry Potter know about magic? He was stuck with the decidedly un-magical Dursleys, who hated him. He slept in a closet and ate their leftovers. But an owl messenger changes all that, with an invitation to attend the Hogwarts School for Wizards and Witches, where it turns out Harry is already famous.
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I Am Jazz
by Jessica Herthel & Jazz Jennings
Illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas
From the time she was two years old, Jazz knew that she had a girl’s brain in a boy’s body. She loved pink and dressing up as a mermaid and didn’t feel like herself in boys’ clothing. This confused her family, until they took her to a doctor who said that Jazz was transgender and that she was born this way. Jazz’s story is based on her real-life experience and she tells it in a simple, clear way that will be appreciated by picture book readers, their parents, and teachers.
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
by Sherman Alexie
Art by Ellen Forney
Based on the authors own experiences, this first young adult novel by bestselling author Alexie features poignant drawings by acclaimed artist Ellen Forney that reflect the characters art as it chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy attempting to break away from the life he was destined to live.
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The Adventures of Captain Underpants
by Dav Pilkey
Fourth-grade class clowns George Beard and Harold Hutchins have created the greatest superhero in the history of their elementary school — and now they’re going to bring him to life. Meet Captain Underpants His true identity is SO secret, even HE doesn’t know who he is.
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The Bluest Eye
by Toni Morrison
The chronicle of the tragic lives of a poor black family in 1940s America. Every night Pecola, unlovely and unloved, prays for blue eyes like those of her white schoolfellows. She becomes the focus of the mingled love and hatred engendered by her family’s frailty and the world’s cruelty.
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The Handmaid’s Tale
by Margaret Atwood
In the world of the near future, who will control women’s bodies? Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are only valued if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the days before, when she lived and made love with her husband Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now….
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The Hate U Give
by Angie Thomas
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter lives in two worlds: her poor neighborhood and her suburban prep school. When she witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend by a police officer, it becomes a national headline. Khalil was unarmed. Only one person knows what really happened. But what Starr says could upend her community — and endanger her life.
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The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins
Katniss Everdeen is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what was once the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. Now the Capitol demands one boy and one girl from each district to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. When Kat’s sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place.
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The Kite Runner: A Novel
by Khaled Hosseini
An epic tale of fathers and sons, of friendship and betrayal, takes readers from Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy to the atrocities of the present. As emotionally gripping as it is tender, “The Kite Runner” is an unusual and powerful debut.
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Thirteen Reasons Why
by Jay Asher
Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker – his classmate and crush – who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah’s voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out why. Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a firsthand witness to HannahAs pain, and learns the truth about himself a truth he never wanted to face.
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To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic. Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, To Kill A Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior-to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos. Harper Lee always considered her book to be a simple love story. Today it is regarded as a masterpiece of American literature.
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