Read a "Once Banned" Classic

During Banned Books Week, read one of these classics that were either banned or challenged. Don't see one that interest you? Check out a full list here.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Challenged, along with seventeen other titles in the Fairfax County, VA elementary and secondary libraries (2002), by a group called Parents Against Bad Books in Schools. The group contends the books "contain profanity and descriptions of drug abuse, sexually explicit conduct, and torture.” Challenged in Burke County (2008) schools in Morgantown, NC by parents concerned about the homosexuality, rape, and incest portrayed in the book.

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Removed by a Dorchester District 2 school board member in  Summerville, SC (2001) because it "is a filthy, filthy book." Challenged by a Glynn County,  GA (2001) school board member because of profanity. The novel was retained. Challenged in  the Big Sky High School in Missoula, MT (2009).

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

 Alabama Representative Gerald Allen (R-Cottondale) proposed legislation that would prohibit the use of public funds for the "purchase of textbooks or library materials that recognize or promote homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle." The bill also proposed that novels with gay protagonists and college textbooks that suggest homosexuality is natural would have to be removed from library shelves and destroyed.  The bill would impact all Alabama school, public, and university libraries. While it would ban books like Heather Has Two Mommies, it could also include classic and popular novels with gay characters such as  Brideshead Revisited, The Color Purple or The Picture of Dorian Gray (2005).

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

Retained on the Northwestern Suburban High School District 214 reading list in Arlington Heights, IL along with eight other challenged titles in 2006. A board member, elected amid promises to bring her Christian beliefs into all board decision-making, raised the controversy based on excerpts from the books she'd found on the Internet. First published in 1899, this novel so disturbed critics and the public that it was banished for decades afterward.

-sg