Reading the news lately, it feels like there has been an increase in the challenging and banning of books, particularly around discussions of Critical Race Theory and LGBTQ representation. If you’re looking to fill your “Banned or challenged book” Book Bingo square, consider one of these titles:
In China, Unfree Speech: The Threat to Global Democracy and Why We Must Act, Now is banned. It was censored due to inciting secession and taken out of libraries following passage of the Hong Kong national security law (2020).[1] The book itself is written by Joshua Wong, a Hong Kong protest leader. The book is divided into 3 parts: how Wong became a political activist, the letters he wrote while he was a political prisoner and a call to action for how we can change democracy.
Prisons often have different rules about which books are allowed in their libraries. One of these is The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, banned in North Carolina prisons and elsewhere because it was “likely to provoke confrontation between racial groups.”[2] The book itself is “a civil-rights lawyer’s disturbing view of why young black men make up the majority of the more than two million people now in America’s prisons.” (Kirkus Review)
All Boys Aren’t Blue: a Memoir-manifesto by George Johnson has been challenged at different schools by being “called “dirty” and describe what they say is “pornographic” language, inappropriate for minors. They say the books could cause mental health issues for students.”[3] The book, a collection of essays, “centers the experiences, desires, and agency of a queer Black boy navigating his evolving selfhood and the challenges of society’s conditional love for his truthful existence.” (Kirkus Review)
Persepolis has been challenged in many different places for for many different reasons including : “gambling, offensive language, political viewpoint.” Additional reasons: “politically, racially, and socially offensive,” “graphic depictions.”[4] This memoir in graphic novel format by Marjane Satrapi “describes growing up in Tehran in a country plagued by political upheaval and vast contradictions between public and private life.” (NoveList)
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende has been challenged due to being characterized as “pornographic”, “immoral” and “defaming the Catholic faith”.[5] The book itself is about “a strong, absorbing Chilean family chronicle, plushly upholstered—with mystical undercurrents (psychic phenomena) and a measure of leftward political commitment.” (Kirkus Review)
Find more suggestions to fill your Book Bingo banned and challenged books square, check out The Banned Books Project from Carnegie Mellon University, or our staff created booklist Book Bingo NW 2022: Banned or challenged book.
~ posted by Pam H.
For more ideas for books to meet your Summer Book Bingo challenge, follow our Shelf Talk #BookBingoNW2022 series or check the hashtag #BookBingoNW2022 on social media. Book bingo is presented in partnership with Seattle Arts & Lectures.
[1] https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-hongkong-protests-books-idUKKBN24606Y
[2] Why Are American Prisons So Afraid of This Book? – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
[3] ‘All Boys Aren’t Blue’ sparks book ban requests for school boards (delmarvanow.com)
[4] Top 10 Most Challenged Books Lists | Advocacy, Legislation & Issues (ala.org)
[5] Isabel Allende “House of the Spirits” – The Banned Books Project (cmu.edu)
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