Banned Books Week

Junior, a Native American boy, leaves his reservation to attend an all-white school in an attempt to escape poverty and prejudice. He struggles to fit in, but finds acceptance and support from a few close friends. Junior also begins to write stories, which help him to process his experiences and find his voice.

The story is set on a farm where the animals, led by pigs Napoleon and Snowball, rebel against the human farmer, Mr. Jones, to establish their own utopian society. The animals institute principles of equality and self-governance, but over time, the pigs, particularly Napoleon, become corrupt and authoritarian, mirroring the rise of a totalitarian regime.

A young girl's journal records her family's struggles during two years of hiding from the Nazis in war-torn Holland.

The story is set in the years following the American Civil War and is centered around the character of Sethe, an escaped slave who now lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The novel tells the powerful and poignant story of Pecola Breedlove, a young African American girl growing up in Lorain, Ohio, during the years following the Great Depression.

Dystopian World State controls population through genetic engineering, sleep-learning, and psychological manipulation. Bernard Marx, an outsider scientist, travels to a Savage Reservation and meets John, a man raised in the World State but born on the Reservation. John challenges the World State's values of conformity and hedonism, causing a stir and threatening the status quo.

The story follows Holden, a teenager who has been expelled from his prep school and experiences a series of misadventures in New York City before he is expected to return home.

The story is primarily narrated through letters written by Celie, who shares her experiences, including the abuse she suffers at the hands of her stepfather and her subsequent marriages to abusive men. Throughout her journey, Celie finds solace in her sister Nettie and in her relationships with other women in her life, particularly the strong-willed and independent Shug Avery.

The novel is set against the backdrop of World War I and follows the love story between an American ambulance driver, Frederick Henry, and a British nurse, Catherine Barkley.

The story is set in the fictional world of Middle-earth and follows the journey of Frodo Baggins, a hobbit, who is entrusted with a dangerous quest to destroy the One Ring—a powerful and malevolent artifact created by the Dark Lord Sauron. With the help of various companions, including other hobbits, humans, elves, dwarves, and the wizard Gandalf, Frodo undertakes a perilous adventure to Mount Doom to destroy the Ring and prevent Sauron from dominating Middle-earth.

Set during the Spanish Civil War, it follows the story of Robert Jordan, an American dynamiter who joins an antifascist guerrilla unit to blow up a bridge behind enemy lines.

The story follows Jonas, a young boy chosen to be the Receiver of Memories, a role that exposes him to the truth about the past and the depth of human experience. As Jonas learns about emotions, memories, and the dark secrets behind his community's existence, he begins to question the values of his society.

This story is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a penetrating look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant.

First published in 1939, Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression chronicles the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and tells the story of one Oklahoma farm family.

The story is set in the Jazz Age and follows the life of Jay Gatsby, a wealthy and enigmatic individual known for his lavish parties and elusive past.

It is set in a near-future New England in a totalitarian and theocratic regime known as the Republic of Gilead, which has overthrown the United States government. Because of dangerously low reproduction rates, Handmaids are assigned to bear children for elite couples that have trouble conceiving. Offred is the central character and narrator and one of the Handmaids.

An orphaned boy discovers he is a wizard and attends Hogwarts, where he makes friends and faces challenges, including the evil Lord Voldemort.

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

A science fiction comedy that follows the adventures of an ordinary human, Arthur Dent, after Earth is unexpectedly demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass.

In the dystopian nation of Panem, the Capitol forces each district to send two tributes to fight to the death in the annual Hunger Games. Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her sister's place, but survival comes at a price.

The book recounts Angelou's childhood and adolescent years, detailing her experiences growing up in the racially segregated South. She describes her early years, the challenges she faced, and the strength she found in herself to overcome adversity and discrimination.

The story follows Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant, and his family as they face extreme hardships in the Chicago stockyards. The novel vividly exposes the appalling working conditions, exploitation, and corruption prevalent in the meatpacking industry. It delves into the struggles of the working class, the lack of workers' rights, and the broader societal issues of the time, such as poverty, social injustice, and the impact of unregulated capitalism.

The book is narrated by Humbert Humbert, a European literature scholar with an obsessive and illicit infatuation with a twelve-year-old girl named Dolores Haze, whom he nicknames "Lolita."

Miles "Pudge" Halter enrolls in boarding school in search of "The Great Perhaps." He meets a group of misfits who become his close friends, including the enigmatic Alaska Young. Alaska is drawn to Pudge's innocence and curiosity, and they embark on a series of adventures together. One night, Alaska disappears, and Pudge and his friends must come to terms with her death and the meaning of her life.

William Golding's compelling story about a group of very ordinary small boys marooned on a coral island has become a modern classic. At first it seems as though it is all going to be great fun; but the fun before long becomes furious and life on the island turns into a nightmare of panic and death. As ordinary standards of behaviour collapse, the whole world the boys know collapses with them--the world of cricket and homework and adventure stories--and another world is revealed beneath, primitive and terrible.Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse, Lord of the Flies has established itself as a true classic.

Monday Charles is missing, and only Claudia seems to notice. Claudia and Monday have always been inseparable--more sisters than friends. So when Monday doesn't turn up for the first day of school, Claudia's worried. As Claudia digs deeper into her friend's disappearance, she discovers that no one seems to remember the last time they saw Monday. How can a teenage girl just vanish without anyone noticing that she's gone?

A dystopian novel set in a totalitarian society controlled by a government led by the enigmatic figure Big Brother. The story follows Winston Smith, a low-ranking member of the ruling Party, who rebels against the oppressive regime and its surveillance state.

The story of two migrant workers, George Milton and Lennie Small, who dream of owning a farm together. George is intelligent and protective, while Lennie is strong but intellectually disabled. The two travel from town to town in search of work, but their dreams are constantly thwarted by Lennie's accidents and George's own insecurities.

A classic novel that explores the life of patients in a mental institution. The story is narrated by "Chief" Bromden, a patient who pretends to be deaf and dumb to escape attention. When Randle McMurphy, a rebellious and free-spirited man, arrives at the institution, he challenges the authoritarian Nurse Ratched and the oppressive rules.

A haunting coming of age novel told in a series of letters to an unknown correspondent reveals the life of Charlie, a freshman in high school who is a wallflower, shy and introspective, and very intelligent. It's a story of what it's like to grow up in high school, tracing a course through uncharted territory in the world of first dates, family dramas and new friends.

Billy Pilgrim, a World War II veteran, becomes unstuck in time and travels through his life in a non-linear fashion. He experiences the horrors of war, the love of his life, and his own death, all out of order.

The story follows Janie Crawford, an African American woman, and her quest for personal identity and fulfillment. Janie's story spans different periods in her life as she navigates three marriages, each offering insight into her growth, self-discovery, and her search for love and independence.

When high school student Clay Jenkins receives a box in the mail containing thirteen cassette tapes recorded by his classmate Hannah, who committed suicide, he spends a bewildering and heartbreaking night crisscrossing their town, listening to Hannah's voice recounting the events leading up to her death.

The story is narrated by Jean Louise "Scout" Finch, a young girl growing up in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama. Scout, along with her brother Jem and their friend Dill, becomes captivated by the reclusive figure of Boo Radley. The novel centers on the trial of Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of assaulting a white woman.

A novel of star-crossed lovers, set in the circus world circa 1932. When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, grifters, and misfits, a second-rate circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression, making one-night stands in town after endless town. A veterinary student who almost earned his degree, Jacob is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It is there that he meets Marlena, the beautiful young star of the equestrian act, who is married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. He also meets Rosie, an elephant who seems untrainable until he discovers a way to reach her.

A boy who turns into a TV set and a girl who eats a whale are only two of the characters in a collection of humorous poetry illustrated with the author's own drawings. Come in - for where the sidewalk ends, Shel Silverstein's world begins.