In honor of Banned Books Week, I decided to feature actual books that were banned or challenged and books about censorship, book challenges, and bans. Some of the books have taken a novel approach to the subject of censorship.
By illustrating the ridiculous behavior of characters determined to ban books for attention or revenge, these authors are able to get the message about the dangers of censorship across in a lighthearted manner. It’s like the old cliché about attracting more flies with honey.
We also have a historical novel about book bans during World War II, a memoir, and the controversial story of Henrietta Lacks and the medical community’s appropriation of her living cells for medical research and the creation of medical treatments without her knowledge or consent. Enjoy!
The Librarian of Burned Books by Brianna Labuskes – Inspired by the true story of the Council of Books in Wartime, Labuskes intertwines the stories of three women who believe in the power of books to triumph over the evils of war. In 1933, American author Althea James receives an invitation from Joseph Goebbels to visit Berlin and participate in a cultural exchange program. For a small town girl it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime until she finds out what’s really happening to libraries all over Germany. She becomes involved with a secret network of concerned patriots trying to save books from destruction. After Hannah Brecht escapes Berlin and settles in Paris in 1936, she quickly learns she hasn’t escaped antisemitism and Nazi sympathizers. She buries herself in her work at the German Library of Burned Books in Paris. In New York in 1944, a young war widow, Vivian Childs is waging a war against a powerful senator determined to censor the paperbacks sent to soldiers serving in the war overseas. When the war sets the fates of these women on a collision course can they join forces?
My First Thirty Years: a Banned Memoir by Gertrude Beasley – When Beasley published her memoir in Paris, France in 1925, it was immediately banned in the United States. Her powerful memoir describes the poverty, physical and sexual abuse, class struggles, and fight for bodily autonomy she and many other women faced in early twentieth century Texas. Beasley became a teacher, journalist, and activist only to vanish mysteriously after the publication of her book and her return to the United States. Decades after her death, researchers discovered that upon her return to the U.S., she was committed to a state mental asylum in New York for the rest of her life. In an interesting side note, Texas Author Larry McMurtry was a fan of her memoir and spearheaded the interest into finding out why Beasley vanished and what became of her. If he hadn’t. her fate might have remained a mystery.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey – After being arrested for assault, McMurphy fakes a mental illness to serve his sentence in the psychiatric ward instead of being sent to a prison work farm. He takes over the ward and clashes with Nurse Ratched who is in charge. What begins as fun for McMurphy ends in tragedy.
This book was challenged for profanity, negative depictions of mental health issues, violence, and depictions of prostitution.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
While a young Black woman named Henrietta Lacks was being treated for cervical cancer, doctors from Johns Hopkins took a tissue sample without her knowledge or consent. Unlike other samples, the cells didn’t eventually die. After Ms. Lacks’ death, doctors removed additional tissue samples without the knowledge or consent of her family. Those tissue cells are still alive and being used to develop medical treatments and cures.
The book has sparked ongoing discussions about medical ethics, racial disparities, and lack of consent vs. the need of scientists to explore diseases and come up with treatments and cures.
Challenged in Knoxville, Tennessee for graphic descriptions of gynecological examinations.
The Banned Bookshop of Maggie Banks by Shauna Robinson – the town of bell River has proud literary history fiercely protected by its literary society. The bookshop isn’t allowed to sell anything written in the last century. When Maggie arrives to run her best friend’s struggling bookshop, she’s forced to create a black market bookshop to sell the books that will save her friend’s livelihood. If she’s discovered it will mean the end of the business. It’s a humorous take on censorship sure to delight readers.
The Banned Books Club by Brenda Novack – Gia never planned to return to her hometown or the banned books club she started in high school after an overzealous school board demolished the school’s reading list. Loyalty to her sister Margot and guilt bring her home to help care for their ailing mother. After she comes face to face with Mr. Hart, the teacher who was fired after she reported his sexual advances. Hart still maintains his innocence. Residents of the town and members of the book club start taking sides. Will Gia find herself on the banned person’s list?
Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller – Beverly Underwood and her arch enemy Lulu Dean still live in the same small town. Beverly is on the school board with aspirations to become the next mayor. Lulu’s crusade to rid the town library of books she’s never read, but considers smut has made her a local celebrity. I order to bring the wholesome back. Lulu sets up her own lending library of wholesome books. With everything going so well, Lulu enters the mayoral race. Unknown to Lulu someone switches her wholesome books for more racy fare and switches the book jackets, so no one is the wiser. How will the town react?
The Hand Maid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood – After birthrates begin dropping because women are experiencing fertility issues, the community begins forcing women of childbearing age to bear the children and surrender them to childless families. These woman are raped, treated as servants, and punished severely for minor mistakes. What will it take for them to rise up and end their servitude?
The Color Purple by Alice Walker – follow the lives of Black women in early twentieth century rural Georgia. Celie and Nettie are sister who were separated as children and raised apart. Through a series of letters to God and each other, the sisters reveal the strength, resilience of Black women in spite of racism, poverty, domestic and sexual abuse.
Read These Banned Books: A Fifty-two Week Banned Books Reading Challenge from the American Library Association – this is more than a list; it’s a guide to why these books were banned and the dangers of censorship complete with a journal to record you impressions.