Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish. This week’s theme is:

Ten Books That Feature Characters ____________: Examples: Ten books that feature black main characters, characters who hold interesting jobs, characters who have a mental illness, characters that are adopted, characters that play sports, etc, etc. Can’t wait to see what you all come up with!

Instead of doing this theme, I thought, to commemorate the celebration of Banned Books Week, I’ll list the top ten best banned/challenged books that everyone should read. Reading is such an amazing privilege. Let us not tarnish it by censoring our freedom to read:

 

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Reason why it was banned/challenged: In 2010, Wesley Scroggins, an associate professor at Missouri State University, refer to book as “soft porn” and should be removed from the school curriculum.

 

 

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Reason why it was banned/challenged: accused for being anti-Christian

 

 

 

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Reason why it was banned/challenged: For language and sexual references in the book.

 

 

 

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Reason why it was banned/challenged: You think it would be about the Nazi death camps, but no. This was taken off the shelves for the brief moment Anne talked about her body maturing.

 

 

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Reason why it was banned/challenged: Is one of the most challenged and banned classical books. Banned constantly for its use of racial slurs and profanity. It wasn’t recently pulled off the shelves in the Accomack School District in Virginia.

 

 

 

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Reason why it was banned/challenged: According to the ALA, in 1997, a parent objected to the novel’s language and sexual explicitness.

 

 

 

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Reason why it was banned/challenged: For its use of inappropriate sexual content, graphic language and violence.

 

 

 

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

Reason why it was banned/challenged: When it was first published, the book was criticized for being immoral and scandalous. Because of this criticism, Chopin stopped writing altogether.

 

 

 

 

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Reason why it was banned/challenged: It was banned from various countries, including the United States, for its “anti-Stalinist and totalitarianistic views that could inspire new communist rebellions”

 

 

 

Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

Reason why it was banned/challenged: No list can be complete without any Harry Potter title. It is a long list of why this beloved series was banned. Here are some of them:

• Christian leaders disapproved of the “magical world” and thought it promoted Satanism
• Harry and his friends set bad examples because they “lie[d], [broke] rules, and disobey[ed] authority figures, including the professors at Hogwarts.”
• Too dark and scary for children
• J.K. Rowling has been slamming Trump on Twitter lately and some of his supporters are calling for her books to be burned.

Unsure if your favorite book made it on the banned? Check out ALA’s lists of Frequently Challenged Books through the years.