Guides: Banned Books Week: October 5-11, 2025

Banned Books Map

Some books have been repeatedly banned or challenged throughout history. This is a list of books that appear the most often on banned books lists and are available at Waubonsee Community College Library.

1984 by George. Orwell; Dolen Perkins-Valdez (Introduction by); Sandra Newman (Afterword by)
Call Number: PR6029 .R8 N49 2017

ISBN: 9780452262935

Publication Date: 1983-04-01

Reason: pro-communism ideas, sexuality
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain; Paul Lauter; Susan Harris
Call Number: PS1305 .A2 H37 2000

ISBN: 9780395980781

Publication Date: 2000-01-24

Reason: Racism
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
Call Number: PS3537.A426 C315

ISBN: 9780316769488

Publication Date: 1991-05-01

Reasons: offensive language, unsuited for certain age groups
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Call Number: PS3573 .A425 C6 2019

ISBN: 9780143135692

Publication Date: 2019-12-10

Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for certain age groups
The Great Gatsby (ebook) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Call Number: Online Access

Publication Date: 1925

Reasons: reference to drugs, sexuality, and profanity
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou; Oprah Winfrey (Foreword by)
Call Number: PS3551 .N464 Z466 2009

ISBN: 0812980026

Publication Date: 2009-04-21

Reason: sexually explicit
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Call Number: PR6013 .O35 L6 1999

ISBN: 9780140283334

Publication Date: 1999-10-01

Reason: profanity, sexuality, racial slurs, and excessive violence
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Call Number: PS3537 .T3234 O2 2002

ISBN: 9780140177398

Publication Date: 2002-09-01

Reasons: offensive language, racism, violence
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
Call Number: PS3561.E667 O5 2002

ISBN: 9780140043129

Publication Date: 2002-08-25

Reasons: profanity, unsavory theme, sexuality, and racism
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Call Number: PS3562 .E353 T6 2006

ISBN: 9780061120084

Publication Date: 2006-05-23

Reasons: offensive language; racism

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
Call Number: PN6727 .B3757 Z46 2007

ISBN: 9780618871711

Publication Date: 2007-06-05

Alison Bechdel's groundbreaking, bestselling graphic memoir that charts her fraught relationship with her late father. Distant and exacting, Bruce Bechdel was an English teacher and director of the town funeral home, which Alison and her family referred to as the "Fun Home." It was not until college that Alison, who had recently come out as a lesbian, discovered that her father was also gay. A few weeks after this revelation, he was dead, leaving a legacy of mystery for his daughter to resolve. In her hands, personal history becomes a work of amazing subtlety and power, written with controlled force and enlivened with humor, rich literary allusion, and heartbreaking detail.
Maus I: a Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman
Call Number: D804.3.S66 1991

ISBN: 9780394747231

Publication Date: 1986-08-12

A brutally moving work of art--widely hailed as the greatest graphic novel ever written--Maus recounts the chilling experiences of the author's father during the Holocaust, with Jews drawn as wide-eyed mice and Nazis as menacing cats. Maus is a haunting tale within a tale, weaving the author's account of his tortured relationship with his aging father into an astonishing retelling of one of history's most unspeakable tragedies. It is an unforgettable story of survival and a disarming look at the legacy of trauma.
This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki (Illustrator); Mariko Tamaki
Call Number: PN6733 .T34 T45 2014

ISBN: 9781626720947

Publication Date: 2014-05-06

Every summer, Rose goes with her mom and dad to a lake house in Awago Beach. It's their getaway, their refuge. Rosie's friend Windy is always there, too, like the little sister she never had. But this summer is different. Rose's mom and dad won't stop fighting, and when Rose and Windy seek a distraction from the drama, they find themselves with a whole new set of problems. One of the local teens - just a couple of years older than Rose and Windy - is caught up in something bad... Something life threatening. It's a summer of secrets, and sorrow, and growing up, and it's a good thing Rose and Windy have each other. This One Summer is a tremendously exciting new teen graphic novel from two creators with true literary clout. Cousins Mariko and Jillian Tamaki, the team behind Skim, have collaborated on this gorgeous, heartbreaking, and ultimately hopeful story about a girl on the cusp of childhood - a story of renewal and revelation.
Habibi by Craig Thompson
Call Number: PN6727 .T48 H33 2011

ISBN: 9780375424144

Publication Date: 2011-09-20

From the internationally acclaimed author of Blankets comes a love story of astounding resonance: a parable about our relationship to the natural world, the cultural divide between the first and third worlds, the common heritage of Christianity and Islam, and, most potently, the magic of storytelling. Sprawling across an epic landscape of deserts, harems, and modern industrial clutter, Habibi tells the tale of Dodola and Zam, refugee child slaves bound to each other by chance, by circumstance, and by the love that grows between them. We follow them as their lives unfold together and apart; as they struggle to make a place for themselves in a world (not unlike our own) fueled by fear, lust, and greed; and as they discover the extraordinary depth--and frailty--of their connection.

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds; Ibram X. Kendi
Call Number: Audiobook (Libby)

ISBN: 9780316453691

Publication Date: 2020-03-10

This is NOT a history book. This is a book about the here and now. A book to help us better understand why we are where we are. A book about race. The construct of race has always been used to gain and keep power, to create dynamics that separate and silence. Racist ideas are woven into the fabric of this country, and the first step to building an antiracist America is acknowledging America's racist past and present. This book takes you on that journey, showing how racist ideas started and were spread, and how they can be discredited. Through a gripping, fast-paced, and energizing narrative written by beloved award-winner Jason Reynolds with research from renowned bestselling author Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped shines a light on the many insidious forms of racist ideas--and on ways you can identify and stamp out racist thoughts, leading to a better future. Now available for younger readers: Stamped (for Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You Download the free educator guide here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Stamped-Educator-Guide.pdf
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Call Number: PS3553 .H3469 P47 1999

ISBN: 9780671027346

Publication Date: 1999-02-01

The critically acclaimed debut novel from Stephen Chbosky follows observant "wallflower" Charlie as he charts a course through the strange world between adolescence and adulthood. First dates, family drama, and new friends. Sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Devastating loss, young love, and life on the fringes. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it, Charlie must learn to navigate those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up. A #1 New York Times bestseller for more than a year, adapted into a major motion picture starring Logan Lerman and Emma Watson (and written and directed by the author), and an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults (2000) and Best Book for Reluctant Readers (2000), this novel for teen readers (or wallflowers of more-advanced age) will make you laugh, cry, and perhaps feel nostalgic for those moments when you, too, tiptoed onto the dance floor of life.
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison; Charles Johnson (Preface by)
Call Number: PS3555 .L625 I5 1994

ISBN: 0679601392

Publication Date: 1994-06-14

A first novel by an unknown writer, it remained on the bestseller list for sixteen weeks, won the National Book Award for fiction, and established Ralph Ellison as one of the key writers of the century. The nameless narrator of the novel describes growing up in a black community in the South, attending a Negro college from which he is expelled, moving to New York and becoming the chief spokesman of the Harlem branch of "the Brotherhood," and retreating amid violence and confusion to the basement lair of the Invisible Man he imagines himself to be. The book is a passionate and witty tour de force of style, strongly influenced by T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, Joyce, and Dostoevsky.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Call Number: PS3608 .O832 K58 2003

ISBN: 9781573222457

Publication Date: 2003-06-02

The unforgettable, heartbreaking story; of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father's servant, caught in the tragic sweep of history, The Kite Runner transports readers to Afghanistan at a tense and crucial moment of change and destruction. A powerful story of friendship, it is also about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption; and an exploration of the power of fathers over sons--their love, their sacrifices, their lies. Since its publication in 2003 Kite Runner has become a beloved, one-of-a-kind classic of contemporary literature, touching millions of readers, and launching the career of one of America's most treasured writers.

American Library Association

Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Library Association and is held annually to celebrate the freedom of choice and the opportunity to express one's voice. Books that have been banned or censored are put on display in order to draw attention to the fact that all voices should be heard, even if they are from unpopular points of perspective.

"Banned Books Week highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers — in shared support of the freedom to seek and express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular."