In honor of Banned Books Week, I offer you a collection of the most banned books in the past decade that have a particular appeal to WanderReaders. Why not pick one up this weekend and strike a blow for literacy and freedom of thought?
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
What it’s about:
After being orphaned, an Eskimo girl has to decide between living by the old ways of her elders or running away to San Francisco and mainstream life. When she finds herself lost in the wilderness, it opens up a wild third choice. Will she take it?
Why it’s challenged:
The book contains a scene of attempted rape. It also depicts an underage marriage and has themes of death and loss considered by some to be too dark and age-inappropriate.
What WanderReaders will love:
Julie of the Wolves takes us deep into the beauty and severity of the far north and immerses us in Eskimo culture.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
What it’s about:
A man is wracked with guilt over his betrayal of a childhood friend. He sets out to redeem himself through his friend’s son.
Why it’s challenged:
There is a rape scene, depictions of sexual abuse, and homosexual content. It has also been challenged on grounds of conflict of religious viewpoint.
What WanderReaders will love:
The Kite Runner takes us to the Afghanistan of a happier time then follows the rise of the Taliban and what it meant for ordinary people. It also helps put a very complicated history of shifting powers and loyalties into cultural and political perspective.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
What it’s about:
Striving for justice in the face of racism, a white lawyer defends a black man charged with raping a white woman. There is a constant theme of things not being what they seem, which is compounded by experiencing the story through the eyes of an innocent child.
Why it’s challenged:
The most cited reason for banning To Kill a Mockingbird is the frequent and derogatory use of the word “nigger.” A less cited reason is that it made white readers uncomfortable by exploring subtleties of racism provoking some painful introspection on white privilege.
What WanderReaders will love:
To Kill a Mockingbird has the classic southern gothic thing nailed! Being from Ohio, I find the southern way of life fascinating. It is both familiar and oddly foreign. Small town America is almost extinct but is alive and vivid as recorded here.
Beloved by Toni Morrison
What it’s about:
A former slave living free after the civil war is haunted by a mysterious woman presumably the embodiment of the infant daughter she killed in an attempt to kill herself and three children rather than return to slavery.
Why it’s challenged:
There is mention of bestiality and an explicit description of sexual abuse. The fact that it is a ghost story makes it objectionable to some religious viewpoints. The explicit descriptions of the mental and physical aftermath of being a slave is disturbing and sometimes cited as a reason for banning.
What WanderReaders will like:
I live in Ohio and love Ohio history. I love that Cincinnati was the “freedom stop” on the underground railroad for so many people. Many of the people who live there today are the grandchildren of brave men and women who defied slavery and undertook unimaginable risks and hardships in their refusal to settle for less than freedom.
The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel
What it’s about:
A prehistoric family struggle for work/life balance as new ideas and realizations change the course of history and redefine the family. (Yeah, that struggle is THAT old.)
Why it’s challenged:
The story speculates on a sexually open society and includes explicit sex scenes. It also discusses evolution and conflicts with religious viewpoints in its imagining of early man.
What WanderReaders will love:
The book vividly describes the geology and artwork within the Chauvet Cave in France. Not only that, it speculates as to the artists and their reasons for burying such sophisticated art in such a hidden place.
Read ~ Write ~ Wander
~Angie
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(cover art from the various publishers and displayed under fair use)