USA TODAY Staff
\n\u00a0|\u00a0 USA TODAY<\/p>\n
As journalists, it’s our job\u00a0to seek out the truth even when it’s uncomfortable. We value diverse perspectives, are open to new ideas and\u00a0respect intellectual freedom<\/a>.\u00a0So it should come as no surprise that the thought of banning a book would get us riled.\u00a0<\/p>\n What happens when a book is challenged in\u00a0school boards and public libraries? Titles can be removed\u00a0from school curriculums<\/a>\u00a0or library shelves.\u00a0Most public schools and libraries have boards made up of elected officials or members appointed by elected officials. It is by the power of these officials\u00a0that a book can go from challenged to banned in a school district or public library.<\/p>\n Sure, there is the argument you can just purchase a book if it’s taken off public shelves. But that is true only for those with financial resources. For many, particularly children and young adults, school and public libraries are\u00a0the\u00a0only means to access literature.<\/p>\n With that in mind, current and former USA TODAY staff picked a challenged or banned book that was meaningful to them. In the books’\u00a0defense, we’ve written why\u00a0they deserve a place in our schools, libraries and society.<\/p>\n \u2018Looking for Alaska\u2019 by John Green<\/p>\n Young people don\u2019t typically seek out stories about grief, but I did after being hit with the sour reality that terrible things can happen to those you love and the world just moves on. Clinging to my signed first-edition, which I reread multiple times and used quotes from in my journal, is something of a core memory to my 12-year-old self. This book is challenged for explicit writing, but it offered the “stick-it-to-the-man”ness I needed to defy\u00a0expectations and endeavor to be better than the generation that came before. Over a decade after my first read, I can still feel the protest that John Green’s words invoked to seek growth and understanding above all. And that grief never leaves you, it only grows with you. \u2013 Sam Woodward<\/p>\n Junie B. Jones series by Barbara Park<\/p>\n Growing up, Junie B. Jones \u200bfelt more like a spunky pal than a book character. It’s not a moral lesson I remember, but just plain fun.\u00a0This series has been banned on the basis that Junie is not a good role model<\/a>. She’s loud and uses words like “dumb” and “stupid.” What are we telling girls if we say the only books they can read have polished, quiet protagonists? What do we stand to lose if we tell girls they can’t be messy? Series author Barbara Park once told USA TODAY<\/a>\u00a0a story is valuable even if it \u201cgives the reader nothing more than a smile or two.\u201d I couldn\u2019t agree more. \u2013 Clare Mulroy<\/p>\n ‘A Court of Thorns and Roses’ by Sarah J. Maas<\/p>\n ACOTAR \u2013 as its known by fans \u2013 starts when a woman named Feyre is kidnapped and taken to a faerie realm where a blight is plaguing the land. First, she is just figuring out how to survive, but soon she falls in love with Prythian and its subjects. What unfolds is an epic (and spicy) romance, found family, meaty twists and an adventure that brings an immersive world full of magic to life.<\/p>\n Read ACOTAR the first time to enjoy the ride. Read it the second time to pick up on every hint into the greater Maasverse. Read it the third time because you can\u2019t go a year without saying hello to your favorite characters. \u2013 Niki Gunter<\/p>\n ‘All Boys Aren\u2019t Blue’\u00a0by George M. Johnson<\/p>\n We\u2019re failing young queer readers, if a book like this stays on banned book lists. Published in 2020, this memoir-manifesto follows the author\u2019s journey of growing up a queer Black person\u00a0and is an indispensable piece of literature for high school readers. Johnson explores their childhood, adolescence and college years while revisiting traumatic and transformative experiences and weaving in important statistics about the LGBTQ community. Johnson candidly \u2013 some say explicitly \u2013 explores sexuality and unpacks their experiences with sexual assault in a way that\u2019s necessary to heal. Both a primer for teens looking to be allies to the LGBTQ community and a YA book meant to make young queer readers feel seen, Johnson\u2019s \u201cAll Boys Aren\u2019t Blue\u201d is a force to be reckoned with.\u00a0\u2013 Pamela Avila<\/p>\n ‘Gender Queer’ by Maia Kobabe<\/p>\n Reading \u201cGender Queer\u201d for the first time was like experiencing a jolt of adrenaline. Maia Kobabe\u2019s autobiographical graphic novel explores the author’s experience coming out as nonbinary and asexual, and vividly unravels small personal\u00a0moments common to so many young people. It\u2019s a book about Kobabe\u2019s journey, but it allowed me to reframe mine, offering me the space to excavate my past and challenge my own self-concept. \u201cGender Queer\u201d encourages growth and self-acceptance, and its removal from libraries is a huge disservice to teens. \u2013 Madison Durham<\/p>\n ‘The Hate U Give’ by Angie Thomas<\/p>\n This award-winning, bestselling middle-grade novel is no stranger to controversy. The book\u2019s critics say there\u2019s too much sex and profanity. Some said it breeds contempt for police.\u00a0The crux of the story, however, is systemic racism. Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter loses her best friend, Khalil, after he is shot and killed by a police officer. It\u2019s a familiar story: Khalil, a Black kid, was unarmed when the white officer shot him.\u00a0Khalil\u2019s death becomes national news. Protests ensue. And a narrative forms, painting Khalil as a troublemaker and drug lord. Starr is caught between two worlds: her poor neighborhood and the rich prep school she attends. After Khalil\u2019s death, Starr finds her voice of activism and pride in her Black identity. The banning of Thomas\u2019 book is a reminder many people are uncomfortable with the message of the Black Lives Matter movement.\u00a0\u2013 Tracee Herbaugh<\/p>\n \u2018A Tree Grows in Brooklyn\u2019 by Betty Smith<\/p>\n Packed with place and people, \u201cA Tree Grows in Brooklyn\u201d is an essential coming-of-age story not only for its protagonist, Francie Nolan, but the American experience itself. Complication enters the dream so many families share by coming to America — to prosper and thrive. The idealism of young Francie, and how it shifts as she ages, is something many Americans can relate to and thread into their own generational histories, new or old. \u2013 Nicole Fallert<\/p>\n \u2018Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda\u2019 by Becky Albertalli<\/p>\n Sixteen-year-old Simon Spier has a crush on an anonymous gay classmate who goes by the name Blue online, and with whom he has\u00a0been exchanging increasingly flirtatious emails. One problem: Neither knows the other\u2019s real identity. Another problem: Simon is\u00a0still closeted. But when a nosey classmate finds Simon\u2019s emails and threatens to out him, cautious Simon needs to step outside his comfort zone before he\u2019s pushed out. What\u2019s so welcome about Albertalli\u2019s tale of high school high jinks, secret crushes and fraught friend-group dynamics is how ordinary and familiar it is. This sweet and funny high school story is light on trauma and big on laughs, and a balm to queer readers who want to see themselves reflected in happy coming-out stories. (It also has a rather good film adaptation, \u201cLove, Simon,\u201d starring Nick Robinson and Jennifer Garner.)\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Barbara VanDenburgh<\/p>\n ‘Kafka on the Shore’ by Haruki Murakami<\/p>\n This is one of the most hauntingly, mind-bendingly beautiful books I’ve ever read. The surreal novel weaves two parallel plots that meld music and metaphysics, time and fate, and loss and alienation as it follows the young Kafka Tamura, who is fleeing an Oedipal curse, and Satoru Nakata, an old man with a knack for talking to cats. Full of surreal happenings, nothing is clearly defined in this book. Murakami leaves the story open-ended for readers, giving them space to decide what to draw from it \u2013 a level of freedom they may not often be afforded when dissecting more \u201cclassic\u201d\u00a0novels typically included in curriculums. In a setting where students are often instructed to find “the right answer,” “Kafka on the Shore” is a breath of fresh air that can stretch their imaginations. \u2013 Christine Fernando<\/p>\n ‘Twilight’ by Stephenie Meyer<\/p>\n When I was 13 years old, I snuck into my sister\u2019s room and grabbed a copy of “Twilight.” It was just before the “Breaking Dawn \u2013\u00a0Part 1” movie release, and “Twilight” fever had hit my school. The story of Bella, Edward, vampires\u00a0and forbidden love features all the hallmarks of coming-of-age literature and introduced\u00a0me to themes I hadn\u2019t seen in media yet. “Twilight” brought me together with my peers to talk about reading, giving me new worlds to explore and new friends to talk about them with. Banning “Twilight” severely limits the opportunity for students to take reading into their own hands and enjoy a coming-of-age story full of fantasy and imagination.\u00a0\u2013 Chris Panella<\/p>\n ‘I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter’\u00a0by Erika L. Sanchez<\/p>\n For young women struggling with mental health struggles, the loss of a loved one, the loss of innocence\u00a0and outdated expectations that often come with growing up in a Latino household, Sanchez\u2019s 2017 YA novel can be a lifeline. High school is a tough time, and young people\u00a0in particular\u00a0pick up a book to escape reality or to make sense of the changing world around them \u2013 reading makes them feel safe enough to express how they\u2019re feeling. And making a book like Sanchez\u2019s inaccessible hinders the representation young Latino readers need.\u00a0\u2013 Avila<\/p>\n ‘The Odyssey’ by Homer<\/p>\n Odysseus\u2019 10-year journey after the Trojan War back home to Ithaca to his wife, Penelope, and son, Telemachus, has a lot going on including witches, slavery, betrayals, monsters, cannibal giants and mass slaughter. It\u2019s a wild ride with bad\u00a0role models. The book itself and the themes it explores are so deeply woven into the fabric of our modern culture that the name itself is a genre. Knowing “The Odyssey” is like getting a peek into the source code of innumerable (truly) works of literature spanning centuries, giving any reader a deeper, more nuanced understanding of not just countless works of art but of culture itself.\u00a0\u2013 Jennifer Ernst Beaudry<\/p>\n ‘Speak’ by Laurie Halse Anderson<\/p>\n It’s funny that “Speak”\u00a0is so challenged, considering I was in high school when I read it. Apparently, it “exposes children to immorality” but adults who think teenagers aren’t already exposed to everything probably don’t remember what it was like being a teenager. Sexual assault, unhappy families\u00a0and the nuances of high school life are real-world issues that teens are already aware of. Kids need books that start difficult conversations, demonstrate the importance of using your voice and\u00a0show\u00a0you can rise above adversity. “Speak” is beautiful in its spare prose and simplicity. Many can relate to, and laugh with, Melinda’s dry humor and cynical voice. It’s a necessary story that gives permission to students whose voices are silenced to speak.\u00a0\u2013 Nusrat Sultana<\/p>\n ‘Nineteen Minutes’ by Jodi Picoult\u00a0<\/p>\n I was in eighth grade when the Columbine shooting happened, back when the concept of a school shooting was new.\u00a0Children and teens today live in a very different reality, with active shooter drills and too-frequent school shootings.\u00a0Parents have challenged this book because of its depictions of a school shooting; the bullying and romantic partner violence that led up to it; and the trauma and suicides that came after.\u00a0Banning books about these topics doesn\u2019t make them cease to exist.\u00a0The story, so beautifully told, touches on all of these topics because these are the traumas teens battle, some of which have directly contributed to violence in schools. If we\u2019re unwilling to let young people read about, think about, process and dissect the very traumas they experience all around them, how can ever hope to solve these problems?\u00a0\u2013 Katie Wedell<\/p>\n ‘Blubber’ by Judy Blume<\/p>\n I read \u201cBlubber\u201d in fifth grade, and it’s the most pivotal book of my youth. The book\u2019s main character is a young fifth grader, Jill, who joins the more popular kids in the class to ostracize Linda, a girl nicknamed Blubber\u00a0because of her size. The main reason the book has been banned is because nothing happens to Jill and her fellow bullies.\u00a0That is precisely why I needed this book. In the fifth grade, I was Linda. \u201cBlubber\u201d was inspired by an incident in the author\u2019s daughter\u2019s own fifth grade class, and what Blume saw was not the exception but\u00a0often the rule. In real life, bullies often get away with their behavior. While the similarity between myself and Blubber stung, it also provided solace. I was not alone.\u00a0It is satisfying to read stories with happy endings, but it is just as important to read ones without them. \u2013 Mary Cadden<\/p>\n ‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding<\/p>\n Golding uses preteen boys to show readers how a group of people will mistreat those they simply don\u2019t like and even beat a child to death out of fear arising from a conspiracy theory. The use of boys as main characters may make it easier for some to understand the forces that can erode a society, or may make readers feel alarmed about the \u201cend of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart.\u201d\u00a0Either way, this book can prompt young readers to think deeply about governance and societal leadership in a way that will inform them throughout their lives.\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Erin Mansfield<\/p>\n ‘Of Mice and Men’ by John Steinbeck<\/p>\n “Of Mice and Men” revolves around the friendship between two migrant workers during the Great Depression. I remember reading the book for my high school English class and thinking about loneliness as well as companionship. The two protagonists are brought together by a shared dream of purchasing land that’s eventually shattered by the predatory social environment for migrant workers. With this book, school-age readers have the opportunity to examine the conflict between reality and the American dream, in addition to human friendships.\u00a0\u2013\u00a0 Rayna Song<\/p>\n ‘A Light in the Attic’ by Shel Silverstein<\/p>\n Silverstein\u2019s collections of poetic nonsense was a classic on our living room bookshelf. His fantastical black-and-white sketches begged a wild imagination and a healthy sense of humor. They posed impossible scenarios, built as much for wordplay as they were for plot. “A Light in the Attic” has been banned over claims it promotes disrespect and violence.\u00a0To argue this is to argue that children are unable to understand hyperbole. I am a deep believer that adolescent minds should be taken seriously, and the greatest children\u2019s authors know this too.\u00a0I want the next generation to learn just as I did from Silverstein the joy of twisting words in different ways, of laughing at themselves, and of finding poetry and humor in everyday life.\u00a0\u2013 Anna Kaufman<\/p>\n ‘Eleanor & Park’ by Rainbow Rowell<\/p>\n Rowell\u2019s novel captures what it means to be a misfit\u00a0teenage girl in a world that wants to cast you aside. As a teenager, this book made me feel seen as it keys into the nuances of being an outcast while coming into your own.\u00a0This book has been banned for coarse language and sexuality, but it covers difficult topics such as racism, domestic abuse\u00a0and body image that are enlightening for teen and adult readers alike. With high school years being a turbulent time for many, “Eleanor & Park” provides a much-needed perspective on surviving your teenage years in the face of adversity.\u00a0\u2013 Samantha Mangino<\/p>\n ‘Two Boys Kissing’ by David Levithan<\/p>\n I revisited \u201cTwo Boys Kissing\u201d almost 10 years after first reading it, and \u2013 in the best possible way \u2013 it was more of a gut-punch than I’d recalled. The narration by a Greek chorus of men who died of AIDS is an emotional reminder of the strong bonds of chosen family.\u00a0This book feels especially timely as progress on LGBTQ rights faces renewed political\u00a0backlash. Reading \u201cTwo Boys Kissing\u201d today shows how much has changed while highlighting what work there still is to be done \u2013 and what we may be in danger of losing if we become complacent about our progress. The young characters remind us what is at stake and who most needs to hear these stories and feel a community\u2019s love today. \u2013\u00a0Zach Wichter<\/p>\n ‘Something Happened in Our Town: A Child\u2019s Story About Racial Injustice’ by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, Ann Hazzard<\/p>\n As this book follows\u00a0a Black family and a white family discussing the police shooting of a Black man, its first page reads, \u201cthe grown-ups didn\u2019t think the kids knew about it.\u201d\u00a0Amid nationwide conversations about race, many parents assume children are in the dark or unable to have meaningful discussions about racism. But children hear the murmurings and have questions. Shutting those down means lost opportunities for learning.\u00a0A growing body of research\u00a0shows children begin to notice race years before adults want to talk about it with them. Delaying these conversations and ignoring the realities of racism could make children more susceptible to racist beliefs. After all, it\u2019s the adult\u2019s responsibility to help children make sense of their social world.\u00a0\u201cSomething Happened\u201d approaches these conversations with care and includes child-friendly discussion guides curated by child psychologists to help encourage vital parent-child conversations about race.\u00a0\u2013 Fernando<\/p>\n ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ by Stephen Chbosky<\/p>\n The story is told in intimate, first-person letters from protagonist Charlie, who is coming of age after a traumatic childhood. I read \u201cPerks\u201d when I was about 15. Being a teenager can be incredibly isolating, and for me, books were, and still are, a form of therapy. Reading \u201cPerks\u201d was my first time seeing myself\u00a0in a character on the page. The book introduced me to \u201cThe Rocky Horror Picture Show\u201d, David Bowie, LGBTQ+ themes, how to deal with the peer pressure to drink or try drugs, and a encouraged a deep sense of how to love yourself through everything. It\u2019s a book I would want my child to read to help them see empathy for those struggling with mental health, and learn that everyone in life, especially in high school, is going through some sort of struggle \u2014 and it\u2019s OK to talk about it. \u2013\u00a0Gunter<\/p>\n ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ by Maya Angelou<\/p>\n Angelou\u2019s beautifully written autobiographical novel touches on two important\u00a0and painful\u00a0subjects that often get it banned from schools: rape and racism. While they may not be the most comfortable topics, they\u2019re still as prevalent now as they were in 1969, when the book was published. It features some graphic depictions, but the sad truth is these topics are not new to many young adults, and reading about Angelou\u2019s healing journey is instrumental in letting them know they\u2019re not alone. Simply banning a book that depicts rape and racism doesn\u2019t shield readers from facing them in their lives; it just removes another resource that may help them move forward.\u00a0\u2013 Kate Ellsworth<\/p>\n \u2018The Kite Runner\u2019 by Khaled Hosseini<\/p>\n Hosseini\u2019s \u201cThe Kite Runner,\u201d which has been adapted into a film and Broadway production, tells the story of Amir, the son of a wealthy businessman who becomes close friends with Hassan, the son of one of his father\u2019s servants in 1970s Afghanistan. As a student who frequently picked up books above her reading level, I remember reading \u201cThe Kite Runner\u201d in middle school. The book has been widely challenged for sexual violence, homosexuality and its religious viewpoints. Reading it \u201cThe Kite Runner\u201d sparked important conversations with my mom at home. I continue to think about \u201cThe Kite Runner\u201d today, as our world becomes more divided by class and race, and how important a story about bridging these gaps is for young readers. \u2013 Greta Cross<\/p>\n ‘The House on Mango Street’ by Sandra Cisneros<\/p>\n There are some novels that read like poetry, and this is on that list. Cisneros uses short vignettes to show key moments in the life of Esperanza, a 12-year-old Latina girl growing up in Chicago, poised in the awkward time between childhood and adolescence. The writing is truly lovely, and the use of vignettes creates a feeling of being inside someone\u2019s memories. Cisneros creates a portrait of a community, both the love and support as well as the restrictive and painful aspects. The latter includes moments of domestic and sexual abuse, and as Esperanza ages within the novel, her understanding and descriptions of those situations become more explicit, though never graphic. It is easy to understand why the book has won multiple awards, as Cisneros plays with narrative form and storytelling, and questions what it means to belong in a fascinating and wonderful way.\u00a0 \u2013 Rebecca Viser<\/p>\n ‘Maus’ by\u00a0Art Spiegelman\u00a0<\/p>\n Spiegelman’s semi-autobiographical novel about his parents’ experiences in\u00a0Auschwitz and his family’s subsequent\u00a0lifelong traumas is a masterpiece of Holocaust literature and should be essential\u00a0to all school-age readers.\u00a0Though “Maus” is not a children’s book, its graphic medium and depiction of Jews and Germans as mice and cats makes the topic more approachable for younger readers still trying to get their heads around the unfathomable\u00a0historical horror.\u00a0The only way to avoid a second Holocaust is to teach the first.\u00a0\u2013 VanDenburgh\u00a0<\/p>\n ‘Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry’ by Mildred D. Taylor<\/p>\n American public school reading curriculum is heavily white. I can attest to that with my own experience: In my 12 years as a student in American public schools, I was assigned only one novel by an African American writer, and that was Taylor\u2019s Newbery Medal-winning story of the Logan family, sharecroppers in rural Mississippi whose love for one another helps them survive the cruelties of the Jim Crow South. I grew up a pretty privileged white kid with no personal experience of racism, and I can keenly recall how hot I burned with the unfairness of it reading \u201cRoll of Thunder\u201d for the first time in the second grade. If we want to create more anti-racists, we need to assign more diverse books in schools, and \u201cRoll of Thunder\u201d is still a great place for young readers to start. \u2013\u00a0VanDenburgh<\/p>\n ‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell<\/p>\n I first read it in middle school in Phoenix, only a few years after my family had escaped communist Vietnam in 1975. I checked it out of my school library because of the title and was ready for enchanted spiders and pigs like in \u201cCharlotte’s Web\u201d by E.B. White. Instead, in Orwell\u2019s attack on the Soviet Union, I recognized all too well what my family was hearing from relatives who hadn\u2019t been able to flee the fall of Saigon. Daily indoctrination classes,\u00a0South Vietnamese officers sent to reeducation camps and\u00a0their homes confiscated and given to communist officers. Those who could still afford radios risked imprisonment to listen to Voice of America because you couldn\u2019t believe the state-run media. Orwell wrote\u00a0\u201cAnimal Farm\u201d\u00a0because he wanted to tell the story of the Russian Revolution in a way anyone could understand. And children everywhere need to. \u2013 Thuan Le Elston<\/p>\n ‘Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out’\u00a0by Susan Kuklin<\/p>\n In this book, Kuklin interviews six trans teens about their childhoods, their coming-out experiences\u00a0and where they are today. It brings hope to trans teens that there is a future for them, and it provides a clear look into their minds for loved ones to truly understand their points of view. Despite this book receiving many awards, it is often banned for \u201cits effect on any young people who would read it.\u201d To the contrary, this book provides a unique perspective on gender and sexuality to help teens learn about themselves from other people their age. I believe this book does a great service to the young LGBTQ community. \u2013\u00a0Melissa Rorech<\/p>\n ‘The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian’ by Sherman Alexie<\/p>\n I first read\u00a0the story of Junior leaving his Spokane Indian Reservation school for an all-white school during Banned Books Week in middle school. As Junior struggles to find his place in a school where the only other Indian is the mascot, he grapples with generational poverty and discrimination. As a person of color at an extremely white school, I saw myself in his battle to explore identity in an environment that seeks to erase it. This book shows tribes as part of the current fabric of our nation rather than merely part of history. And it examines\u00a0a dimension of diversity that\u2019s often forgotten:\u00a0disability. In the hands of a trusted teacher who can guide students through difficult conversations, this story has the power to push readers into uncomfortable but important \u2013 all through the lens of an uproariously funny teen.\u00a0\u2013 Fernando<\/a><\/p>\n Goosebumps\u00a0series by R.L. Stine<\/p>\n It\u2019s fun to be scared. Granted, in controlled environments \u2013\u00a0movie theaters, haunted houses,\u00a0or between the covers of a book. Or in the case of Stine\u2019s beloved horror series, dozens of books starring a bevy of spooky frights: werewolves, ghosts, haunted Halloween masks and even an evil ventriloquist’s dummy. These books have long been challenged in school libraries for being too scary, but those who object clearly don\u2019t remember what it was like to be a kid with a vivid imagination. In a world so full of real horrors, the pretend ones offer escape and catharsis. Besides, if my generation could survive the \u201cScary Stories to Tell in the Dark\u201d illustrations, what possible danger could a few \u201cGoosebumps\u201d books be?\u00a0\u2013 VanDenburgh<\/p>\n ‘Bridge to Terabithia’\u00a0by Katherine Paterson<\/p>\n Farm boy Jess Aarons and imaginative, bright-eyed new girl Leslie Burke become friends and create Terabithia, a fantasy kingdom in the woods. Inspired by the magic they brought to that wooded glade, I once made my own Terabithia in a circle of tall trees in my backyard while playing outside with my friends. But (spoiler alert) after Leslie fell to her death, I was shocked. I didn\u2019t know then that Leslie\u2019s death and Jess\u2019 experience of it would feel much like how my own loss would feel in the many years to come \u2013 random and senseless. Seeing Jess in the aftermath of Leslie\u2019s death prepared many of us for what loss would feel like, the unsparing pendulum swinging between the good days and the bad. Their story also taught me the power of joyful imagination and creativity, that people are complicated (even the bullies) and that, despite the devastating reality of death, there is hope for life after loss.\u00a0\u2013 Fernando<\/p>\n ‘Brave New World’\u00a0by Aldous Huxley<\/p>\n Few classic sci-fi novels bear more of a resemblance to modern times than “Brave New World.” Huxley explores a future in which the government\u2019s obsessive need for economic growth creates an endless consumerist cycle and a\u00a0society divided into a rigid caste system that separates people by jobs, intelligence and appearance. The world is painted as a utopia but only because its citizens are kept complacent by entertainment and mood-altering drugs. They believe they receive everything they want, but their places in society have been carefully curated by the government and technology. There\u2019s no room to be an individual in Huxley\u2019s futuristic England, and anyone who tries is punished. Consumerism. Prejudice. Happiness above\u00a0truth. These are all things we continue to grapple with as a modern, global society. \u2013 Joanna Nelius<\/p>\n ‘Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret’\u00a0by Judy Blume<\/p>\n \u201cWhy would anyone want to ban \u2018Are You There God\u2019?\u201d my sixth grade daughter asked. \u201cIt\u2019s my favorite book.\u201d Grace is 11, the same age I was when I read Blume\u2019s classic novel about preteen girls grappling with puberty (breasts and periods, anyone?),\u00a0religion and sexuality. As with Grace today, it was my favorite book then. I found comfort and familiarity in Margaret, her friends and her conversations with God. Their world was my world, and Blume paints an unvarnished picture of what life is like for maturing girls. Those frank discussions of sensitive topics \u2013 often challenging for tweens and adults alike \u2013 are why girls love the book and adults challenge it. And why this mom is thrilled that it\u2019s still one sixth\u00a0graders reach for and cherish, a generation later.\u00a0\u2013 Kristen DelGuzzi<\/p>\n ‘Persepolis’ by Marjane Satrapi<\/p>\n When I first read \u201cPersepolis\u201d in college, I was immediately enchanted with the punk rock protagonist of the graphic memoir. I never lived through the Islamic Revolution in Iran, but to see Satrapi depict how\u00a0the revolution disrupted people, families and communities has always stuck with me. I\u2019m not sure how anyone can read \u201cPersepolis\u201d and not be touched by how loving Satrapi\u2019s family is even when they fear for her safety. Satrapi showed us what life was like as a young, rebellious woman growing up in Iran during the 1980s. For those who found a way to survive, they lived life as best they could. And like so many other young women coming of age, Satrapi had sex (gasp!) and cursed and used drugs. Experimenting is what young people do. It\u2019s an insult to her vulnerability that some have tried to ban her book. \u2013 Mabinty Quarshie<\/p>\n ‘The Glass Castle’ by Jeannette Walls<\/p>\n Alcoholism, abuse and poverty plagued Jeannette Walls\u2019 childhood. But so did ambition, hope and love. The meticulous \u2014 and at times heart-wrenching \u2014 juxtaposition of these themes makes this memoir a compelling read despite concerns over the sensitive nature of its content. As a child, Walls\u2019 family lived a nomadic lifestyle in pursuit of a lavish lifestyle complete with a castle-like home. Walls\u2019 recounting of her dysfunctional upbringing, as well as her ascent into adulthood, sheds light on the reality that millions of impoverished children face in this country: A need to provide for and protect themselves when adults won\u2019t. \u2013 Melina Khan<\/p>\n ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’\u00a0by Mark Haddon<\/p>\n This was among the first books I read with a neurodiverse character at its core. Instead of letting Christopher sit on the periphery, Haddon brings the reader into Christopher\u2019s perception of the world by writing the text in ways that make it more representative of his lived experience. The novel directly shows\u00a0how Christopher perceives things, including how signs at a busy airport become overwhelming walls of text. This allows Haddon to bring into question whether what most people think of as \u201cnormal\u201d is actually better. Christopher\u2019s world is more compassionate and empathetic toward animals, including his\u00a0pet rat, Toby, and the dog whose mysterious death he sets out to solve. Aside from being a phenomenal bildungsroman, the novel stands the test of time. I read it first as a teenager, and again in my senior year of college. Both times I walked away feeling as though I\u2019d learned more than you\u2019d think a fictional book could ever teach. \u2013\u00a0Lindsey Vickers<\/p>\n ‘The Things They Carried’ by Tim O’Brien<\/p>\n The Vietnam War may have started more than\u00a060 years ago, but that doesn’t make the war stories of “The Things They Carried” any less relevant for young readers today. It’s not an easy read\u00a0but that’s the point.\u00a0Learning about the day-to-day struggles soldiers have to endure is not supposed to be easy. It’s supposed to be vulgar, explicit and confusing because that’s exactly what soldiers face. The novel provides an unfiltered view of war that vastly contrasted the way people felt about World War II. It represents a pivotal point in history and mirrors the public sentiment of the \u201970s when people stopped romanticizing war and started critically examining why we go to war and how it affects\u00a0those who fight. This book\u00a0presents a much-needed glimpse into the real lives of soldiers, and while it may not be a feel-good read, it\u2019s a necessary one.\u00a0\u2013 Ellsworth<\/p>\n ‘The Golden Compass’ by Philip Pullman<\/p>\n The same reason as to why \u201cThe Golden Compass\u201d was banned is the reason it should be a must-read. The novel is often described as the antithesis of \u201cThe Chronicles of Narnia,\u201d which is known for its Christian allegories, because of its supposed message of atheism. Pullman\u2019s first book in “His Dark Materials” fantasy trilogy pushes the boundaries with young characters seeing through the lies of organized religion (in this case the Magisterium) and eventually killing \u201cGod\u201d himself. Regardless of the readers\u2019 religion, it\u2019s important for children to learn to question any and all institutions.\u00a0Through a more contemporary lens, readers will surely appreciate Pullman\u2019s themes even if they don\u2019t agree with his conclusions.\u00a0\u2013 Josh Rivera<\/p>\n ‘Beloved’ by Toni Morrison<\/p>\n Motherhood in the U.S. has never been easy. We are a nation that reveres motherhood without providing the resources moms need to thrive. Now imagine the trauma of being an enslaved Black mother who doesn\u2019t even control her own body, much less her children’s. \u201cBeloved\u201d shows us the impossible choices Black mothers were forced to make during slavery. Who could blame Sethe, the protagonist, for doing anything to prevent her children from being enslaved \u2013 even to the point of death? I certainly can\u2019t. Slavery has never been pretty, and it never will be. There are moments of incredible pain and violence inflicted upon Black men and women in \u201cBeloved.\u201d We can\u2019t look away from these horrors because a few people refuse to accept that racism was a fundamental part of U.S. history. Holding up the nation\u2019s sins to our faces was a heroic choice Morrison made in her writing. And we were all the better for it.\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Quarshie<\/p>\n ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee<\/p>\n Everything in this book is uncomfortable, and not because it accurately describes overt racism in sometimes noxious language.\u00a0It\u2019s uncomfortable because it holds up a mirror to our present: the ease with which neighbors will embrace lies and willingly fall in with a mob; a legal system working overtime to send a Black man to prison; how fear informs our view of the mentally ill; and the brutal dividing line between the poor and the privileged. This is a provocative book, not a perfect one. But the shortcomings of 1930s race, society and language it depicts\u00a0which so distress critics are not failings of the author\u2019s words. They are the continued failings of our world. Now is not the time to look away. \u00a0\u2013\u00a0Patricia Beall<\/p>\n ‘The God of Small Things’ by Arundhati Roy<\/p>\n Winner of the Man Booker Prize, “The God of Small Things” focuses on twins and their family in Kerala, India.\u00a0Roy explores how her characters\u2019 lives \u2013 both past and present \u2013 are shaped by their social, political, religious and environmental surroundings. She provides readers with an insightful look into India\u2019s colonial history, discriminatory caste system and the rise of the Communist Party in the nation in the late \u201960s while challenging notions of forbidden love to present a complex portrait of an era and its societal consequences years later.\u00a0It’s an important read for students to understand the legacy of colonialism and the devastating impacts of discrimination.\u00a0\u2013 Grace Hauck<\/p>\n ‘The Outsiders’ by S.E. Hinton<\/p>\n When Johnny Cade implores Ponyboy Curtis to \u201cstay gold,\u201d it\u2019s more than a wish from a dying friend. It\u2019s a prayer of sorts to be carried throughout life, an adage to turn to when we need to be uplifted. That line, taken from Robert Frost\u2019s poem \u201cNothing Gold Can Stay,\u201d is the moral centerpiece of Hinton\u2019s novel and its study of innocence lost. Pitting the blue-collar \u201cGreasers\u201d\u00a0against the wealthy \u201cSocs\u201d is a frequently employed trope, but the melancholy that pervades Hinton\u2019s debut novel (which she wrote in high school!) resonates beyond a seemingly simplistic setup of contrasting socioeconomic status. Some find the murder in the book unsuitable for teen readers. But when Johnny later tries to rescue some schoolchildren from a burning church (and dies from his injuries), the point is made. Golden is eternal. \u2013\u00a0Melissa Ruggieri<\/p>\n ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ by Mark Twain<\/p>\n