Banned Books Display: Home

Reason this book was challenged:
Was examined at Canadian border as "possible hate literature" and shipments were held back for 24 hours.

Reason this book was challenged:
"Blasphemy"

Reason this book was challenged:
Some residents of Marshall, MO wanted to remove this graphic novel from library shelves due to "pornographic" content. The book was removed temporarily and then re-shelved in another section of the library.

Reason this book was challenged:
Frequently challenged due to sexually explicit content.

Reason this book was challenged:
“shocking and offensive language”

Reason this book was challenged: gambling, offensive language, political viewpoint, “politically, racially, and socially offensive,” “graphic depictions.”
In 2013 it was pulled from some Chicago public schools and challenged in many other areas of the United States.

Reason this book was challenged:
Obscenity, criticism of the intolerance of religion, religious blasphemy, political sedition and intellectual hostility.
Banned in France shortly after its publication in 1759, but nonetheless became a bestseller.

Reason this book was challenged:
Portrayal of anthropomorphized animals.
Banned in China's Hunan province in the 1930's.

Reason this book was challenged:
References sexual promiscuity, anti-family, anti-religion. Has been challenged in many instances, including being banned in India and Ireland in the early and mid-20th century.

Reason this book was challenged: offensive language, racism.
To Kill a Mockingbird has been banned and challenged throughout the United States since it was first published.

A collection of passages from books that Canada Customs had barred from entering Canada, with a focus on gay and lesbian writing.

Reason this book was challenged:
Obscene, indecent, offensive, proposes man as god.
Banned by South Africa's Apartheid regime during the 20th century.

Reason this book was challenged:
Sexual content, restricted to people over 18, racial and obscene.
Banned from the United States and the United Kingdom in the 1920's. Burned in the U.S., Canada, Ireland, and England during same time period.

Reason this book was challenged:
"Obscene"
Seized by the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice in 1922.

Reason this book was challenged:
Too critical of political allies, against Islamic values.
Banned throughout the 20th century in many countries around the world.

Reason this book was challenged:
Features people smoking, irreligious, satanic, promotes witchcraft.
Has been banned and challenged in many Christian schools, including an incident in 2001 in Alamogordo, New Mexico, where copies of the book were burned outside a community church.

Reason this book was challenged:
Bad language, sexual references, partying, alcohol, lying, deceitful characters.

Reason this book was challenged:
Obscenity.
In 1957, the publisher was arrested on charges of obscenity and copies of the book were seized.

Reason this book was challenged:
Unsuited to age group, offensive language, sexually explicit, moral issues, “anti-white, vulgar, sexual, dealing with the occult”
Challenged by schools in Oklahoma and Ohio, and banned by a library for violating moral codes.

Reason this book was challenged:
Vulgarity, offensive and racist language, promotion of euthanasia, racial slurs, anti-business, and containing offensive language.
Has been challenged in many instances over the years, most recently in Newton, Iowa, in 2007 because the characters exclaim "Jesus Christ" in the dialogue.

Reason this book was challenged:
Obscene, filthy, inappropriate (for students), criticises the church, sexual innuendos.
Has been challenged, banned and censored ever since its publication 700 years ago.

Reason this book was challenged:
Not age appropriate, "filth", too sexual.
In 2013 the Randolph County Board of Education, in North Carolina, voted to remove this classic from all school libraries.

Reason this book was challenged:
Pornographic, “glorifies criminal activity, has a tendency to corrupt juveniles, and contains descriptions of bestiality, bizarre violence, and torture, dismemberment, death, and human elimination.”
Challenged and removed from reading lists and public schools throughout the United States from the 1970's onwards.

Reason this book was challenged:
Racial themes, sexual content and ghosts.
Banned and challenged by several school districts throughout the U.S.

Reason this book was challenged:
“is just completely objectionable, from language to the content,” pornographic.
Had been frequently challenged since its first publication in the 1970's, and most recently, in 2013, Alabama State Senator Bill Holtzclaw declared that the book should be banned in schools.

Reason this book was challenged:
Sex, violence, and profanity.
Most recently challenged at an Indiana high school in 2010, when students were forced to stop reading the book halfway through, due to concerns from the school board.

Reason this book was challenged:
Filled with adult content, gang rape, whorehouse.
Has twice been challenged in Canadian high schools, with challengers asking that the book be removed from curriculum.

Reason this book was challenged:
“reeked of sordidness”, abortion, strong language.
Since the 1960's The Diviners has been challenged in various school districts throughout Ontario. The ensuing debates and defenses of the novel led to the formation of Freedom to Read week.

Reason this book was challenged: This book was challenged at a Canadian public library for containing a "one-sided view of the conflict in the Gaza Strip."