This year's banned books book club will be reading materials that have been historically challenged or are on the American Library Association's current challenge list. All suggestions are taken from a list compiled by current and past book club participants.
We will discuss the reasons for the item's ban or challenge and the importance of access in upholding intellectual freedom. This is a safe place for difficult discussions.
Book Dates & Descriptions:
- 10-29-24: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz, Drawn from the oral traditions of American folklore, these ghost stories and tales of weird happenings, witches, and graveyards have startling, funny, or surprising endings.
- 11-26-24: Sold by Patricia McCormick, Thirteen-year-old Lakshmi leaves her poor mountain home in Nepal thinking that she is to work in the city as a maid only to find that she has been sold into the sex slave trade in India and that there is no hope of escape.
- 12-31-24: Feed by M.T. Anderson, In a future where most people have computer implants in their heads to control their environment, a boy meets an unusual girl who is in serious trouble. Includes discussion questions and author notes.
- 1-28-25: Crank by Ellen Hopkins, Kristina is the perfect daughter: gifted high school junior, quiet, never any trouble. Then she meets the monster: crank. And what begins as a wild ride turns into a struggle for her mind, her soul--her life.
- 2-25-25: Let's Talk About It by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan, A graphic novel about sex, sexuality, gender, body, consent, and many other topics for teens.
- 4-22-25: Howl by Allen Ginsberg, The prophetic poem that launched a generation when it was first published in 1965.
- 5-27-25: Captain Underpants, the former school principal turned crime-fighting, wedgie-dodging superhero, uses his wacky talents to outwit the evil Dr. Diaper.
