When people normally think of Brits writing dystopian literature, their minds instantly go to George Orwell and his always-popular 1984. However, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is another great novel from across the pond that imagines a futuristic, totalitarian society. While Orwell may have been focused on how nations keep their citizens compliant through power and fear, Huxley saw another possible danger of authoritarian society—domination through pleasure.
In the society of Brave New World, people are stratified into genetically modified castes, but no one really seems to mind because the government keeps everyone pumped full of feel-good drugs and preoccupied with leisure and free relations. This book shouldn't be banned because it illustrates how much power feeling good has over humans and how that can be weaponized against us.
Cartoonist Art Spiegelman's early '90s graphic novel Maus became the first and only graphic novel to ever win a Pulitzer Prize in 1992. However, despite the categorization as a "graphic novel," Spiegelman's work is nonfiction. He wrote and illustrated the book based on his father's experiences as a Holocaust survivor, replacing all the major players as categories of animals — think Orwell's Animal Farm.
This prize-winning book has been plastered across headlines after a McMinn County School Board in Tennessee struck the book from its curriculum just in time for International Holocaust Remembrance Day. They decided to ban the book because of curse words and an illustration of a "nude woman," even though she's depicted as a mouse.
We're pretty sure that there are very few children out there who never read E.B. White's beloved tale Charlotte's Web, but if you need a refresher, here's what went down. A little girl named Fern spares the life of Wilber, the runt of his litter of pigs, and is allowed to raise him, but that places Wilbur in danger of being eaten. A barn spider named Charlotte helps Wilbur escape slaughter at the hands of the farmer by writing messages praising him on her web.
So what’s so wrong with Wilber, Charlotte, and Templeton? Well, they’re all animals that can talk, of course! There's nothing worse than that! Some critics saw the portrayal of animals capable of speech as “blasphemous” and “unnatural." We wouldn't want children running around using their imaginations... Sounds pretty ridiculous, right?
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas was published in 2017, making it a recent addition to school curricula as well as the American Library Association's lists of banned books. Thomas' debut novel follows 16-year-old Starr Carter after she witnesses the murder of her friend Khalil at the hands of a white police officer and a jury deems the officer not guilty. For obvious reasons, The Hate U Give is not widely accepted among school boards, yet it's a phenomenon among young readers.
Despite debuting at the #1 New York Times best-seller list and staying there for 50 weeks, themes including code-switching and Black Lives Matter plus vulgar language, drugs, and relations caused the novel to be one of the most challenged books in 2017, 2018, and 2020.
George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984 is probably his most famous work, but Animal Farm is a close second, and for good reason too. This allegorical tale follows the story of talking animals who successfully overthrow their tyrannical, cruel farmer. However, it's not long before another despot on the farm has emerged, and this time, the animals' dictator has four legs just like them.
This book should never be banned because this is not just a cautionary tale—it illustrates common power struggles that pop up in all sorts of political and social movements. What starts as a well-intentioned crusade can quickly and easily turn into a vehicle for a power-hungry tyrant to use the movement for their own personal gain. Remember, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein is a short, illustrated story that has managed to provoke a whole range of reactions from readers. Some people love it because they think it's a cautionary tale about destroying the environment, while others hate it because they say it teaches children to let people take advantage of them.
Regardless of how you feel about it, this is one story that shouldn't be banned. It's not a story about nature nor taking advantage of people—it's a story about the pains and joys of selfless love. The world could probably do with a few more Giving Trees in it.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding is not for the faint of heart, but this disturbing story is definitely a good and important read. In it, a group of preteen boys is stranded on a deserted island, and things quickly go downhill for the group. Not only do they struggle to survive in the wilderness, but they also struggle to keep their darkest human impulses in check.
Like many of the books on this list, Lord of the Flies should never be banned because it's another great example of the terrifying things that can happen when groups succumb to hysteria and irrationality. While the story may focus on children indulging their violent impulses, those impulses are in us all, and I don't think we always appreciate how easily society would crumble were they left unchecked.
When it comes to contentious books, the Bible puts everyone else to shame. Heather Has Two Mommies may have spurred some protests, but no one has ever taken a life or laid down their own for it. At least in America, it seems like two types of people have very strong opinions about the Bible—those who think it's the word of God and should be everywhere and those who think it's a collection of barbaric myths and superstitions and should be censored entirely.
While the mature themes throughout the ancient book draw some parallels to other texts on this list, the Bible should not be banned because of this little thing we have in America called "religious freedom." If the Bible can be banned, so can other religious texts, like the Qur'an, Torah, or Gita. No one should be forced to read religious material, but access is a constitutionally protected right.
Candide by Voltaire isn't a long read, but it is one of the funniest and most disturbing you'll ever experience. The story follows young Candide, his love, Cunegonde, and their radically optimistic tutor, Dr. Pangloss, who constantly professes that they're living in "the best of all possible worlds" despite massive evidence to the contrary. While Voltaire was satirizing a specific popular philosophy of his time, it's still a hilarious and important read for those unfamiliar with its real-world implications.
Candide is a book that should never be banned because it still has important lessons for us today. In a world gone crazy over fears of "disinformation," you're likely to run into plenty of Dr. Panglosses who are telling you to believe something that directly contradicts what you see with your own two eyes. If Candide had just told the good doctor that he was full of it the first time he spouted his nonsense, he could have spared himself and Cunegonde a lot of pain and suffering.
Shirley Jackson had several big hits during her career, but she's probably most famous for her short story "The Lottery". In it, we see a seemingly idyllic New England town where each year, a citizen is chosen at random as a sacrifice to ensure a good harvest. When it was originally published in The New Yorker, the magazine reported that they had never received so much hate mail for a short story.
"The Lottery" is a terrifying masterpiece about the dangers of mob mentality and our human desire for a scapegoat, and it shouldn't be banned unless we want to learn those lessons the hard way. It's truly unnerving how willingly the townspeople go along with this horrific tradition. Even the eventual sacrificial victim is on board with the whole thing until their name gets chosen!
Unlike some of the other books on this list, not many people would consider V.C. Andrews' Flowers in the Attic to be high literature. This sordid, Gothic tale follows a group of young siblings who are trapped against their will in their grandmother's home. The controversy surrounding this book is largely due to the fact that the oldest two siblings begin a romantic relationship while in captivity.
The reason Flowers in the Attic shouldn't be banned is that it's just not worth it. Banning it will just give it an aura of mystery and danger and make kids want to read it even more! Even if you're okay with your kids reading racy stuff like this, it's not the most well-written novel in the whole world. It's honestly kind of a snooze fest that's best just ignored.
In the literary world of Franz Kafka, one thing is always true: life is very, very absurd. Even when it's terrible, it's still ridiculous. In his novel The Trial, the protagonist experiences this firsthand when he is accused of an unspecified crime and is told to wait for his trial. His life quickly devolves into a confusing nightmare as he tries to navigate the opaque bureaucracy that has charged him with these unnamed offenses to plead his innocence.
Despite being almost a century old, this is still an important novel that shouldn't be banned in our modern society. Too many people these days don't seem to appreciate just how much power unaccountable bureaucrats have over our lives and how easily they can turn our lives into a nightmare.
The Salem Witch Trials may be long gone, but the animating spirit of paranoia and conformity that inspired them is still alive and well in our society. And no other play proves this obvious fact better than Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Originally intended as an allegory for the communist allegations roiling Hollywood at the time, its message is still right at home in our modern cancel culture.
The Crucible should never be banned because people need to realize that hysteria, tribalism, and "righteous" causes can lead humanity into some very dark, very violent places. People also need to realize that the cost of standing up against the mob is sometimes as high as your own life.
When it comes to classic American novels, none are more popular than The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. And since its release in 1885, people have constantly been advocating for it to be banned or censored. Their main complaint centers around the book's liberal use of the n-word.
However, this is one book that should never be banned. Context matters, and the book's use of the n-word is not particularly egregious, and definitely not harmful to readers, consider the setting and characters using that word.
When Go Ask Alice debuted in 1971, it caused a real stir. Written in a journal format, the book was allegedly ripped from the pages of a real teen girl's diary. The book details all the scandalous situations this anonymous girl finds herself in. There was just one problem—none of it was real. It was clear to anyone who read a couple of pages that this story was too absurd and out-there to be true.
Despite it being a phony "real life" account of life as a teen, Go Ask Alice still shouldn't be banned. And that's mostly to spite the people involved in its creation. We can't let future generations forget that the people behind Go Ask Alice thought we were gullible enough to buy their baloney hook, line, and sinker.
Harper Lee's classic novel has been a staple of American classrooms for decades. And during that time, it's faced attacks from across the political spectrum. It follows the story of a young girl, Scout, and her lawyer father, who is defending a Black man falsely accused accused of SA in the deep South.
Despite the naysayers through the years, Mockingbird is another book that should never be banned. It illustrates a sad but important moment in American history and played its own role in changing attitudes about race throughout the country. Plus, reading it is basically an American tradition at this point—many students reading it for the first time today have parents (and maybe even grandparents) who read it in school themselves.
Orwell’s not-so-subtle commentary on his thoughts of the trajectory of American politics got his book 1984 banned in Kansas the same year it was published (1949). Why was Kansas so quick to slap a ban on Orwell? His novel is painfully clear regarding his distrust of what politicians paint as "truth" as well as the danger of totalitarianism, surveillance, and policing everyone's actions down to their thoughts.
Soon after this initial ban, several other schools and libraries followed suit, labeling the book both corrupting of the youth and dangerously subversive. These days, however, Orwellian thought—and, consequently, Orwell's novels—have become obnoxiously popular among wannabe hipsters. To be honest, the book better proved its point when people hated it
Anne Frank's diary AKA The Diary of a Young Girl is a nonfiction compilation of young Anne Frank's writings during her time hiding in a secret annex with her family during World War II. So why is this book banned? Let’s just say when you’re in hiding for two years, you... learn a lot about yourself (if you catch our drift)
In the original version of The Diary of Anne Frank, there are several explicit passages regarding female anatomy that cemented the book's spot on the list of banned books. But in what insane universe are people actually getting hot and bothered by the diary of a teenage girl who would later suffer such a tragic fate?
J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is a bonafide example of a coming-of-age story aimed at summarizing the teenage experience and touching the lives of young adult readers. While this story was originally published for adult readers, it soon became a popular read with teen readers due to its themes of angst and alienation.
The change in the intended audience, profanity, and anti-authority themes also demonstrated in the story skyrocketed The Catcher in the Rye to the number one censored book from 1961 to 1982. If we know anything about teenagers, there's no better way to make them read a book than by telling them they can't.
The Bluest Eye is Toni Morrison's debut novel, which was initially published in 1970. Set in 1941 after the Great Depression, the novel follows the story of a young black girl named Pecola, who wishes to have blue eyes like white girls because she is routinely seen as "ugly" for her dark skin. The narrator of the story is Claudie MacTeer, the daughter of Pecola's foster parents. Since its publication, the book has fallen from #4 on the most banned books in the U.S. to #10.
Because the book discussed controversial themes, countless libraries and school systems have attempted or successfully banned the novel from their institutions. From Maryland to Michigan and countless other states, banning across the U.S. placed The Bluest Eye at the top of the ALA's Top Ten Most Challenged Books list in 2006, 2014, 2013, and 2020.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker is a poignant novel that follows the life of Celie, an African American woman living in the South in the early 20th century. The story is told through Celie's letters, written to God and later to her sister Nettie, detailing her experiences of trauma, oppression, and, ultimately, self-discovery and empowerment. As Celie navigates through relationships marked by hardship and resilience, she finds strength in the bonds of sisterhood and the power of her own voice.
The novel has faced controversy and has been banned from some schools due to its depiction of sensitive themes and explicit language, which some educators and parents have deemed inappropriate for younger readers. Despite these challenges, The Color Purple continues to be celebrated for exploring important issues such as race, gender, identity, and its powerful message of hope and redemption.
The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel published in 1985 and written by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. Atwood wrote the book against a dark backdrop of political groups, mainly the attitudes of the religious right at the time. She states that her novel is a vision of the result of where even "casually held attitudes about women were taken to their logical end."
The Handmaid's Tale won everything from the Nebula Award and the Booker Prize '86 to the first-ever Arthur C. Clarke Award in '87. It has since developed into an uber-popular HBO television series yet still receives plenty of critiques for graphic content. The ALA ranked the novel #37 on the most frequently challenged books from 1990-2000, becoming the seventh most challenged book in 2019.
There's no denying that reading Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita is a disturbing experience. The 1955 novel follows an adult male narrator who has become obsessed with a little girl. Needless to say, people have been up in arms about this book since it was published, and they don't show any signs of letting up their anger anytime soon.
However, despite the disturbing subject material, Lolita is still one of the most beautifully written, artistic novels of all time. Even a creep for a narrator can't put a dent in the genius and glory of Nabokov's prose, and no amount of screeching about child abuse can change that.
Dragons and elves and hobbits — oh my! It's difficult to imagine that J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy masterpiece series The Lord of the Rings would be banned anywhere, even in the most conservative schools. Though you may not have read this for class, this world-renowned, epic fantasy novel captivated audiences all across the globe and transported them to the breathtaking land of Middle Earth.
This book got its spot on the banned books list for depictions of people smoking and being “generally anti-religious.” If these critics ever managed to do an ounce of research on the topic, they'd find out that J.R.R. Tolkien was a deeply religious person who worked closely alongside C.S. Lewis. Lewis also cites that Tolkien was a major influence in turning him away from atheism.
