Uncensored: Best Banned Books of 2024
Here are the banned books our members read the most!
Hey booklover! We see you’ve been reading banned books and finding ways to advocate against censorship. Some of you have been starting banned book clubs in school, using social media to further inform others on the issue, and encouraging your besties to read your banned book recommendations.
Throughout the year, more than 25,000 members signed up for Uncensored! Y’all have been exploring coming of age stories, historical events, summer love, and more; all written by a diverse group of authors whose works have been stripped off library and school shelves.
According to PEN America, the organization has recorded 10,046 instances of book bans in the 2023-2024 school year. Florida and Iowa together exceed over 8,000 instances of book bans since enacting state laws that require removal of certain books from schools and libraries.
We pulled the top banned books featured in Uncensored for 2024 that you can spend more time reading. Choose a book you may have wanted to read, but never had the time to, or gift your friend a banned book!
Discover something new from a diverse group of authors. Then be sure to share your reflections with us through our Uncensored action (you’ll become eligible to earn a $500 scholarship)!
UNCENSORED
Best Banned Books of 2024 Reading List
The Hate U Give (2017) by Angie Thomas
The Hate You Give, is inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and in reaction to the shooting of Oscar Grant. It depicts a 16-year-old African-American girl from a poor neighborhood attending a private school in a predominantly white, affluent part of the city, and becomes entangled in a national news story after she witnesses a white police officer shoot and kill her childhood friend, Khalil.
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter (2017) by Erika L. Sanchez
The book’s main character Julia must put her family back together after a tragic accident befell her sister Olga. As Julia mourns the death of her sister she also struggles to find out more about Olga’s life as she may not have been “the perfect Mexican daughter” her family thought she was. If you want to find out more about Olga’s story, and the secrets she kept from her family, add Sanchez’s book to your road trip or vacay!
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (2000) by Marjane Satrapi
In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen. During those years she saw the overthrow of the Shah's regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. Satrapi is a French-Iranian graphic novelist, with her work based on her experiences growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.
The House on Mango Street (1984) by Sandra Cisneros
The House on Mango Street is the remarkable coming-of-age story of Esperanza Cordero, a 12-year-old living in Chicago. This lyrical novel explores Esperanza’s life, as well as her struggles and dreams. It has been banned and challenged due to themes of poverty, sexuality, and racism.
milk and honey (2014) by Rupi Kaur
#1 New York Times Bestselling Author Rupi Kaur not only wrote and illustrated milk and honey, but he also self-published the book! Milk and honey is a collection of poems divided into four chapters each touching on themes of survival, feminism, relationships, abuse, love, and loss.
This timeless piece has been renewed into a graphic novel, where a new generation can now experience the story of Anne Frank and her experience evading capture with her family during the Holocaust. Did you know Anne wrote more than one diary as well? Her voice continues to live on in stories that many may not have gotten a chance to read.
The Girl Who Fell from the Sky (2010) Heidi W. Durrow
This award-winning young adult novel centers around a biracial girl who examines her reality and struggles with her identity. Durrow sought to showcase the idea of Black identity and womanhood. The novel garnered several awards, including the Bellwether Prize for Literature of Social Change, and has joined The Authors Guild Banned Books Club in 2022.
Fences (1985) by August Wilson
If you don’t know famed playwright August Wilson, you’re about to!
Wilson’s Fences is the Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, a Tony Award for Best Play, and a Major Motion Picture directed by and starring Denzel Washington. It follows Troy Maxson, a father and husband who is struggling to survive as a Black man in America. As the 1950s are making way for a new spirit of liberation in the 1960s, Troy must find a way to deal with this new environment, as his wife and son understand it more than him. It’s a complex tale that has stood the test of time.
The Handmaid's Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood
One of the most familiar books within literature, The Handmaid’s Tale tells the story of an overthrown U.S. government and the role of most women in this new totalitarian state called, the Republic of Gilead. The story follows its main character Offred who is one of many "Handmaids," described as women who are forcibly assigned to produce children for the "Commanders," who are the ruling class in Gilead.
The Prince and the Dressmaker (2018) by Jen Wang
This award-winning graphic novel offers up a twist on a fairy tale story. The main character, Prince Sebastian, struggles to hide his secret life from everyone while his parents struggle to find him a bride. With his friend, Frances, a brilliant dressmaker by his side, the pair try on fabulous fits in Paris, while Frances makes dresses for Sebastian to wear as his alter ego Lady Crystallia.
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