NWLC’s Favorite Banned Books

Maya Angelou is a phenomenal writer, and in this memoir she perfectly captures how children view the world. Her depictions of segregated life, the fallout of sexual abuse, and family dynamics are powerful and heart-wrenching, and her writing is poetic and masterful.

Favorite quote: “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”

-Josia Klein

This novel is lingering, dense with symbolism, and plays with contradictions about stereotypes, individualism, harm and victimhood, community and isolation, the mind and the body against the backdrop of Jim Crow America and the Great Migration.

Favorite quote: “Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat.”

-Auden Perino

These graphic novels deal with heavy things that queer teens face, like bullying, but mostly have an incredibly hopeful lens on queerness and joy. The friendship and community in these books is a great reminder of the hope we have for the future, and what all kids deserve.

-Caitlin Panarella

Favorite quote: “Think about all the tomorrows of your life.”

-Anna Cannady

-Arvia Walker

-Arvia Walker

While John has written better books since writing this one, it is the book that got me into reading when I was in middle school, and it is a book that I can read again and again without getting tired. I was starting at a new school when I first read it and was beginning to develop my own thoughts and feelings about the world. This book got me through a monumental period in my life, so to John, and Pudge, and the Colonel, and Alaska I will forever be grateful.

Favorite quotes: “Sometimes you lose the battle, but mischief always wins the war.” and “I don’t know where over there is, but I know it’s somewhere, and I hope it’s beautiful.”

-Luci Leffler

This novel, which takes place during the Plague in 1660s England, has stayed with me years after I read it. The voice of a healer and midwife whose courage, creativity, and compassion led her to take huge risks to ease suffering offers an alternative perspective on faith and community.

Favorite quote: “When she had discovered that I hungered to learn, she commenced to shovel knowledge my way as vigorously as she spaded the cowpats into her beloved flower beds.”

-Nancy Withbroe

I was assigned this book as summer homework for my AP Euro class in high school, and it has been my favorite book since. It’s about “The Anarchy,” a time of civil war in England that doesn’t get covered in classes that often. The story centers around a group of people in a town over several decades. It has fascinating plots filled with drama, intrigue, and mystery. And for being historical fiction, it is pretty accurate. I have always loved the strong characters; the writing is so detailed that you can imagine being there with them. And fun fact: George RR Martin based his book Fire and Blood (HBO series House of the Dragon) on the events of this time period.

Favorite quotes: “The power of a king was not absolute, after all: it could be restrained by the will of the people.” and “It did not occur to them that a woman could be dangerous. How foolish they were.”

-Arielle Sloss

People coming of age need coming-of-age stories!

Favorite quote: “So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I’m still trying to figure out how that could be.”

-Jessica Baskerville

The Glass Castle made me fall in love with memoirs and creative nonfiction!

Favorite quote: “I never believed in Santa Claus. None of us kids did. Mom and Dad refused to let us. They couldn’t afford expensive presents and they didn’t want us to think we weren’t as good as other kids who, on Christmas morning, found all sorts of fancy toys under the tree that were supposedly left by Santa Claus. Dad had lost his job at the gypsum, and when Christmas came that year, we had no money at all. On Christmas Eve, Dad took each one of us kids out into the desert night one by one. “Pick out your favorite star,” Dad said. “I like that one!” I said. Dad grinned, “that’s Venus,” he said. He explained to me that planets glowed because reflected light was constant and stars twinkled because their light pulsed. “I like it anyway,” I said. “What the hell,” Dad said. “It’s Christmas. You can have a planet if you want.” And he gave me Venus. Venus didn’t have any moons or satellites or even a magnetic field, but it did have an atmosphere sort of similar to Earth’s, except it was super hot-about 500 degrees or more. “So,” Dad said, “when the sun starts to burn out and Earth turns cold, everyone might want to move to Venus to get warm. And they’ll have to get permission from your descendants first.” We laughed about all the kids who believed in the Santa myth and got nothing for Christmas but a bunch of cheap plastic toys. “Years from now, when all the junk they got is broken and long forgotten,” Dad said, “you’ll still have your stars.”

-Jessica Baskerville

It helped jumpstart my interest in a historical period I did not know about and introduced me to the magical realism genre.

-Da Hae Kim

“Lifting the Veil” is a collection of stories in which the author highlights the complexities of life. The collection was originally written in 1942. The narratives are raw, honest, diverse, and witty. Ismat Chughtai, a rebel and feminist writer of the 20th century, faced significant opposition and, in some cases, had her work banned. One of the stories in the collection, “The Quilt,” was subjected to a court case due to its portrayal of homosexuality in India. Despite the legal challenge, Chughtai refused to apologize for her work and ultimately won the case. In an interview, Ismat Chughtai said: “In my stories I’ve put down everything with objectivity. Now if some people find them obscene, let them go to hell. It’s my belief that experiences can never be obscene if they are based on authentic realities of life.”

-Shrija Shrestha

Maus is a YA graphic novel telling the story of the author’s father’s experience as a Holocaust survivor, but all of the characters are depicted as animals. The book is told from a first person narrative, and it invites the readers to consider the way that the Holocaust impacts the narrators family dynamic. The book deeply resonated with me as a young Jewish person, and it accounts the horrors of the Holocaust in a way that was digestible for a young reader. It’s an important book that seeks to tell an important story.

-Gina Berne

In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson’s All Boys Aren’t Blue explores their childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia.

-Whitney Pesek

Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Richard Wright’s powerful novel is an unsparing reflection on the poverty and feelings of hopelessness experienced by people in inner cities across the country and of what it means to be Black in the United States.

-Whitney Pesek

Set in Mississippi at the height of the Depression, this is the story of one family’s struggle to maintain their integrity, pride, and independence in the face of racism and social injustice. And it is also Cassie’s story—Cassie Logan, an independent girl who discovers over the course of an important year why having land of their own is so crucial to the Logan family, even as she learns to draw strength from her own sense of dignity and self-respect.

-Whitney Pesek

This book came to me in my youth and continues to be relevant in my adulthood as I navigate themes around sisterhood, forgiveness, and self-discovery. The Color Purple forces us to think about the sexism, racism and violence that young Black girls and women endure, particularly within the early 1900s and within the rural South, where upward mobility was scarce and lynching was still prevalent. Celie, the main character, grapples with losing her beloved sister and children, who were born out of incest, and navigates a tumultuous and violent marriage to an older man, whom she was essentially sold to. She writes letters to God and to her sister, revealing existential questions that she struggles with. As she ages in this marriage, and comes across essential characters like Shug Avery and Sofia, Celie learns about herself, her talents, and her sexuality and eventually finds the courage to leave her husband. It is through sisterhood with these women that Celie can survive and eventually reconnect with her relatives and forgive the wrongdoings of people who were supposed to protect her. To me, The Color Purple is a love letter to the girls and femmes who know what it means to have deep relationships that uplift you in times of sorrow and need. It is a testament to the power and resilience that Black women have. The Color Purple has largely been banned in school due to themes of sexual violence, queerness, African history, and religion. Most recently it was banned because it promotes critical race theory.

Favorite quote: “Any God I ever found in church, I brought in myself.”

–Sky Sheppard

Monologues discussing bodies, identity, and empowerment. 

Favorite quote: “I bet you’re worried. I was worried. That’s why I began this piece. I was worried about vaginas. I was worried about what we think about vaginas, and even more worried that we don’t think about them. I was worried about my own vagina.”

I distinctly remember reading this book in 8th grade and crying multiple times. My clearest memory is when Jonas received the memory of starvation and war and how visceral the pain he experienced was and how important remembering the possibility of suffering was to give meaning and value to life. I can remember how those memories increased the love Jonas had for Gabriel because he now understood what it meant to want to protect someone from something and be willing to risk it for someone else. At a time where “Sameness,” the concept from the book that if we are all the same we will be happier and life will be easier, is becoming a real thing pushed by Christian nationalists this book is a reminder that “sameness” leads to a colorless and dangerous world.

Favorite quote: “Our people made that choice, the choice to go to Sameness. Before my time, before the previous time, back and back and back. We relinquished color when we relinquished sunshine and did away with difference. We gained control of many things.”

-Mercedes Hightower

This book gave me a love for all things horror that has brought me endless joy throughout my life. I have vivid delightful memories of reading the books in this series in the middle of the night under blankets and feeling the exhilaration of being spooked and scared in the best way. These books brought me so much joy.

Favorite quote: “Stories hurt, stories heal. If we repeat them often enough, they become real. They have that power. They make us who we are.”

-Mercedes Hightower

Some humor about power imbalances is probably a good thing for all of us.

Favorite quote: “I’ll take the dream I had last night/ And put it in my freezer,/ So someday long and far away/ When I’m an old grey geezer,/ I’ll take it out and thaw it out,/ This lovely dream I’ve frozen,/ And boil it up and sit me down/ And dip my old cold toes in”

-Auden Perino

Beautiful book about a trans kid expecting a new sibling. My 2.5-year-old loves it.

Favorite quote: “Mom hugged him tight. ‘When you were born, we didn’t know you were going to be our son. We made some mistakes, but you helped us fix them. And you taught us how important it is to love someone for exactly who they are. This baby is so lucky to have you, and so are we.'”

-Noel León

Wonderful book about babies of all kinds. My 2.5-year-old loves this one too.

-Noel León

-Whitney Pesek

-Whitney Pesek

Harriet loves costumes. She wears them to the dentist, to the supermarket, and most importantly, to her super-special dress-up birthday party. Her dads have decorated everything for the party and Harriet has her favorite costume all picked out for the big day.

-Whitney Pesek

In an exuberant picture book, a glimpse of costumed mermaids leaves one boy flooded with wonder and ready to dazzle the world.

-Whitney Pesek

Five-board-book-bundle features beautiful, full-color photos of real kids and families (representing LGBTQI+ families, kids with disabilities, and many cultures and races), while simple, poetic text builds vocabulary and empathy. Each board book has a discussion guide with age-appropriate questions for parents and educators.

-Whitney Pesek

This picture book is a pure celebration of all the different human bodies in the world. Highlighting the various skin tones, body shapes, and hair types is just the beginning of this truly inclusive book. Its joyful illustrations and encouraging refrain will instill body acceptance and confidence in the youngest readers. “My body, your body, every different kind of body! All of them are good bodies! BODIES ARE COOL!”

-Whitney Pesek

Tender and empowering, Hair Love is an ode to loving your natural hair—and a celebration of daddies and daughters everywhere.

Favorite quote: “Zuri’s hair has a mind of its own. It kinks, coils, and curls every which way. Zuri knows it’s beautiful. When Daddy steps in to style it for an extra special occasion, he has a lot to learn. But he LOVES his Zuri, and he’ll do anything to make her— and her hair—happy.”

-Whitney Pesek

The first book in a hilarious chapter book series that tackles anxiety in a fun, kid-friendly way. Perfect for both beginning and reluctant readers, and fans of “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”!

A humorous and touching series about facing your fears and embracing new experiences—with a truly unforgettable character—from author Lenore Look and New York Times bestselling and Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator LeUyen Pham.

Alvin, an Asian American second grader, is afraid of everything—elevators, tunnels, girls, and, most of all, school. He’s so afraid of school that, while he’s there, he never, ever, says a word. But at home, Alvin is a very loud superhero named Firecracker Man, a brother to Calvin and Anibelly, and a gentleman-in-training, just like his dad. With the help of his family, can Alvin take on the outside world without letting his fears get the best of him?

From the National Book Award-winning author of Stamped From the Beginning and How to Be an Antiracist comes a fresh new board book that empowers parents and children to uproot racism in our society and ourselves.

Take your first steps with Antiracist Baby! Or rather, follow Antiracist Baby’s nine easy steps for building a more equitable world.

With bold art and thoughtful yet playful text, Antiracist Baby introduces the youngest readers and the grown-ups in their lives to the concept and power of antiracism. Providing the language necessary to begin critical conversations at the earliest age, Antiracist Baby is the perfect gift for readers of all ages dedicated to forming a just society.

-Whitney Pesek

At the penguin house at the Central Park Zoo, two penguins named Roy and Silo were a little bit different from the others. But their desire for a family was the same. And with the help of a kindly zookeeper, Roy and Silo got the chance to welcome a baby penguin of their very own.

-Whitney Pesek

Follows a young girl on the cusp of puberty and finding her identity. Published at a time when parents were far less willing to discuss these matters.

Favorite quote: “I just told Nancy that I began my first period. She looked at me and said she’d been using Kotex since fourth grade. I didn’t even know what Kotex was.”