Banned Books Week

A graphic novel about a formative summer in the life of pre-teen Rose, This One Summer was the most challenged book of 2016, finding controversy due to its depiction of drug use, sexuality, and LGBTQ characters.

A story about a mother haunted by the death of her daughter, who she kills to save from a life of brutal slavery in the American South has been challenged repeatedly for its inclusion of bestiality, sexual violence, and generally displaying the absolute brutality and lasting psychological and cultural effects of American slavery.

One of the most challenged book series of all time, the Harry Potter books single-handedly shifted the tone of American book censorship from primarily anti-sex and anti-vulgarity to occult and anti-Christian worries.

In one of the more amusing controversies, the Toronto Public Library was asked to remove this Dr. Seuss classic from its shelves. The explanation? Telling kids to "Hop on Pop" encourages unsafe violence against fathers. In fact, the same group that asked for the censorship of a book used to teach toddler phonics also demanded that the Toronto Library pay damages to any father injured due to literal minded young readers. Surprisingly, the claim did not pass the Library's committee, and Hop on Pop remains on shelves.

Ever since its initial publication in 1932, Lady Chatterley's Lover has stirred up controversy. With explicit depictions of sex, adultery, and the use of "four letter words", the book wasn't printed uncensored in its native UK until 1960, and was kept from the United States entirely until 1959.

Realistic and unflinching depictions of poverty, alcoholism, racism, and tackling issues of teenage sexuality and identity all led to claims of vulgarity and "anti-Christianity". This multi-faceted controversy has consistently placed The Absolutely True Diary in lists of banned books ever since its publication in 2007.