Must-Read
Best Banned and Challenged Books Worth Reading
Books get challenged for a reason. Sometimes the reason tells you more about the person doing the challenging than about the book. These six have all faced removal attempts in U.S. school libraries in the last few years, and all six remain in our editors' top-shelf recommendations.
6 books on this list.
The Handmaid's Taleby Margaret Atwood
5.0“The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood 1985 review. In the near-future Republic of Gilead, women have been stripped of their rights, and the handmaid Offred remembers the world before. The most-cited dystopian novel of the late twentieth century.”
Belovedby Toni Morrison
5.0“Beloved by Toni Morrison 1987 review. Sethe, a former slave living in Reconstruction-era Ohio, is haunted by the daughter she killed to save from slavery. Pulitzer Prize 1988 and one of the canonical American novels of the late twentieth century.”
Song of Solomonby Toni Morrison
5.0“Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison 1977 review. Macon "Milkman" Dead III, born into a comfortable Black family in 1930s Michigan, travels south to discover his ancestral history. Morrison's third novel and one of her two unquestioned masterpieces alongside Beloved.”
Jamesby Percival Everett
5.0“James by Percival Everett 2024 review. A retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of the enslaved man Jim, in his own voice. The most important American novel of 2024 and the right Everett entry point.”
It Ends with Usby Colleen Hoover
4.0“Colleen Hoover at her most daring. A romance that refuses to be comfortable, and is more powerful for it.”
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indianby Sherman Alexie
5.0“YA semi-memoir about a kid who transfers off the rez to a white school. Funny, brutal, repeatedly banned, deserves to be read.”