Happy Tuesday of Banned Books Week, y’all.

Today we are looking at some of the most frequently banned classic books.

(Tomorrow we’ll talk about the challenges and bans to modern books in the past few years.)

First, as a devoted Potterhead, I have to say that I have been both amused and a little taken aback to discover that Harry Potter himself is now the most challenged literary figure of the 21st century, owing to his fantastic imaginary world of wizards and witchcraft – which is just too much for some folks who have a “no fun things” policy.

Harry Potter Most Challenged Book Link.

Apart from Harry, as I browsed pages of lists of banned classic works, I noted that most of them are quite similar.

The Community Library’s list of 25 Frequently Challenged Classic Books is reflective of all I’ve seen:

25 Frequently Challenged Books Considered Classic Literature

1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
6. Ulysses by James Joyce
7. Beloved by Toni Morrison
8. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
9. 1984 by George Orwell
10. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
11. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
12. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
13. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
14. Animal Farm by George Orwell
15. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
16.  A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
17. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
18. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
19. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
20. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
21. Native Son by Richard Wright
22. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
23. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
24. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
25. The Call of the Wild by Jack London

Community Library Banned Classic Books

I have read and written about each of these books as part of our banned books project here – I’m now on book 38 of 44 of our list – and it is baffling to me that, not only is there still a question of whether some of these books should be available, but the debate has actually come to the forefront again in my state – with the censors seeming to have the upper hand at the moment.

Of course, we continue our banned books project – and the discussion about the importance of the availability of these works:

While we do so – as incomprehensible as it is to me that people might not read these classics, we must also have a discussion about the modern books that are being challenged now – related to current issues that some would rather keep out of libraries entirely.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at the most challenged books of the past few years and the topics they relate to.

Wishing you all a great Tuesday and happy reading (freely).

Be well, everybody. Take care of yourselves and each other.

Grace and Blessings.