Banned Books
Why Banned Books Matter
Books that have been banned or challenged often confront uncomfortable truths about race, power, and identity in America. Far from being dangerous, these works are essential because they preserve voices that some have tried to silence—stories of survival, resistance, and justice that deepen our understanding of U.S. history. By engaging with banned books, we learn not only what happened in the past but also why certain narratives are still contested today. Reading them ensures that future generations inherit the full story, not a filtered one.
*Where possible, we’ve included FREE digital copies under the ‘Free Digital Copy’ column. For purchase options, we’ve prioritized links outside of Amazon—supporting independent bookstores, family-run shops, and access through public libraries. We do not make any profit from this resource—our only goal is to provide free access and help preserve the full history of the United States.
*Message or email us (canarycoalmine777@tutamail.com) with any recommendations that you have to add to the list! A team member will review your submissions and respond as soon as possible.
Why These Banned Books Were Chosen
The books in this collection were not picked at random—they were selected because each one has faced bans or challenges in U.S. schools and libraries within the past twenty years. They represent voices and perspectives that some have tried to silence: African American, Native American, immigrant, LGBTQ+, and women’s experiences that expose hard truths about racism, inequality, and power. These books push readers to question systems, confront injustice, and imagine a more honest and inclusive future. By highlighting the very works that have been targeted, we make it clear how vital they are to preserving the full story of America.
| # | Book Name | Author | Category | State or Location Banned | Year Banned | Free Digital Copy | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maus: A Survivor’s Tale | Art Spiegelman | Holocaust, Censorship & Education | McMinn County, TN | 2022 | — | Buy |
| 2 | Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You | Jason Reynolds; Ibram X. Kendi | Race & Antiracism (YA) | Multiple (e.g., TX, FL) | 2021–2022 | — | Buy |
| 3 | The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story | Nikole Hannah-Jones (ed.) | US History & Slavery | Multiple (e.g., FL) | 2022–2023 | — | Buy |
| 4 | The Bluest Eye | Toni Morrison | African American Literature | Multiple (e.g., MO, TX) | 2021–2023 | — | Buy |
| 5 | Beloved | Toni Morrison | African American Literature | Multiple (e.g., VA, TX) | 2013–2022 | — | Buy |
| 6 | The Hate U Give | Angie Thomas | Police Violence & YA | Multiple (e.g., TX) | 2018–2022 | — | Buy |
| 7 | All Boys Aren’t Blue | George M. Johnson | Memoir, LGBTQ+, Race | Multiple (e.g., FL, TX) | 2021–2022 | — | Buy |
| 8 | Gender Queer | Maia Kobabe | LGBTQ+ Memoir (GN) | Multiple (e.g., FL, TX, VA) | 2021–2023 | — | Buy |
| 9 | The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian | Sherman Alexie | Native American, YA | Multiple (e.g., ID, WA) | 2014–2022 | — | Buy |
| 10 | This Book Is Gay | Juno Dawson | LGBTQ+ Nonfiction (YA) | Multiple (e.g., FL, TX) | 2021–2023 | — | Buy |
| 11 | Out of Darkness | Ashley Hope Pérez | Latinx History (YA) | Katy ISD, TX | 2021 | — | Buy |
| 12 | New Kid | Jerry Craft | Race (MG Graphic Novel) | Katy ISD, TX | 2021 | — | Buy |
| 13 | The Handmaid’s Tale (Graphic Novel) | Margaret Atwood; Renée Nault | Dystopia, Women’s Rights | TX; FL (district bans) | 2022–2023 | — | Buy |
| 14 | Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic | Alison Bechdel | Memoir, LGBTQ+ | College/school challenges (e.g., SC) | 2014–2022 | — | Buy |
| 15 | The Poet X | Elizabeth Acevedo | Afro‑Latina, YA | Multiple (e.g., GA) | 2022–2023 | — | Buy |
| 16 | The Perks of Being a Wallflower | Stephen Chbosky | Coming‑of‑Age, YA | Multiple (e.g., FL, TX) | 2013–2023 | — | Buy |
| 17 | Drama | Raina Telgemeier | MG Graphic Novel, LGBTQ+ | Multiple (e.g., TX, FL) | 2014–2023 | — | Buy |
| 18 | Two Boys Kissing | David Levithan | LGBTQ+, YA | Multiple (e.g., FL, TX) | 2014–2022 | — | Buy |
| 19 | George (Melissa) | Alex Gino | LGBTQ+, MG | Multiple (e.g., FL) | 2016–2022 | — | Buy |
| 20 | Beyond Magenta | Susan Kuklin | LGBTQ+ Nonfiction (YA) | Multiple (e.g., TX) | 2015–2022 | — | Buy |
| 21 | The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person | Frederick Joseph | Race & Antiracism (YA) | Multiple (e.g., TX) | 2021–2023 | — | Buy |
| 22 | The New Jim Crow | Michelle Alexander | Mass Incarceration | Multiple (e.g., FL) | 2021–2023 | — | Buy |
| 23 | Between the World and Me | Ta‑Nehisi Coates | Race, Memoir | Multiple (e.g., TX) | 2021–2023 | — | Buy |
| 24 | How to Be an Antiracist | Ibram X. Kendi | Race & Antiracism | Multiple (e.g., TX) | 2021–2023 | — | Buy |
| 25 | So You Want to Talk About Race | Ijeoma Oluo | Race & Antiracism | Multiple (e.g., TX) | 2021–2023 | — | Buy |
| 26 | The Color of Law | Richard Rothstein | Housing Segregation | Multiple (e.g., FL) | 2022–2023 | — | Buy |
| 27 | The 57 Bus | Dashka Slater | Justice, LGBTQ+, YA NF | Multiple (e.g., KS, FL) | 2018–2023 | — | Buy |
| 28 | I Am Jazz | Jessica Herthel; Jazz Jennings | Transgender (Picture Book) | Multiple (e.g., FL) | 2015–2023 | — | Buy |
| 29 | And Tango Makes Three | Justin Richardson; Peter Parnell | Family (Picture Book) | Multiple (e.g., FL) | 2006–2023 | — | Buy |
| 30 | It’s Perfectly Normal | Robie H. Harris; Michael Emberley | Sex Ed (YA) | Multiple (e.g., FL, TX) | 2014–2023 | — | Buy |
| 31 | Lawn Boy | Jonathan Evison | Class, LGBTQ+ | Multiple (e.g., TX, VA) | 2021–2022 | — | Buy |
| 32 | Looking for Alaska | John Green | Coming‑of‑Age, YA | Multiple (e.g., FL, KY) | 2015–2023 | — | Buy |
| 33 | Crank | Ellen Hopkins | YA, Substance Use | Multiple (e.g., TX) | 2013–2023 | — | Buy |
| 34 | This One Summer | Mariko Tamaki; Jillian Tamaki | YA Graphic Novel | Multiple (e.g., FL) | 2016–2023 | — | Buy |
| 35 | The Kite Runner | Khaled Hosseini | War, Refugee | Multiple (e.g., NC, AZ) | 2015–2023 | — | Buy |
| 36 | The Glass Castle | Jeannette Walls | Memoir | Multiple (e.g., WV, NC) | 2013–2022 | — | Buy |
| 37 | Push (Precious) | Sapphire | Poverty, Abuse | Multiple (e.g., MO) | 2011–2022 | — | Buy |
| 38 | Speak | Laurie Halse Anderson | YA, Assault | Multiple (e.g., FL) | 2010–2022 | — | Buy |
| 39 | The Absolutely True Diary (uncensored editions) | Sherman Alexie | Native American, YA | Multiple (e.g., ID, WA) | 2014–2022 | — | Buy |
| 40 | Killers of the Flower Moon (Young Readers) | David Grann; adapt. | Osage History (YA) | Some district removals | 2023 | — | Buy |
| 41 | They Called Us Enemy | George Takei; Harmony Becker; Justin Eisinger; Steven Scott | Japanese American Internment (GN) | Some district removals | 2022–2023 | — | Buy |
| 42 | The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (certain editions) | Mark Twain | US History & Race | District-level restrictions | 2011–2020 | Open | Buy |
| 43 | To Kill a Mockingbird (school editions) | Harper Lee | US History & Race | Multiple (e.g., MS) | 2017–2022 | — | Buy |
| 44 | Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry | Mildred D. Taylor | African American, YA | District-level restrictions | 2016–2021 | — | Buy |
| 45 | The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 | Christopher Paul Curtis | Civil Rights, MG | District-level challenges | 2018–2023 | — | Buy |
| 46 | A People’s History of the United States | Howard Zinn | US History | State/district restrictions (e.g., AR) | 2010–2018 | — | Buy |
| 47 | The Fire Next Time | James Baldwin | Essays on Race | District-level restrictions | 2016–2022 | — | Buy |
| 48 | The Color Purple | Alice Walker | African American Lit | Multiple (e.g., TX, FL) | 2010–2023 | — | Buy |
| 49 | The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks | Rebecca Skloot | Medical Ethics, Race | Some district challenges | 2017–2022 | — | Buy |
| 50 | Antiracist Baby | Ibram X. Kendi; Ashley Lukashevsky | Race & Antiracism (Picture Book) | Multiple (e.g., FL) | 2021–2023 | — | Buy |
| 51 | Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness | Anastasia Higginbotham | Race & Antiracism (Picture Book) | Multiple (e.g., TX, FL) | 2018–2023 | — | Buy |
| 52 | Something Happened in Our Town | Marianne Celano; Marietta Collins; Ann Hazzard | Police Violence (Picture Book) | Multiple (e.g., FL) | 2020–2023 | — | Buy |
| 53 | All American Boys | Jason Reynolds; Brendan Kiely | Police Violence, YA | Multiple (e.g., TX, FL) | 2016–2023 | — | Buy |
| 54 | Dear Martin | Nic Stone | Race & Justice, YA | Multiple (e.g., GA, TX) | 2019–2023 | — | Buy |
| 55 | Long Way Down | Jason Reynolds | Gun Violence, YA | Multiple (e.g., FL, TX) | 2018–2023 | — | Buy |
| 56 | The Nickel Boys | Colson Whitehead | Jim Crow, Reform School | Some district challenges | 2019–2023 | — | Buy |
| 57 | American Street | Ibi Zoboi | Immigration, YA | Some district challenges | 2019–2023 | — | Buy |
| 58 | The Skin I’m In | Sharon G. Flake | Race, YA | Some district challenges | 2016–2022 | — | Buy |
| 59 | The Undefeated | Kwame Alexander; Kadir Nelson | African American History (Picture Book) | Some district challenges | 2020–2023 | — | Buy |
| 60 | Class Act | Jerry Craft | Race (MG Graphic Novel) | District challenges | 2021–2023 | — | Buy |
| 61 | Ghost Boys | Jewell Parker Rhodes | Police Violence, MG | Multiple (e.g., TX) | 2018–2023 | — | Buy |
| 62 | The Hate U Give (Graphic Novel Adaptation) | Nic Stone; artists | Police Violence, GN | Some district challenges | 2023 | — | Buy |
| 63 | March: Book One | John Lewis; Andrew Aydin; Nate Powell | Civil Rights (Graphic Memoir) | Multiple (e.g., FL) | 2016–2023 | — | Buy |
| 64 | March: Book Two | John Lewis; Andrew Aydin; Nate Powell | Civil Rights (Graphic Memoir) | Multiple (e.g., FL) | 2016–2023 | — | Buy |
| 65 | March: Book Three | John Lewis; Andrew Aydin; Nate Powell | Civil Rights (Graphic Memoir) | Multiple (e.g., FL) | 2016–2023 | — | Buy |
| 66 | The 1619 Project: Born on the Water | Nikole Hannah-Jones; Renée Watson; Nikkolas Smith | US History & Slavery (Picture Book) | Multiple (e.g., FL) | 2022–2023 | — | Buy |
| 67 | An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States (Young People’s) | Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz; Debbie Reese; Jean Mendoza | Native American History (YA) | Some district challenges | 2021–2023 | — | Buy |
| 68 | We Are Water Protectors | Carole Lindstrom; Michaela Goade | Indigenous Activism (Picture Book) | Some district challenges | 2020–2023 | — | Buy |
| 69 | An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States | Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz | Native American History | Some district challenges | 2021–2023 | — | Buy |
| 70 | The Native American Mascot Controversy | C. Richard King (ed.) | Native Representation, Essays | Some district challenges | 2015–2022 | — | Buy |
| 71 | Black Boy | Richard Wright | African American Memoir | Multiple (e.g., FL) | 2013–2023 | — | Buy |
| 72 | Their Eyes Were Watching God | Zora Neale Hurston | African American Literature | Multiple (e.g., TX, FL) | 2012–2023 | — | Buy |
| 73 | The Souls of Black Folk | W. E. B. Du Bois | African American Studies | Some district challenges | 2016–2023 | Open | Buy |
| 74 | The Autobiography of Malcolm X | Malcolm X; Alex Haley | Civil Rights, Memoir | Multiple (e.g., TX) | 2013–2023 | — | Buy |
| 75 | Assata: An Autobiography | Assata Shakur | Black Power, Memoir | Some district challenges | 2015–2023 | — | Buy |
| 76 | The Fire This Time | Jesmyn Ward (ed.) | Essays on Race | Some district challenges | 2017–2023 | — | Buy |
| 77 | We Were Eight Years in Power | Ta‑Nehisi Coates | Essays, Race & Politics | Some district challenges | 2018–2023 | — | Buy |
| 78 | White Rage | Carol Anderson | Race & Policy | Some district challenges | 2016–2023 | — | Buy |
| 79 | One Person, No Vote | Carol Anderson | Voter Suppression | Some district challenges | 2018–2023 | — | Buy |
| 80 | Hood Feminism | Mikki Kendall | Intersectionality | Some district challenges | 2020–2023 | — | Buy |
| 81 | Caste | Isabel Wilkerson | Race & Caste in US | Some district challenges | 2020–2023 | — | Buy |
| 82 | The Warmth of Other Suns | Isabel Wilkerson | Great Migration History | Some district challenges | 2021–2023 | — | Buy |
| 83 | Just Mercy (Adapted for Young Adults) | Bryan Stevenson | Justice, YA | Multiple (e.g., FL) | 2020–2023 | — | Buy |
| 84 | Punching the Air | Ibi Zoboi; Yusef Salaam | Justice, YA Novel-in-Verse | Some district challenges | 2020–2023 | — | Buy |
| 85 | The 1619 Project (Young Readers) | Nikole Hannah-Jones; Renée Watson; Nikkolas Smith | US History & Slavery (YA) | Some district challenges | 2023 | — | Buy |
| 86 | Black Lives Matter at School | Jesse Hagopian (ed.) | Education & Activism | Some district challenges | 2018–2023 | — | Buy |
| 87 | A Kids Book About Racism | Jelani Memory | Race (Picture/Nonfiction) | Some district challenges | 2020–2023 | — | Buy |
| 88 | Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation | Duncan Tonatiuh | Latinx Civil Rights (Picture Book) | Some district challenges | 2014–2023 | — | Buy |
| 89 | Martin’s Big Words | Doreen Rappaport; Bryan Collier | Civil Rights (Picture Book) | Some district challenges | 2012–2022 | — | Buy |
| 90 | Counting Descent | Clint Smith | Poetry, Race | Some district challenges | 2016–2023 | — | Buy |
| 91 | The Making of Asian America | Erika Lee | Asian American History | Some district challenges | 2016–2023 | — | Buy |
| 92 | A Different Mirror (Young People’s) | Ronald Takaki; Rebecca Stefoff | US Multicultural History (YA) | Some district challenges | 2013–2023 | — | Buy |
| 93 | A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America | Ronald Takaki | US Multicultural History | Some district challenges | 2013–2023 | — | Buy |
| 94 | Persepolis (The Story of a Childhood) | Marjane Satrapi | Memoir (GN), Censorship | Multiple (e.g., IL) | 2013–2023 | — | Buy |
| 95 | Persepolis 2 | Marjane Satrapi | Memoir (GN), Censorship | Multiple (e.g., IL) | 2013–2023 | — | Buy |
| 96 | The Best We Could Do | Thi Bui | Memoir (GN), Refugee | Some district challenges | 2017–2023 | — | Buy |
| 97 | Habibi | Craig Thompson | Graphic Novel, Culture & Religion | Some district challenges | 2011–2020 | — | Buy |
| 98 | American Born Chinese | Gene Luen Yang | Asian American, GN | Some district challenges | 2014–2023 | — | Buy |
| 99 | They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us | Hanif Abdurraqib | Essays, Culture & Race | Some district challenges | 2017–2023 | — | Buy |
| 100 | Citizen: An American Lyric | Claudia Rankine | Poetry, Race | Some district challenges | 2014–2023 | — | Buy |
Notes: “Banned” includes removals/restrictions/challenges within the last ~20 years; many titles are later reinstated. Availability varies by district and year.
Contact us
Get in Touch
Have questions or want to learn more about our products? Fill out the form, and a team member will reach out to you.