Banned Books

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How did we make our Banned Books Week display?

 

1. Research - What are this year's most frequently banned and challenged books? Where are those bans taking place? What's happening locally? We gathered information from the American Library Association (https://bannedbooksweek.org/), PEN America (https://pen.org/campaign/banned-books-week-2022/), and used Kelly Jensen's Book Censorship News features on Book Riot (https://bookriot.com/category/censorship/) to find local news stories.

2. Find the books! We had most of the titles on our shelves already, because we stock classics, new and exciting books for kids, and most titles that appear on assigned reading lists for students. We ordered a few more titles that weren’t already on our shelves and chose a prominent display space.

3. Visuals - What information do we want to share with our customers? How can we support students, teachers, librarians, and readers who are fighting against censorship?

We made new shelf-talkers to identify which titles are frequently banned and which titles have been challenged in NC. We’re flying “READ BANNED BOOKS” flags created by The Bitter Southerner, and offering free buttons supporting the fREADom to Read. You’ll find a printed copy of The Freedom to Read Statement and QR codes to connect with local school boards.

4. Taking Action - Now that you've read this far, what can you do? Our local public libraries (Chatham County Libraries, Orange County Public Library, and the Chapel Hill Public Library) follow the ALA's Freedom to Read statement. Send your library board a message of support! If you appreciate that your library stocks and displays books created by BIPOC and featuring LGBTQIA+ stories, let them know! Bans and challenges often come from a vocal minority; this is a good time to become a vocal majority in support of diverse stories and the right to read.

Learn about your local school board - who is up for election? When is the next meeting? What is the codified process for challenging a book that's part of school curriculum or on the shelves in the school library? As a parent or community member, do you support student access to diverse and challenging books? Then send a message to your local school board!

 

Chatham County Schools Board Homepage: https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/index.aspx?s=190

 

Orange County Schools Board Homepage: https://www.orangecountyfirst.com/Page/1401

To contact the members of the School Board, send an email to: ocsboardmembers@orange.k12.nc.us*

*All mail correspondence to and from the Orange County Schools is subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law, which may result in disclosure to third parties.

 

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board Homepage: https://www.chccs.org/domain/1052

To send a message to all CHCCS Board Members and the Superintendent's Office, please email: allboardmembers@chccs.k12.nc.us

All mail correspondence to and from the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools is subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law, which may result in disclosure to third parties.

Books: 
Staff Pick Badge
Gender Queer: A Memoir By Maia Kobabe Cover Image
$24.99
ISBN: 9781549304002
Availability: On Our Shelves Now. We will contact you when your order is ready. Closed Mon & Tues.
Published: Oni Press - May 28th, 2019

2020 ALA Alex Award Winner
2020 Stonewall — Israel Fishman Non-fiction Award Honor Book

In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical comic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only thing e felt comfortable with strangers knowing about em. Now, Gender Queer is here.


Out of Darkness By Ashley Hope Pérez Cover Image
$12.99
ISBN: 9780823445035
Availability: On Our Shelves Now. We will contact you when your order is ready. Closed Mon & Tues.
Published: Holiday House - September 10th, 2019

A dangerous forbidden romance rocks a Texan oil town in 1937, when segregation was a matter of life and death.

A Top Ten Most Challenged Book of the Year


The Shape of Thunder By Jasmine Warga Cover Image
$9.99
ISBN: 9780062956682
Availability: On Our Shelves Now. We will contact you when your order is ready. Closed Mon & Tues.
Published: Balzer + Bray - May 3rd, 2022

An extraordinary new novel from Jasmine Warga, Newbery Honor–winning author of Other Words for Home, about loss and healing—and how friendship can be magical.

Cora hasn’t spoken to her best friend, Quinn, in a year.


The Hate U Give: A Printz Honor Winner By Angie Thomas, Amandla Stenberg (Foreword by) Cover Image
By Angie Thomas, Amandla Stenberg (Foreword by)
$16.99
ISBN: 9780062498540
Availability: On Our Shelves Now. We will contact you when your order is ready. Closed Mon & Tues.
Published: Balzer + Bray - May 3rd, 2022

8 starred reviews · Goodreads Choice Awards Best of the Best  ·  William C. Morris Award Winner · National Book Award Longlist · Printz Honor Book · Coretta Scott King Honor Book · #1 New York Times Bestseller!

"Absolutely riveting!" —Jason Reynolds


All American Boys By Jason Reynolds, Brendan Kiely Cover Image
$12.99
ISBN: 9781481463348
Availability: Usually Ships Within a Week
Published: Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books - August 29th, 2017

A 2016 Coretta Scott King Author Honor book, and recipient of the Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature.


All Boys Aren't Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto By George M. Johnson Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780374312718
Availability: Usually Ships Within a Week
Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) - April 28th, 2020

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

A New York Times Bestseller!
Good Morning America, NBC Nightly News, Today Show, and MSNBC feature stories


A Court of Thorns and Roses By Sarah J. Maas Cover Image
$19.00
ISBN: 9781635575569
Availability: On Our Shelves Now. We will contact you when your order is ready. Closed Mon & Tues.
Published: Bloomsbury Publishing - June 2nd, 2020

The sexy, action-packed first book in the #1 New York Times bestselling Court of Thorns and Roses series from Sarah J. Maas.


Looking for Alaska By John Green Cover Image
$12.99
ISBN: 9780142402511
Availability: On Our Shelves Now. We will contact you when your order is ready. Closed Mon & Tues.
Published: Penguin Books - December 28th, 2006

The award-winning, genre-defining debut from John Green, the #1 bestselling author of The Anthropocene Reviewed and The Fault in Our Stars


Monday's Not Coming By Tiffany D. Jackson Cover Image
$12.99
ISBN: 9780062422682
Availability: On Our Shelves Now. We will contact you when your order is ready. Closed Mon & Tues.
Published: Katherine Tegen Books - April 23rd, 2019

"Jackson’s characters and their heart-wrenching story linger long after the final page, urging readers to advocate for those who are disenfranchised and forgotten by society and the system." (Publishers Weekly, "An Anti-Racist Children's and YA Reading List")


To Kill a Mockingbird By Harper Lee Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780060935467
Availability: On Our Shelves Now. We will contact you when your order is ready. Closed Mon & Tues.
Published: Harper Perennial Modern Classics - July 5th, 2005

Voted America's Best-Loved Novel in PBS's The Great American Read

Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork of honor and injustice in the deep South—and the heroism of one man in the face of blind and violent hatred


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The Bluest Eye (Vintage International) By Toni Morrison Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9780307278449
Availability: On Our Shelves Now. We will contact you when your order is ready. Closed Mon & Tues.
Published: Vintage - May 8th, 2007

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A PARADE BEST BOOK OF ALL TIME From the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner—a powerful examination of our obsession with beauty and conformity that asks questions about race, class, and gender with characteristic subtly and grace.
 


Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning By Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780316453691
Availability: On Our Shelves Now. We will contact you when your order is ready. Closed Mon & Tues.
Published: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers - March 10th, 2020

This crucial, empowering, #1 New York Times bestselling exploration of racism—and antiracism—in America makes critical ideas accessible for teen readers, adapted from Ibram X. Kendi's National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning.

This is NOT a history book.This is a book about the here and now.


Speak: (National Book Award Finalist) By Laurie Halse Anderson Cover Image
$10.99
ISBN: 9780312674397
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Published: Square Fish - May 10th, 2011

The groundbreaking National Book Award Finalist and Michael L. Printz Honor Book with more than 3.5 million copies sold, Speak is a bestselling modern classic about consent, healing, and finding your voice.


Something Happened in Our Town: A Child's Story about Racial Injustice By Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, Ann Hazzard Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9781433828546
Availability: Usually Ships Within a Week
Published: Magination Press - March 1st, 2018

A Minneapolis Children's Theatre Company Original World Premiere Production
A NEW YORK TIMES and #1 INDIEBOUND BEST SELLER
American Library Association's Office of Intellectual Freedom's Top 10 Most Challenged Books
A Little Free Library Action Book Club Selection
National Parenting Product Award Winner (NAPPA)


Of Mice and Men By John Steinbeck Cover Image
$13.00
ISBN: 9780140177398
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Published: Penguin Books - September 1st, 1993

A controversial tale of friendship and tragedy during the Great Depression
 
They are an unlikely pair: George is "small and quick and dark of face"; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a "family," clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation.


This One Summer By Jillian Tamaki (Illustrator), Mariko Tamaki Cover Image
By Jillian Tamaki (Illustrator), Mariko Tamaki
$18.99
ISBN: 9781596437746
Availability: Usually Ships Within a Week
Published: First Second - May 6th, 2014

A New York Times bestseller
A 2015 Caldecott Honor Book
A 2015 Michael L. Printz Honor Book
An Eisner Award Winner


The Poet X By Elizabeth Acevedo Cover Image
$15.99
ISBN: 9780062662811
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Published: Quill Tree Books - April 7th, 2020

Winner of the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the Michael L. Printz Award, and the Pura Belpré Award!


New Kid: A Newbery Award Winner By Jerry Craft, Jerry Craft (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Jerry Craft, Jerry Craft (Illustrator)
$12.99
ISBN: 9780062691194
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Published: Quill Tree Books - February 5th, 2019

Winner of the Newbery Medal, Coretta Scott King Author Award, and Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature! 


Front Desk (Front Desk #1) (Scholastic Gold) By Kelly Yang Cover Image
$8.99
ISBN: 9781338157826
Availability: Usually Ships Within a Week
Published: Scholastic Press - June 25th, 2019

Four starred reviews and over ten best-of-year lists!* "Many readers will recognize themselves or their neighbors in these pages." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Winner of the Asian / Pacific American Award for Children's Literature!* "Many readers will recognize themselves or their neighbors in these pages." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred reviewMia Tang has a lot of secre


New Kid: A Newbery Award Winner By Jerry Craft, Jerry Craft (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Jerry Craft, Jerry Craft (Illustrator)
$12.99
ISBN: 9780062691194
Availability: On Our Shelves Now. We will contact you when your order is ready. Closed Mon & Tues.
Published: Quill Tree Books - February 5th, 2019

Winner of the Newbery Medal, Coretta Scott King Author Award, and Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature! 


Class Act: A Graphic Novel By Jerry Craft, Jerry Craft (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Jerry Craft, Jerry Craft (Illustrator)
$12.99
ISBN: 9780062885500
Availability: On Our Shelves Now. We will contact you when your order is ready. Closed Mon & Tues.
Published: Quill Tree Books - October 6th, 2020

New York Times bestselling author Jerry Craft returns with a companion book to New Kid, winner of the 2020 Newbery Medal, the Coretta Scott King Author Award, and the Kirkus Prize.


Drama: A Graphic Novel By Raina Telgemeier, Raina Telgemeier (Illustrator) Cover Image
$12.99
ISBN: 9781338801897
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Published: Graphix - December 7th, 2021

From Raina Telgemeier, the #1 New York Times bestselling, multiple Eisner Award-winning author of Smile, Sisters, and Guts!

Callie loves theater. And while she would totally try out for her middle school's production of Moon over Mississippi, she can't really sing.


King and the Dragonflies (Scholastic Gold) By Kacen Callender Cover Image
$8.99
ISBN: 9781338129342
Availability: Usually Ships Within a Week
Published: Scholastic Press - May 3rd, 2022

A 2021 Coretta Scott King Honor Book!

Winner of the 2020 National Book Award for Young People's Literature!

Winner of the 2020 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction and Poetry!


Melissa (previously published as GEORGE) By Alex Gino Cover Image
$8.99
ISBN: 9781338843415
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Published: Scholastic Press - April 19th, 2022

BE WHO YOU ARE.

When people look at Melissa, they think they see a boy named George. But she knows she's not a boy. She knows she's a girl.

Melissa thinks she'll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte's Web. Melissa really, really, REALLY wants to play Charlotte.


Ground Zero By Alan Gratz Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781338245752
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Published: Scholastic Press - February 2nd, 2021

The instant #1 New York Times bestseller.

In time for the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, master storyteller Alan Gratz (Refugee) delivers a pulse-pounding and unforgettable take on history and hope, revenge and fear -- and the stunning links between the past and present.

September 11, 2001, New York City: Brandon is visiting hi


Ghost Boys By Jewell Parker Rhodes Cover Image
$7.99
ISBN: 9780316262262
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Published: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers - September 10th, 2019

A heartbreaking and powerful story about a black boy killed by a police officer, drawing connections through history, from award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes.

Only the living can make the world better. Live and make it better.


Salvage the Bones: A Novel By Jesmyn Ward Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9781608196265
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Published: Bloomsbury USA - April 24th, 2012

Winner of the National Book Award
An Atlantic Great American Novel of the Last 100 Years

"A taut, wily novel, smartly plotted and voluptuously written . . . Jesmyn Ward makes beautiful music, plays deftly with her reader’s expectations." —Parul Sehgal, New York Times


Milk and Honey By Rupi Kaur Cover Image
$14.99
ISBN: 9781449474256
Availability: On Our Shelves Now. We will contact you when your order is ready. Closed Mon & Tues.
Published: Andrews McMeel Publishing - October 6th, 2015

Watch rupi kaur live now on Prime Video.

“Rupi Kaur is the Writer of the Decade.” – The New Republic

#1 New York Times bestseller milk and honey is a collection of poetry and prose about survival.


Animal Farm: 75th Anniversary Edition By George Orwell, Russell Baker (Preface by), Tea Obreht (Introduction by) Cover Image
By George Orwell, Russell Baker (Preface by), Tea Obreht (Introduction by)
$17.00
ISBN: 9780452277502
Availability: On Our Shelves Now. We will contact you when your order is ready. Closed Mon & Tues.
Published: Berkley - June 1st, 1996

NOW AVAILABLE: The 75th Anniversary Edition with a new introduction by Téa Obreht

George Orwell's timeless and timely allegorical novel—a scathing satire on a downtrodden society’s blind march towards totalitarianism.

SOON TO BE A NETFLIX FILM!

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”


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Beloved: Pulitzer Prize Winner (Vintage International) By Toni Morrison Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9781400033416
Availability: On Our Shelves Now. We will contact you when your order is ready. Closed Mon & Tues.
Published: Vintage - June 8th, 2004

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A spellbinding novel that transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. With a new afterword by the author. 


The Handmaid's Tale: A Novel By Margaret Atwood Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780385490818
Availability: Usually Ships Within a Week
Published: Anchor - March 16th, 1998

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An instant classic and eerily prescient cultural phenomenon, from “the patron saint of feminist dystopian fiction” (The New York Times). Now an award-winning Hulu series starring Elizabeth Moss.


Year of Wonders: A Novel By Geraldine Brooks Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780142001431
Availability: On Our Shelves Now. We will contact you when your order is ready. Closed Mon & Tues.
Published: Penguin Books - April 30th, 2002

“Plague stories remind us that we cannot manage without community . . . Year of Wonders is a testament to that very notion.” – The Washington Post


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City of Thieves: A Novel By David Benioff Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780452295292
Availability: On Our Shelves Now. We will contact you when your order is ready. Closed Mon & Tues.
Published: Penguin Books - March 31st, 2009

From the critically acclaimed author of The 25th Hour and When the Nines Roll Over and co-creator of the HBO series Game of Thrones, a captivating novel about war, courage, survival — and a remarkable friendship that ripples across a lifetime.


Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History (Pantheon Graphic Library) By Art Spiegelman Cover Image
$16.95
ISBN: 9780394747231
Availability: On Our Shelves Now. We will contact you when your order is ready. Closed Mon & Tues.
Published: Pantheon - August 12th, 1986

The bestselling first installment of the graphic novel acclaimed as “the most affecting and successful narrative ever done about the Holocaust” (Wall Street Journal) and “the first masterpiece in comic book history” (The New Yorker) • PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • One of Variety’s “Banned and Challenged Books Everyone Should Read&rdqu


Anne Frank's Diary: The Graphic Adaptation (Pantheon Graphic Library) By Anne Frank (Text by), David Polonsky (Illustrator), Ari Folman (Adapted by) Cover Image
By Anne Frank (Text by), David Polonsky (Illustrator), Ari Folman (Adapted by)
$25.00
ISBN: 9781101871799
Availability: On Our Shelves Now. We will contact you when your order is ready. Closed Mon & Tues.
Published: Pantheon - October 2nd, 2018

A timeless story rediscovered by each new generation, The Diary of a Young Girl stands without peer. This graphic edition remains faithful to the original, while the stunning illustrations interpret and add layers of visual meaning and immediacy to this classic work of Holocaust literature.


Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe By Benjamin Alire Sáenz Cover Image
$14.99
ISBN: 9781442408937
Availability: On Our Shelves Now. We will contact you when your order is ready. Closed Mon & Tues.
Published: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers - April 1st, 2014

Now a major motion picture starring Max Pelayo, Reese Gonzales, and Eva Longoria!
A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021)

This Printz Honor Book is a “tender, honest exploration of identity” (Publishers Weekly) that distills lyrical truths about family and friendship.

Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison.


Last Night at the Telegraph Club By Malinda Lo Cover Image
$11.99
ISBN: 9780525555278
Availability: On Our Shelves Now. We will contact you when your order is ready. Closed Mon & Tues.
Published: Dutton Books for Young Readers - December 28th, 2021

Winner of the National Book Award
A New York Times Bestseller

"The queer romance we’ve been waiting for.”—Ms. Magazine


Can't Take That Away By Steven Salvatore Cover Image
$10.99
ISBN: 9781547608669
Availability: Usually Ships Within a Week
Published: Bloomsbury YA - March 8th, 2022

"A charming, inspired story about being true to who you are." - Phil Stamper, bestselling author of The Gravity of Us

An empowering and emotional debut about a genderqueer teen who finds the courage to stand up and speak out for equality when they are discriminated against by their high school administration.