Freedom to Read:
Banned Books Week is
September 18-24
Diverse + Inclusive | September 2022                                          subscribe
 
Banned Books Week is an initiative that started in 1982 in response to people trying to remove books from libraries, schools, and bookstores.
It highlights the value of free and open access to information. 
 
County of SLO Public Libraries stands by the right to read freely. We serve a vibrant, diverse community and our collections reflect different interests and viewpoints.
 
Below, you'll find a list of frequently challenged titles, as reported by the American Library Association. 
 
Join us in celebrating the freedom to read whatever we want! 
 
To kill a mockingbird
by Harper Lee

The explosion of racial hate and violence in a small Alabama town is viewed by a little girl whose father defends a black man accused of rape.
George
by Alex Gino

Knowing herself to be a girl despite her outwardly male appearance, George is denied a female role in the class play before teaming up with a friend to reveal her true self.
The handmaid's tale
by Margaret Atwood

Offred, a Handmaid, describes life in what was once the United States, now the Republic of Gilead, a shockingly repressive and intolerant monotheocracy, in a satirical tour de force set in the near future.
The hate u give
by Angie Thomas

After witnessing her friend's death at the hands of a police officer, Starr Carter's life is complicated when the police and a local drug lord try to intimidate her in an effort to learn what happened the night Kahlil died.
Stamped : racism, antiracism, and you
by Jason Reynolds

Reveals the history of racist ideas in America from 1415 to the present while explaining their endurance and capacity for being discredited.
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
by Mark Haddon

After stumbling upon his neighbor's dog, Wellington, impaled on a garden fork and being blamed for the killing, fifteen-year-old Christopher John Francis Boone, an autistic savant obsessed with Sherlock Holmes, decides to track down the real killer and turns to his detective hero to help him with the investigation, which brings him face to face with a family crisis. A first novel. Reader's Guide available. Reprint. 150,000 first printing.
And Tango makes three
by Justin Richardson

When male penguins Silo and Roy attempt to hatch an egg-shaped rock and find no success in their efforts, the zookeepers decide to place a fertilized penguin egg in their cage and end up with little baby Tango, in a tale based on a true story from the Central Park Zoo.
Out of darkness
by Ashley Hope Pérez

Loosely based on a school explosion that took place in New London, Texas, in 1937, this is the story of two teenagers: Naomi, who is Mexican, and Wash, who is black, and their dealings with race, segregation, love, and the forces that destroy people.
The Bluest Eye
by Toni Morrison

The first novel by the Nobel Prize-winning author relates the story of Pecola Breedlove, an eleven-year-old Black girl growing up in an America that values blue-eyed blondes, and the tragedy that results because of her longing to be accepted.
Drama
by Raina Telgemeier

Designing sets for her middle school's play, Callie tries to overcome limited carpentry skills, low ticket sales and squabbling crew members only to find her efforts further complicated by the arrival of two cute brothers.
Of mice and men
by John Steinbeck

In Depression-era California, two migrant workers dream of better days on a spread of their own until an act of unintentional violence leads to tragic consequences. 
All American boys
by Jason Reynolds

When sixteen-year-old Rashad is mistakenly accused of stealing, classmate Quinn witnesses his brutal beating at the hands of a police officer who happens to be the older brother of his best friend. Told through Rashad and Quinn's alternating viewpoints
Something happened in our town : a child's story about racial injustice
by Marianne Celano

After discussing the police shooting of a local Black man with their families, Emma and Josh know how to treat a new student who looks and speaks differently than his classmates.
The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian
by Sherman Alexie

Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.
The kite runner
by Khaled Hosseini

Traces the unlikely friendship of a wealthy Afghan youth and a servant's son, in a tale that spans the final days of Afghanistan's monarchy through the atrocities of the present day.
Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone
by J. K. Rowling

Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.
I Am Jazz
by Jessica Herthel

Based on the young co-author's real-life experiences, the story of a transgender child traces her early awareness that she is a girl in spite of male anatomy and the acceptance she finds through a wise doctor who explains her natural transgender status.
Speak
by Laurie Halse Anderson

Melinda Sordino finds herself an outcast at her high school for calling the cops on an end of summer party, and, although she finds comfort in her art class, she still holds a terrible secret.
The adventures of Captain Underpants
by Dav Pilkey

When George and Harold hypnotize their principal into thinking that he is the superhero Captain Underpants, he leads them to the lair of the nefarious Dr. Diaper, where they must defeat his evil robot henchmen.
Out of darkness
by Ashley Hope Pérez

Loosely based on a school explosion that took place in New London, Texas, in 1937, this is the story of two teenagers: Naomi, who is Mexican, and Wash, who is black, and their dealings with race, segregation, love, and the forces that destroy people
The Amulet of Samarkand
by Jonathan Stroud

Nathaniel, a magician's apprentice, summons up the djinni Bartimaeus and instructs him to steal the Amulet of Samarkand from the powerful magician Simon Lovelace.
All boys aren't blue : a memoir-manifesto
by George M. Johnson

A first book by the prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist shares personal essays that chronicle his childhood, adolescence and college years as a Black queer youth, exploring subjects ranging from gender identity and toxic masculinity to structural marginalization and Black joy. Simultaneous eBook.
This book is gay
by Juno Dawson

A British author of teen fiction offers basic information about the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender experience, including terms, religious issues, coming out, and sex acts, for people of all orientations, including the merely curious