As part of our Civic Engagement project, here's a selection of books, articles, podcasts, and other resources related to banned books and censorship issues.
Questions? Suggestions? Contact us at info@mgpl.org or 847-965-4220.
Resources
Books for Children (Fiction)
- Arthur and the Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club by Marc Tolon Brown
- The Rabbits’ Rebellion by Ariel Dorfman
- The Librarian of Basra by Jeanette Winter
- The Inquisitor's Tale, or, the Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz
- Ban This Book by Alan Gratz
- Property of the Rebel Librarian by Allison Varnes
- Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics by Chris Grabenstein
Books for Children (Nonfiction)
- You Can’t Read This!: Why Books Get Banned by Pamela Dell
- Places I Never Meant to Be: Original Stories by Censored Writers by Judy Blume
Resources for Parents
- The Kids’ Right to Read Toolkit: An Action Guide for Students and Parents, National Coalition Against Censorship
Books for Teens (Fiction)
- Radio Silence by Alice Oseman
- Suggested Reading by Dave Connis
- The List by Patricia Forde
- Disclose by Joelle Charbonneau
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
- Americus by M.K. Reed
Books for Teens (Nonfiction)
- Banned Book Club by Hyun Sook Kim
Books for Adults (Fiction)
- The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott
- Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Sijie Dai
- V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
- Censoring an Iranian Love Story by Shahriyār Mandanīʹpūr
- Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey
Books for Adults (Nonfiction)
- Silenced in the Library: Banned Books in America by Zeke Jarvis
- When the Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II by Molly Guptill Manning
- Intellectual Freedom: Stories from a Shifting Landscape
- Book Banning in 21st-Century America by Emily Knox
- Censored: A Literary History of Subversion and Control by Matthew Fellion
- Burning the Books: A History of the Deliberate Destruction of Knowledge by Richard Ovenden
Articles
- Book Banning in America (The New York Times)
- Books Behind Bars (PBS)
- How Banning Books Marginalizes Children by Paul Ringel (The Atlantic)
- Why Your Kids Should Read Banned Books by Regan McMahon (The Washington Post)
- Banned Books by Claire Mullally and Andrew Gargano (Freedom Forum Institute)
- Banned and Burned: Banning Books Should be a Thing of the Past by Tawney Beans (University of Cincinnati)
Documentaries & Videos
- Beyond Banned Books: Censorship in Education (PBS)
- An Evening of Forbidden Books (PEN America)
Podcasts
- So to Speak, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, University of Pennsylvania
- Soft Censorship, Hard Impact, Adrián López Ortiz, Don Podesta, Attila Mong
- The New Censorship, BBC Radio
- Banned Library
- We Read Banned Books, EverGreen, Professional Book Nerds