It’s Banned Books Week and I just love seeing all of the discussion, advocacy and events around the country. This week always inspires me to find new writers to love and to pull out and re-read books that have become best friends. I was browsing the American Library Association’s list, 100 Most Challenged Books Of The Last Decade, and am proud to say it included many of my beloved titles. Here are a few of my favorites from that list – all of which I highly recommend:

Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Monster by Walter Dean Myers 

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

And although I tried to limit it to just 5, I can’t resist adding these challenged young adult books that I have loved and happily recommended. 

The Chocolate Wars by Robert Cormier

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Happy, Happy Reading. I’ll leave you today with this beautiful quote from Maya Angelou. 

“When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young.”