If any of these books piques your interest, download The Palace Project app in the iOS or Play stores and select ‘The Banned Book Club’ library. There, you can gain access to thousands of titles impacted by book bans.
Week of 9/18
It’s #BannedBookWednesday! This week’s selection, ‘The Sun and her Flowers’, by Rupi Kaur is a sequel to the best-selling poetry collection “milk & honey” and explores themes of emigration, identity, femininity and sexuality.
Rupi Kaur is a young Indian-Canadian writer whose vivid, accessible poems have gained a loyal following, particularly among female readers. “The Sun and her Flowers” depicts an emotional journey of growth through the metaphor of plant stages: wilting, falling, rooting, rising and blooming. Kaur’s poetry also explores themes of sexual assault, societal expectations of women and feminism.
“The Sun and her Flowers” has been translated into over 43 languages and sold over 11 million copies. Readers around the world have found solace in this book and deserve access to the stories that speak to them.
Week of 9/9
Curation Corps Librarians selected ‘Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy for this week’s #BannedBookWednesday.
‘Dumplin’ follows Willowdean Dixon, a plus-size teenager with a ton of charisma living in a small town in Texas. She decides to challenge societal norms by entering an esteemed beauty pageant that happens to be officiated by her mother, a former beauty queen with exacting standards.
Willowdean is an unforgettable heroine, and the best friend you wish you had. ‘Dumplin’ is an inspirational read for teens that celebrates self-acceptance, friendship, and the courage to defy expectations.
Week of 9/2
DPLA’s featured #BannedBook this week is ‘The Poet X’ by Elizabeth Acevedo.
Set in a Dominican household in Harlem, readers meet 15 year-old Xiomara as she discovers slam poetry as an emotional outlet and personal expression. Through powerful and lyrical language, Xiomara shares her struggles with her self-image, romantic interests and her devoutly religious mother.
An award-winning novel in verse, Acevedo wrote this novel in response to her English students’ requests for books with characters like themselves. As a National Poetry Slam Champion herself, Acevedo expertly writes about relationships and identity in verse.
‘The Poet X’ has won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the Michael L. Printz Award, the Pura Belpré Award, the Carnegie medal, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and the Walter Award.
Week of 8/26
Curation Corps Librarians selected ‘Amina’s Voice’ by Henna Khan for this week’s #BannedBookWednesday.
‘Amina’s Voice’ follows Amina, a shy Pakistani-American girl navigating the complexities of middle school and friendships. When Amina’s local Islamic Center is vandalized, she finds the courage to speak up for her community.
This middle-grade novel is an authentic portrayal of balancing cultural identity with peer acceptance. The characters are well-drawn and relatable, and themes of resiliency, empathy and inclusion resonate with young readers.
Week of 8/19
Today’s Curation Corps Librarian #BannedBookWednesday selection is “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson.
A highly acclaimed YA novel, “Speak” covers the topic of sexual violence and emotional aftermath. Told through high-school freshman Melinda’s diary entries, readers meet Melinda after she is ostracized by her peers after calling the police at a popular party. Social isolation and post-traumatic stress render Melinda increasingly silent, until she is able to face what happened at the party and bravely speak out against her attacker.
Our Curation Corps librarians say: “Speak is an essential and necessary book to help teenagers understand violation, despair, and recovery.”
Week of 8/12
Welcome to another #BannedBook Wednesday! Get ready to head to your local library to get this week’s selection, “14 Cows For America” by Carmen Agra Deedy. This beautifully illustrated picture book recounts the true story of a Maasai tribe in Kenya that compassionately gave 14 cows to the United States after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Here’s why our Curation Corps Librarians love this book: “Depictions of the Maasai culture and Kenyan landscape will captivate young readers while the events of 9/11 are discussed in a sensitive way. Deedy lyrically emphasizes community response and empathy that extends over great distances.”
Week of 8/5
DPLA’s #BannedBook Wednesday series spotlights banned books that center experiences, stories, histories and movements. An overwhelming number of banned books center the experiences of Black, Indigenous, People of Color or the LGBTQ+ community. Reading these books supports connection and self-awareness for folks who pick them up, particularly young readers.
This week’s book, “Esperanza Rising” by Pam Muñoz Ryan, is currently banned in Texas and North Carolina. A gripping and inspiring riches-to-rags story, this widely acclaimed middle-grade novel follows 13-year old Esperanza, who is forced to leave her privileged life in Mexico in 1930 to work in a California farm camp.
Here’s why our Curation Corps librarians love this book: “Exquisitely told, this middle grade historical novel colorfully portrays life in the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution, the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Perfect for introducing topics of economics, race relations and worker rights to young readers, and for exemplifying resiliency and hope.”
Week of 7/29
Welcome to another #BannedBook Wednesday! Get ready to head to your local library to get this week’s selection, “Patina” by Jason Reynolds. This book is a perfect pick for readers who have been watching the Olympics this summer!
What this book is about: Patina “Patty” Jones, the newest member of the Defenders, an elite middle school track team, is driven to run. Struggling to cope with her father’s unexpected death and mother’s illness, Patty pushes past her daily challenges and finds strength in competition.
Why our Curation Corps Librarians love this book: “Reynolds’s richly drawn protagonist is all at once vulnerable, temperamental, ambitious, funny, and smart. Readers will root for Patty–loyal daughter, dedicated big sister, and gifted student athlete–as she navigates through her grief and discovers her resilience and true worth.”
Week of 7/22
Get your TBR (that’s ‘To Be Read’) list ready! This week, Curation Corps librarians chose “The Rough-Face Girl” for this week’s featured #BannedBook.
In this interpretation of Cinderella, told in the context of Algonquin folklore, Rafe Martin and David Shannon reinterpret the classic fairy tale based on Native American (Mi’kmaq) folklore.
Why our Curation Corps librarians love this book: “Shannon’s hauntingly beautiful illustrations vividly depict scenes of Northeast North American indigenous people, introducing children to lifestyles of the past.”
Week of 7/15
This just might be the cutest #BannedBook of the Week! ‘Itty-Bitty Kitty Corn’ by Shanon Hale and LeUyen Pham follows Kitty’s attempts to neigh and wear a horn – she wants to be a unicorn! Although Kitty is discouraged by Parakeet and Gecko, the fun begins when she meets a purple unicorn who wishes to be a kitty!
The sparkly pink super-cuteness of Pham’s illustrations make this book irresistible. This charming story of friendship, perseverance and acceptance is perfect for imaginative play with children!
Week of 7/8
Happy Wednesday – it’s time for #BannedBook of the Week! This week, Curation Corps librarian Jill Egan would like to spotlight Erika L. Sanchez’s 2017 novel ‘I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter’.
Following the sudden death of her older sister, the “good girl” of the family, 15 year-old Julia Reyes becomes brash, rebellious and depressed. Julia narrates her grief, socio-economic issues, cultural expectations and first-generation American struggles with raw emotion that makes this young adult novel widely relatable. In the wake of her grief and the expectations of her traditional Mexican family, Julia navigates her mental health and finding her own identity.
Week of 7/1
#BannedBook of the Week is here! Today, Curation Corps members want to highlight “Refugee” by Alan Gratz.
“Refugee” follows three different kids across different times and places with a common mission: Escape. Joseph is a Jewish boy in 1930s Nazi Germany, Isabel is a Cuban girl in 1994, and Mahmoud is a Syrian boy in 2015. Through alternating points-of-view, the book details each child’s experience fleeing their homes for survival.
While this story may be intense for some young readers, others will be inspired by the characters’ courage and resilience and the ever-present hope of tomorrow. This story is a powerful read-aloud!
Week of 6/24
It’s time for #BannedBook of the Week! Today’s banned book, “Julian is a Mermaid” by Jessica Love, is a beautiful picture book that portrays a young boy’s fantasy of becoming a mermaid, and his grandmother’s acceptance of his dream.
The book’s artwork inspires readers to think about themes of self-love, individuality and acceptance. Curation Corps members enjoy the vast variety of human experiences the story celebrates in every scene, with illustrations showing Julian glammed up in beads and make-up alongside his abuela. The enchanting pictures throughout this book blur the line between imagination and reality, subtly encouraging self-expression.
Week of 6/17
This week’s #BannedBook of the Week is “Front Desk” by Kelly Yang.
Equal parts bittersweet and heartwarming, ‘Front Desk’ chronicles the ups and downs of ten-year-old Mia and her Chinese immigrant family as they pursue the American Dream. Readers get to follow along as Mia adjusts to a new school and new responsibilities, like working the front desk of a California motel managed by her parents.
Miriam Tuliao, a DPLA Curation Corps member, says: “‘Front Desk’ is a windows-and-mirrors story that grapples with big themes such as class, poverty, homelessness, and discrimination, while celebrating friendship, family, community and diversity. Yang’s empathic novel offers glimmers of hope and affirms the experiences of immigrant children.”
Week of 6/10
It’s time for #BannedBook of the Week! Today, we’re spotlighting “Gabi, A Girl in Pieces”, a YA coming-of-age novel by Isabel Quintero that chronicles Mexican-American Gabi’s tumultuous senior year of high school through her journal entries.
In candid, colorful language, Gabi journals about her pregnant best friend, her father’s struggles with substance abuse and her dreams of going to college to be a writer. Quintero is outstanding at capturing the voice of an ambitious and good-hearted teenager who has a lot of messy, heartbreaking issues in her life. Funny, sad, realistic and relatable!
Week of 6/3
Our second #BannedBook Wednesday spotlights “Brown Girl Dreaming” by Jacqueline Woodson.
Published in 2014 by Penguin Young Readers, “Brown Girl Dreaming” is a memoir in free verse. Jacqueline Woodson shares what it was like growing up as an African American girl in the 1960’s and 1970’s, between northern and southern parts of the United States. From witnessing shifts of the Civil Rights Era to navigating family dynamics, Woodson’s story is a fresh take on the coming-of-age genre.
Jill Egan, the DPLA Curation Corps member who serves as the Lead Curator for The Banned Book Club collection explains her pick: “With simple and eloquent chapters of poetry, Woodson takes the reader to other places and times, reveals her unique life experiences, and demonstrates how each one of us is a complex composite of many influences and individuality. It’s perfect for inspiring young readers to explore and tell their own stories, and for appreciating the stories of others. And it’s equally loved by adult readers who detect the emotion and beauty of the words.”
To learn more about this book, please check out the Book Resume from ALA’s Unite Against Book Bans project.
Week of 5/27
Welcome to #BannedBook Wednesday! Our Banned Book of the Week is “Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and her Family’s Fight for Desegregation” by Duncan Tonatiuh.
Published in 2014 by Abrams Books, “Separate is Never Equal” shares the powerful, yet little known, story of how the 1946-7 Mendez family lawsuit led to the desegregation of public schools in California, laying the foundation for the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case nearly a decade later.
Jill Egan, a DPLA Curation Corps member and lead Curator for The Banned Book Club collection explains her pick: “The challenge of explaining America’s civil rights evolution to young people can be exacerbated by their limited understanding of economics, labor and other complex systems in which racial discrimination resides. But kids easily grasp the unfairness of segregated schools, making this book an excellent entry point for discussions about race, history and civic participation. This achievement of the Latino community in 1947 deserves much more attention and celebration.”
To learn more about this book, please check out the Book Resume from ALA’s Unite Against Book Bans project.
Have you read this book or shared it with a young reader?