Banned Books
People try to ban books under the oddest pretexts — complaints ranging from "references to stuffing and snapping bras," being "happily nonphallocentric" or "presenting homosexuality in a non-judgmental context" (yup!). Our section below includes all books banned and challenged between 2004 and 2005, as well as the fifty most frequently banned books of the 1990s. For some of the stories behind this year's banned and challenged books please visit the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) website.

 

Children's Young Adult

To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee

Publisher Comments
The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the... (read more)
 
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Science Fiction and Fantasy

Slaughterhouse-Five
by Kurt Vonnegut

Publisher Comments
"Slaughterhous-Five is one of the world's great anti-war books. Centering on the infamous fire-bombing of Dresden, Billy Pilgrim's odyssey through time reflects the mythic journey of our own fractured lives as we search for meaning in what we are afraid... (read more)
 
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Literature

Lord of the Flies
by William Golding

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Publisher Comments
William Golding's compelling story about a group of very ordinary small boys marooned on a coral island has become a modern classic. At first it seems as though it is all going to be great fun; but the fun before long becomes furious and life on the... (read more)
 
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Children's

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark: Collected from American Folklore
by Alvin Schwartz

Publisher Comments
Filled with folktales of eerie horror and dark revenge, this collection contains stories about skeletons that roam the Earth with torn and tangled flesh; a ghost who takes revenge on her murderer; and a haunted house where a bloody head falls down the... (read more)
 
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Featured Titles

Perks of Being a Wallflower (99 Edition)
by Stephen Chbosky

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by independent booksellers by our customers
Publisher Comments
Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor. This haunting novel about the dilemma of passivity vs. passion marks the stunning debut of a provocative new voice in... (read more)
 
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Ethnic Studies

Always Running La Vida Loca Gang Days
by Luis Rodriguez

Publisher Comments
This award-winning and bestselling classic memoir about a young Chicano gang member is now updated with a new Introduction and reading group guide.... (read more)
 
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Mythology

The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty
by Anne Rice as A. N. Roquelaure

Publisher Comments
From bestselling author Anne Rice, writing as A.N. Roquleaure. In the traditional folktale of 'Sleeping Beauty, ' the spell cast upon the lovely young princess and everyone in her castle can only be broken by the kiss of a Prince. It is an ancient story,... (read more)
 
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Romance

Animal Dreams
by Barbara Kingsolver

Publisher Comments
"Animals dream about the things they do in the day time just like people do. If you want sweet dreams, you've got to live a sweet life." So says Loyd Peregrina, a handsome Apache trainman and latter-day philosopher. But when Codi Noline returns to her... (read more)
 
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Horror

American Psycho
by Bret Easton Ellis

Publisher Comments
Now a major motion picture from Lion's Gate Films starring Christian Bale (Metroland), Chloe Sevigny (The Last Days of Disco), Jared Leto (My So Called Life), and Reese Witherspoon (Cruel Intentions), and directed by Mary Harron (I Shot Andy Warhol). <... (read more)
 
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  1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  2. The Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger
  3. The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B Cooney
  4. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
  5. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
  6. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
  7. Of Mice and Men (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century) by John Steinbeck
  8. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
  9. Krik? Krak! (Vintage Contemporaries) by Edwidge Danticat
  10. Grendel by John Gardner

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Sale Books

Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions
by Ben Mezrich

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by our customers
Publisher Comments
The amazing inside story about a gambling ring of M.I.T. students who beat the system in Vegas — and lived to tell how. Robin Hood meets the Rat Pack when the best and the brightest of M.I.T.'s math students and engineers take up blackjack under... (read more)
 
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Used Books

A Light in the Attic A Light in the Attic
by Shel Silverstein

Publisher Comments
Last night while I lay thinking here Some Whatifs crawled inside my ear And pranced and partied all night long And sang their same old Whatif song: Whatif I flunk that test? Whatif green hair grows on my chest? Whatif nobody likes me? Whatif a bolt of... (read more)
 
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Biography

Private Parts
by Howard Stern

Publisher Comments
The #1 bestseller and fastest selling autobiography of all time, Private Parts, will be released on March 14 as a major motion picture from Paramount Pictures and Rysher Entertainment. This is the event Stern's millions of fans have been waiting for. Yes,... (read more)
 
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Anthologies

Dante's Inferno
by Marcus Sanders and Sandow Birk and Dante Alighieri

Publisher Comments
A faithful yet totally original contemporary spin on a classic, Dante's Inferno as interpreted by acclaimed artist Sandow Birk and writer Marcus Sanders is a journey through a Hell that bears an eerie semblance to our own world. Birk, hailed by the Los... (read more)
 
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Africa

Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa
by Mark Mathabane

Publisher Comments
The Classic Story of Life in Apartheid South Africa Mark Mathabane was weaned on devastating poverty and schooled in the cruel streets of South Africa's most desperate ghetto, where bloody gang wars and midnight police raids were his rites of passage... (read more)
 
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Biology

The Hot Zone
by Richard Preston

Publisher Comments
"Popular science writing at its best and the years most infectious page-turner" (People), this two-million-copy bestseller is "a top-drawer horror story...the best literary roller coaster of the fall" (Newsweek).... (read more)
 
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Children's Middle Readers

Alice Alone (Alice Books)
by Phyllis Reyn Naylor

Publisher Comments
When Alice realizes that her relationship with Patrick is over, after he refuses to choose between her and the flirtatious Penny, Alice's friends know she's heartbroken, and begin to call or visit on hourly intervals. Alice realizes there is life after... (read more)
 
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Politics

America (the Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction
by Jon Stewart

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by our customers by our staff award winner
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Why do we love America so much? For the much-celebrated naked pictures of Supreme Court justices? The flashbacks to those stultifyingly dull high school textbooks? Or can it be that seeing the polished irreverence of the Daily Show writers in book form... (read more)
 
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