shopping cart
Call us:  800-878-7323 HELP
McAfee SECURE helps keep you safe from identity theft, credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses and online scams.

Banned Books



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 books frequently banned and challenged over the last two decades. For some of the stories behind this year's banned and challenged books please visit the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) website.

Science Fiction and Fantasy
Browse more titles in Banned Books-Science Fiction and Fantasy

Slaughterhouse-Five
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... (read more)

List Price $7.99
Your price: $5.50
Used - Mass Market

add to wish list


Children's Young Adult
Browse more titles in Banned Books-Children's Young Adult

To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
Staff Pick
We didn't read this in high school. The assigned book was The Scarlet Letter, which was already a favorite of mine. Recently, however, I decided that I'd ignored To Kill a Mockingbird for too long. If you haven't read it, or if it's been awhile since you... (read more)

List Price $7.99
Your price: $2.50
Used - Mass Market

add to wish list


Literature
Browse more titles in Banned Books-Literature

The Kite Runner
The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini
Publisher Comments
Privileged young narrator Amir comes of age during the last peaceful days of the monarchy in Afghanistan, then must endure revolution, invasion and a country's long struggle to triumph over violent forces.... (read more)

List Price $15.00
Your price: $5.95
Used - Trade Paper

add to wish list


Mythology
Browse more titles in Banned Books-Mythology

The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty
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)

List Price $15.00
Your price: $9.95
Used - Trade Paper

add to wish list


Children's
Browse more titles in Banned Books-Children's

Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire
by J. K. Rowling
From Powells.com
It is not surprising that J. K. Rowling needed a break before writing the fifth Harry Potter book. The first four came out within a couple of years, to record breaking success. What is surprising is how she managed to maintain such quality in the... (read more)

List Price $29.99
Your price: $6.95
Used - Hardcover

add to wish list


Sexuality
Browse more titles in Banned Books-Sexuality

How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale
How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale
by Jenna Jameson
Publisher Comments
When the stewardess brought me off the plane in a wheelchair, I lowered my head. I was too scared to even look at my father. I didn't want to see the disappointment and horror on his face. All that hate I had accumulated for him over the years, all the... (read more)

List Price $32.99
Your price: $17.95
Used - Hardcover

add to wish list


Featured Titles
Browse more titles in Banned Books-Featured Titles

Bless Me, Ultima
Bless Me, Ultima
by Rudolfo A. Anaya
Publisher Comments
Exquisite prose and wondrous storytelling have helped make Rudolfo Anaya the father of Chicano literature in English. Indeed, Anaya's tales fairly shimmer with the haunting beauty and richness of his culture. The winner of the Pen Center West Award for... (read more)

List Price $6.99
Your price: $3.95
Used - Mass Market

add to wish list


Africa
Browse more titles in Banned Books-Africa

Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South 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)

List Price $15.95
Your price: $4.95
Used - Trade Paper

add to wish list


Children's Picture Books
Browse more titles in Banned Books-Children's Picture Books

And Tango Makes Three
And Tango Makes Three
by Justin Richardson
Publisher Comments
In the zoo there are all kinds of animal families. But Tango's family is not like any of the others.... (read more)

Your price: $16.99
New - Hardcover

add to wish list


Politics
Browse more titles in Banned Books-Politics

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

List Price $24.95
Your price: $5.95
Used - Hardcover

add to wish list


Sale Books
Browse more titles in Banned Books-Sale Books

The Sissy Duckling
The Sissy Duckling
by Harvey Fierstein
About the Author
Henry Cole is an award-winning illustrator whose quirky, sensitive illustrations have graced more than two dozen picture books, including Jack's Garden, which he also wrote; And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell; The Sissy Duckling... (read more)

List Price $6.99
Your price: $3.98
Sale - Trade Paper

add to wish list


Used Books
Browse more titles in Banned Books-Used Books

Like Water for Chocolate
Like Water for Chocolate
by Laura Esquivel
Publisher Comments
Earthy, magical, and utterly charming, this tale of family life in turn-of-the-century Mexico became a best-selling phenomenon with its winning blend of poignant romance and bittersweet wit. The classic love story takes place on the De la Garza ranch, as... (read more)

List Price $26.95
Your price: $3.95
Used - Hardcover

add to wish list


Bestsellers

Monday, November 9, 2009
Slaughterhouse-Five
  1. Slaughterhouse-Five
    by Kurt Vonnegut
  2. To Kill a Mockingbird
    by Harper Lee
  3. The Face on the Milk Carton
    by Caroline B Cooney
  4. The Catcher in the Rye
    by J D Salinger
  5. The Outsiders
    by S.E. Hinton
  • back to top

Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.