Banned Books Book Club

Meetings are at the Library every 4th Tuesday of the month.

This year's banned books book club will be reading materials that have been historically challenged or are on the American Library Association's current challenge list. All suggestions are taken from a list compiled by current and past book club participants.

We will discuss the reasons for the item's ban or challenge and the importance of access in upholding intellectual freedom. This is a safe place for difficult discussions.

Sign-Up for Banned Books Book Club

Contact Senior Librarian, Shannon Foster (970) 429-1943, shannon.foster@pitkincounty.com.

Audience

Past Selections

book covers for bodega dreams by ernesto quiñonez and gangsta by k'wan and the coldest night ever by sister soulja
 

Choose a book from three works related to censorship in prison, then join us for a discussion with a special guest from the Colorado State Library, Erin Boyington.

Bodega Dreams by Ernesto Quiñonez

Lyrical, inspired, and darkly funny, this powerful debut novel brilliantly evokes the trial of Chino, a smart, promising young man to whom Bodega turns for a favor. Chino is drawn to Bodega's street-smart idealism, but soon finds himself over his head, navigating an underworld of switchblade tempers, turncoat morality, and murder.

Gangsta by K'wan

After the murder of a dirty Los Angeles detective, St. Louis "Lou-Loc" Alexander finds himself a hunted man. Trying to stay one step ahead of the gas chamber, he flees to New York to pick up the pieces of his life. Fate throws him a curveball when he meets Satin Angelino and falls head-over-heels in love. But although Satin is young and fine, she is keeping a secret that could cost St. Louis his life.

The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Soulja

Ghetto-born, Winter is the young, wealthy daughter of a prominent Brooklyn drug-dealing family. Quick-witted, sexy, and business-minded, she knows and loves the streets like the curves of her own body. But when a cold Winter wind blows her life in a direction she doesn’t want to go, her street smarts and seductive skills are put to the test of a lifetime. Unwilling to lose, this ghetto girl will do anything to stay on top.

Let's talk about it by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan book cover.
 

A graphic novel about sex, sexuality, gender, body, consent, and many other topics for teens.

Crank by Ellen Hopkins book cover.
 

Kristina is the perfect daughter: gifted high school junior, quiet, never any trouble. Then she meets the monster: crank. And what begins as a wild ride turns into a struggle for her mind, her soul--her life. Ellen Hopkins, whom mediabistro.com has called "the bestselling living poet in the country," exploded onto the young adult scene with her first novel, Crank, which has become a national bestseller. School Library Journal acclaims Crank as "a stunning portrayal of a teen's loss of direction and realistically uncertain future." Publishers Weekly raves, "[Hopkins] creates a world nearly as consuming and disturbing as the titular drug."

Feed by M.T. Anderson book cover.
 

In a future where most people have computer implants in their heads to control their environment, a boy meets an unusual girl who is in serious trouble. Includes discussion questions and author notes.

Scary stories to tell in the dark by Alvin Schwartz book cover.
 

Drawn from the oral traditions of American folklore, these ghost stories and tales of weird happenings, witches, and graveyards have startling, funny, or surprising endings.

animated book cover of a middle school asian girl at a school desk talking on the phone. text reads front desk by kelly yang.
 

Mia Tang has a lot of secrets. Number 1: She lives in a motel, not a big house. Every day, while her immigrant parents clean the rooms, ten-year-old Mia manages the front desk of the Calivista Motel and tends to its guests. Number 2: Her parents hide immigrants. And if the mean motel owner, Mr. Yao, finds out they've been letting them stay in the empty rooms for free, the Tangs will be doomed. Number 3: She wants to be a writer. But how can she when her mom thinks she should stick to math because English is not her first language? It will take all of Mia's courage, kindness, and hard work to get through this year. Will she be able to hold on to her job, help the immigrants and guests, escape Mr. Yao, and go for her dreams?

puke green book cover with a black and white photo of a pair of feet in the upper right corner. text reads perks of being a wallflower by stephen chbonsky
 

A haunting coming of age novel told in a series of letters to an unknown correspondent reveals the life of Charlie, a freshman in high school who is a wallflower, shy and introspective, and very intelligent, it's a story of what it's like to grow up in high school, tracing a course through uncharted territory in the world of first dates, family dramas and new friends.

painted image of an older man in the style of the seventeen hundreds. text reads candide by voltaire.
 

The story of a gentle man who, though pummeled and slapped in every direction by fate, clings desperately to the belief that he lives in "the best of all possible worlds." On the surface a witty, bantering tale, this eighteenth-century classic is actually a savage, satiric thrust at the philosophical optimism that proclaims that all disaster and human suffering is part of a benevolent cosmic plan.

white background with multicolored words that read hood feminism. following text reads notes from the women that a movement forgot.
 

Today's feminist movement has a glaring blind spot, and paradoxically, it is women. Mainstream feminists rarely talk about meeting basic needs as a feminist issue, argues Mikki Kendall, but food insecurity, access to quality education, safe neighborhoods, a living wage, and medical care are all feminist issues. All too often, however, the focus is not on basic survival for the many, but on increasing privilege for the few. That feminists refuse to prioritize these issues has only exacerbated the age-old problem of both internecine discord, and women who rebuff at carrying the title. Moreover, prominent white feminists broadly suffer from their own myopia with regard to how things like race, class, sexual orientation, and ability intersect with gender. How can we stand in solidarity as a movement, Kendall asks, when there is the distinct likelihood that some women are oppressing others? In her searing collection of essays, Mikki Kendall takes aim at the legitimacy of the modern feminist movement arguing that it has chronically failed to address the needs of all but a few women. Drawing on her own experiences with hunger, violence, and hypersexualization, along with incisive commentary on politics, pop culture, the stigma of mental health, and more, Hood Feminism delivers an irrefutable indictment of a movement in flux. An unforgettable debut, Kendall has written a ferocious clarion call to all would-be feminists to live out the true mandate of the movement in thought and in deed.

red book cover with yellow skull and bones. text reads kurt vonnegut slaughterhouse five
 

Kurt Vonnegut's absurdist classic Slaughterhouse-Five introduces us to Billy Pilgrim, a man who becomes 'unstuck in time' after he is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. In a plot-scrambling display of virtuosity, we follow Pilgrim simultaneously through all phases of his life, concentrating on his (and Vonnegut's) shattering experience as an American prisoner of war who witnesses the firebombing of Dresden. Slaughterhouse-Five is not only Vonnegut's most powerful book, it is also as important as any written since 1945. Like Catch-22, it fashions the author's experiences in the Second World War into an eloquent and deeply funny plea against butchery in the service of authority. Slaughterhouse-Five boasts the same imagination, humanity, and gleeful appreciation of the absurd found in Vonnegut's other works, but the book's basis in rock-hard, tragic fact gives it unique poignancy-and humor.