Books That Are Shockingly Banned From Schools

Books that were once popular and acceptable are now being challenged by parents and even teachers. Those same books that students grew up reading in schools are now in the banned list for numerous reasons, ranging from too much violence to encouraging risky behavior. In some parts of the US, this list of books is banned from schools.

 4. "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou

Summary: In her autobiography, Angelou recounts all of the hardships she went through in her youth.

Why it's banned: Too much sex, an intense scene of childhood rape, depictions of sexuality and racism.

Where it's banned: Marshall University, Huntington, WV

 3. "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker

Summary: A feminist novel about an abused and uneducated black woman's struggle for empowerment.

Why it's banned: Socially offensive, sexual and social explicitness, troubling ideas about race relations, man's relationship to God, African history and human sexuality.

Where it's banned: Pomperaug High School, Southbury, CT; Newport News, Virginia School Library; and public libraries in Saginaw, Michigan

 2. "James and the Giant Peach" by Roald Dahl

Summary: When James loses his parents, he is forced to live with his cruel aunts. After meeting an old man with magic crystals, James drops the crystals on the peach tree and realizes his life will forever be changed.

Why it's banned: Crude language and encourages children to disobey parents and other adults.

Where is it banned: Thackery's Bookstore, Toledo, Ohio; pulled from an elementary school in Charlotee Harbor, Florida; Stafford County, Virgina

 1. "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank

Summary: Set in World War II, Frank describes what it was like hiding in a cramped attic with her family along with other Jews as they feared being discovered by the Nazis.

Why it's banned: Socially Offensive. In 1983, four members of the Alabama State Textbook Committee called for the rejection of this title due to it being a "real downer."

Where is it banned?: Culpeper County Public Schools in VA

*Sources: aarp.org, highlands.edu, listal.com, degreedirectory.org, ala.org; world.edu