One of the twentieth century's enduring works, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a widely beloved and acclaimed novel known throughout the world and the ultimate achievement in a Nobel Prize–winning career. The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. Rich and brilliant, it is a chronicle of life, death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the beautiful, ridiculous, and tawdry story of the Buendía family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America. Love and lust, war and revolution, riches and poverty, youth and senility, the variety of life, the endlessness of death, the search for peace and truth—these universal themes dominate the novel. Alternately reverential and comical, One Hundred Years of Solitude weaves the political, personal, and spiritual to bring a new consciousness to storytelling. Translated into dozens of languages, this stunning work is no less than an account of the history of the human race.A Blackstone Audio production.

Proposed for a ban by an official from the Russian Orthodox Church who is urging Russian education officials to ban this book along with some others for “claims that the novel idolizes the “depraved passions that make people miserable”” and allegedly contributing to the “moral decay of Russian society.”
Source: Boyd, Alice. “‘100 Years of Solitude’ Promotes Pedophilia: Russian Orthodox Church.” Colombiareports.com, Colombia Reports, 28 Sept. 2011, colombiareports.com/100-years-of-solitude-promotes-pedophilia-russian-orthodox-church/.

"Poignant . . . Powerful . . . Beautifully captures the threshold experience of the new immigrant, where the past is not yet a memory." --The New York Times Book Review Acclaimed writer Julia Alvarez's beloved first novel gives voice to four sisters as they grow up in two cultures. The García sisters--Carla, Sandra, Yolanda, and Sofía--and their family must flee their home in the Dominican Republic after their father's role in an attempt to overthrow brutal dictator Rafael Trujillo is discovered. They arrive in New York City in 1960 to a life far removed from their existence in the Caribbean. In the wondrous but not always welcoming U.S.A., their parents try to hold on to their old ways as the girls try find new lives: by straightening their hair and wearing American fashions, and by forgetting their Spanish. For them, it is at once liberating and excruciating to be caught between the old world and the new. Here they tell their stories about being at home--and not at home--in America. Julia Alvarez's new novel, Afterlife, is available now.

Banned from the Johnston County school library system after a parent complained about sexual content and profane language.

Source: Doyle, Robert P., Banned Books: Challenging Our Freedom to Read, American Library Association, 2014.

The bestselling phenomenon and inspiration for the award-winning film. Earthy, magical, and utterly charming, this tale of family life in turn-of-the-century Mexico blends poignant romance and bittersweet wit. This classic love story takes place on the De la Garza ranch, as the tyrannical owner, Mama Elena, chops onions at the kitchen table in her final days of pregnancy. While still in her mother's womb, her daughter to be weeps so violently she causes an early labor, and little Tita slips out amid the spices and fixings for noodle soup. This early encounter with food soon becomes a way of life, and Tita grows up to be a master chef, using cooking to express herself and sharing recipes with readers along the way.

Banned from a high school in southern Idaho for its depiction of sex scenes.

Source:Butts, Mike. “Nampa High School Pulls Novel with Sex Scenes.” Idaho Press, 25 Sept. 2012, www.idahopress.com/members/nampa-high-school-pulls-novel-with-sex-scenes/article_f312471a-06db-11e2-b831-0019bb2963f4.html.

Updated to include the Black Lives Matter movement, the presidency of Barack Obama, the rise of hate speech on the Internet, and more Since the publication of the first edition of Critical Race Theory in 2001, the United States has lived through two economic downturns, an outbreak of terrorism, and the onset of an epidemic of hate directed against immigrants, especially undocumented Latinos and Middle Eastern people. On a more hopeful note, the country elected and re-elected its first black president and has witnessed the impressive advance of gay rights. As a field, critical race theory has taken note of all these developments, and this primer does so as well. It not only covers a range of emerging new topics and events, it also addresses the rise of a fierce wave of criticism from right-wing websites, think tanks, and foundations, some of which insist that America is now colorblind and has little use for racial analysis and study. Critical Race Theory is essential for understanding developments in this burgeoning field, which has spread to other disciplines and countries. The new edition also covers the ways in which other societies and disciplines adapt its teachings and, for readers wanting to advance a progressive race agenda, includes new questions for discussion, aimed at outlining practical steps to achieve this objective.

Banned with immediate effect along with seven other books from Tucson Unified School District’s decision to shutter its Mexican-American Studies program (2012).
Source: Planas, Roque. “Look: The 7 Books Banned From Tucson Classrooms.” HuffPost, Huffington Post, 24 Oct. 2012, www.huffpost.com/entry/books-banned-arizona_n_1941253?slideshow=true.

Message to Aztlan is the first collection of Gonzales' diverse writings: the original I Am Joaquin (1967), along with a new Spanish translation; seven major speeches (1968-78); two plays, The Revolutionist and A Cross for Malcovio (1966-67); various poems and a selection of letters. Eight pages of photographs accompany the text.

Banned as part of the AZ House Bill 2281 that effectively banned books associated with Mexican American Studies curriculum.
Source: Tobar, Hector. “Tucson School Board Lifts Ban on Latino Studies Books.” Latimes.com, Los Angeles Times, 25 Oct. 2013, www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-tucson-school-board-latino-studies-books-20131025-story.html.

The bestselling coming-of-age classic, acclaimed by critics, beloved by readers of all ages, taught in schools and universities alike, and translated around the world--from the winner of the 2019 PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature. The House on Mango Street is the remarkable story of Esperanza Cordero, a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago, inventing for herself who and what she will become. Told in a series of vignettes-sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes deeply joyous-Sandra Cisneros' masterpiece is a classic story of childhood and self-discovery. Few other books in our time have touched so many readers.

Part of more than 80 books banned by the Arizona State Legislature in 2012 with the passing of AZ HB 2281 which effectively eliminated any and all forms of Mexican American Studies curriculum in the state amid accusations by Arizona officials that such programs were designed to “overthrow the government.”

Source: Diaz, Tony. “Every Week Is Banned Books Week For Chicanos.” HuffPost, Huffington Post, 23 Nov. 2014, www.huffpost.com/entry/every-week-is-banned-book_b_5861030.

This bilingual pictorial history depicts the Mexican American/Chicano people from their origins 500 years ago with Columbus' "discovery" & the invasions of the New World, to their struggles for social justice today. Over 800 photographs with brief explanatory texts tell the story of how Mexicans came to what is now the U.S. well before the Pilgrims & after the U.S. war of 1846-48, were made strangers in their own land. Elizabeth Martinez, author of books & articles on social movements, presents a vivid record of the life, culture, & collective struggles by farmworkers, miners, students, factory workers, women's organizations, noted leaders, immigrants, & artists across the country. The faces of weathered workers, militant youth & beautiful children alternate with victims of lynchings & bloody repression to create a work of both pain & celebration. This updated edition should be of special interest, given today's emphasis on multiculturalism, to teachers & students as well as the general public. The publisher, the SouthWest Organizing Project, is a community-based organization nationally known for its work on racial, social, & economic justice issues. Order from Southwest Community Resources, 211 10th St., SW, Albuquerque, NM 87102, 505-247-8832.

Banned with 80 other books due to the Arizona House Bill 2281 dissolution of the Mexican American Studies K-12 curriculum signed into law in 2010.

Source: Herreras, Mari. “'500 Years of Chicano History' Available Free to Local (Former) Mexican American Studies Students.” Tucson Weekly, Tucson Weekly, 4 Mar. 2020, www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2012/01/30/500-years-of-chicano-history-available-free-to-local-former-mexican-american-studies-students.

Banned along with more than 80 books by the Arizona State Legislature in 2012 with the passing of AZ HB 2281 which effectively eliminated any and all forms of Mexican-American Studies curriculum by which officials insisted that they are not “banning books;” rather, they are “improving the program” by confiscating books.
Source: Rodriguez, Roberto Cintli, "Arizona's 'Banned' Mexican American Books", The Guardian, 18 Jan. 2012. www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/18/arizona-banned-mexican-american-books

BASED ON THE 1996 PBS SERIES of the same name, Chicano! details the struggle of the Mexican-American community for social and legal equality, political and cultural identity. Chicano! focuses on individuals, issues and pivotal events that made up the popular movement known as el movimiento or la causa in the period 1965-1975. In addition, Rosales has carefully documented two centuries of struggle for civil rights by Mexican Americans. The Chicano Movement has been an often ignored aspect of the civil rights struggles in the 1960s; it was nonetheless a landmark period for the second-largest ethnic minority in the U.S.

Banned by the Arizona State Legislature in 2012 with the passing of AZ HB 2281 which effectively eliminated any and all forms of Mexican-American Studies curriculum by which officials insisted that they are not “banning books;” rather, they are “improving the program” by confiscating books.

Source: Rodriguez, Roberto Cintli. "Arizona's 'Banned' Mexican American Books." The Guardian, 18 Jan. 2012. www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/18/arizona-banned-mexican-american-books

This book is about the Chicano experience of living within, between and sometimes outside of two cultures--the damnation and salvation, and the celebration of it all.
"In some ways a book Erma Bombeck might have written, that is, if she were from El Paso, dressed in Tony Lama boots, and full fledged member of raza."--Gary Soto"
A passionately lyrical lección para todos about the history of the Western and Southwestern people. Burciaga is deeply rooted in the indigenous realities."--Carlos Santana

Banned by the Tuscon Unified School District as part of the shuttering of the Mexican American Studies program.

Source: Mata, Mary. “A Copy of Tucson's Banned Book List.” News Taco, 31 Jan. 2012, https://newstaco.com/2012/01/31/a-copy-of-tucsons-banned-book-list/.

A superbly written, excellently translated, and powerfully persuasive expose which all students of Latin American and U.S. history must read.--Choice. "Well written and passionately stated, this is an intellectually honest and valuable study."--Library Journal"
A dazzling barrage of words and ideas."--History

Previously banned by the military dictatorships of Chile, Argentina and Uruguay.
Source: Kassam, Ashifa, and Sam Jones. “Eduardo Galeano, Leading Voice of Latin American Left, Dies Aged 74.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 13 Apr. 2015, www.theguardian.com/books/2015/apr/13/eduardo-galeano-open-veins-of-latin-america-writer-dies.

The award-winning and bestselling classic memoir about a young Chicano gang member surviving the dangerous streets of East Los Angeles, now featuring a new introduction by the author. Winner of the Carl Sandburg Literary Award, hailed as a New York Times notable book, and read by hundreds of thousands, Always Running is the searing true story of one man's life in a Chicano gang--and his heroic struggle to free himself from its grip. By age twelve, Luis Rodriguez was a veteran of East Los Angeles gang warfare. Lured by a seemingly invincible gang culture, he witnessed countless shootings, beatings, and arrests and then watched with increasing fear as gang life claimed friends and family members. Before long, Rodriguez saw a way out of the barrio through education and the power of words and successfully broke free from years of violence and desperation. Achieving success as an award-winning poet, he was sure the streets would haunt him no more--until his young son joined a gang. Rodriguez fought for his child by telling his own story in Always Running, a vivid memoir that explores the motivations of gang life and cautions against the death and destruction that inevitably claim its participants. At times heartbreakingly sad and brutal, Always Running is ultimately an uplifting true story, filled with hope, insight, and a hard-earned lesson for the next generation.

First removed from the Santa Rosa High School reading list (1998), and Fremont schools also removed the book that year; Santa Barbara public schools removed the book after a parent complained about passages depicting violence and sex (2004).

Source: Doyle, Robert P., Banned Books: Challenging Our Freedom to Read, American Library Association, 2014.

From a Pulitzer Prize finalist, "the single most compelling, lucid, and lyrical contemporary account of the absurdity of U.S. border policy" (The Atlantic). In May 2001, a group of men attempted to cross the Mexican border into the desert of southern Arizona, through the deadliest region of the continent, the "Devil's Highway." Three years later, Luis Alberto Urrea wrote about what happened to them. The result was a national bestseller, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, a "book of the year" in multiple newspapers, and a work proclaimed as a modern American classic.

Banned by the Tucson Unified School District as a result of the dissolution of the Mexican American Studies program.

Source: Kirkman, Isaac. “Unbroken Angel: Luis Alberto Urrea.” Tucson Weekly, Tucson Weekly, 17 June 2022, https://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/unbroken-angel-luis-alberto-urrea/Content?oid=24248085.

First published in Portuguese in 1968, Pedagogy of the Oppressed was translated and published in English in 1970. The methodology of the late Paulo Freire has helped to empower countless impoverished and illiterate people throughout the world. Freire's work has taken on especial urgency in the United States and Western Europe, where the creation of a permanent underclass among the underprivileged and minorities in cities and urban centers is increasingly accepted as the norm. With a substantive new introduction on Freire's life and the remarkable impact of this book by writer and Freire confidant and authority Donaldo Macedo, this anniversary edition of Pedagogy of the Oppressed will inspire a new generation of educators, students, and general readers for years to come.

Banned with immediate effect along with seven other books from Tucson Unified School District’s decision to shutter its Mexican-American Studies program (2012).
Source: Planas, Roque. “Look: The 7 Books Banned From Tucson Classrooms.” HuffPost, Huffington Post, 24 Oct. 2012, www.huffpost.com/entry/books-banned-arizona_n_1941253?slideshow=true.

On a deserted mountain road in the Dominican Republic in 1960, three young women from a pious Catholic family were assassinated after visiting their husbands who had been jailed as suspected rebel leaders. The Mirabal sisters, thus martyred, became mythical figures in their country, where they are known as Las Mariposas (the butterflies). Three decades later, Julia Alvarez, daughter of the Dominican Republic and author of the acclaimed How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, brings the Mirabal sisters back to life in this extraordinary novel. Each of the sisters speaks in her own voice; beginning as young girls in the 1940s, their stories vary from hair ribbons to gun-running to prison torture. Their story is framed by their surviving sister who tells her own tale of suffering and dedication to the memory of Las Mariposas. This inspired portrait of four women is a haunting statement about the human cost of political oppression, and is destined to take its place alongside Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude and Allende's The House of the Spirits as one of the great 20th-century Latin American novels.

Banned from the Paul D Schreiber High School curriculum in New York in 2000 because the book has a drawing of a homemade bomb. Neither the text nor the drawing have instructions or diagrams on how to build one.
Source: Doyle, Robert P., Banned Books: Challenging Our Freedom to Read, American Library Association, 2014.

Examines in English and Spanish the lives of migrant workers moving from south Texas up through the Plains, and the experiences of all ages and sexes.

Challenged, but retained as part of the Clarke County Georgia Schools class reading list (2013). There was an objection to the perception that “a paragraph in the book (is) full of offensive language."

Source: Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, September. 2013, pp. 184-85; November. 2013, p. 244

An imaginative portrait of an unscrupulous individual, the story also serves as commentary on Mexican society, most notably on the abuse of power--a theme that runs throughout Fuentes' work. As the novel opens, Artemio Cruz, former revolutionary turned capitalist, lies on his deathbed. He drifts in and out of consciousness, and when he is conscious his mind wanders between past and present. The story reveals that Cruz became rich through treachery, bribery, corruption, and ruthlessness. As a young man he had been full of revolutionary ideals. Acts committed as a means of self-preservation soon developed into a way of life based on opportunism. A fully realized character, Cruz can also be seen as a symbol of Mexico's quest for wealth at the expense of moral values.

Challenged, but retained in Yakima (WA) schools over a 5-month long battle over what children should read in class. Two parents requested the book be removed for “profanity, violence and sexuality.” (1994)

Source: Doyle, Robert P. Banned Books: Challenging Our Freedom to Read. American Library Association, 2014.

A best seller and critical success all over the world, The House of the Spirits is the magnificent epic of the Trueba family -- their loves, their ambitions, their spiritual quests, their relations with one another, and their participation in the history of their times, a history that becomes destiny and overtakes them all. We begin -- at the turn of the century, in an unnamed South American country -- in the childhood home of the woman who will be the mother and grandmother of the clan, Clara del Valle. A warm-hearted, hypersensitive girl, Clara has distinguished herself from an early age with her telepathic abilities -- she can read fortunes, make objects move as if they had lives of their own, and predict the future. Following the mysterious death of her sister, the fabled Rosa the Beautiful, Clara has been mute for nine years, resisting all attempts to make her speak. When she breaks her silence, it is to announce that she will be married soon. Her husband-to-be is Esteban Trueba, a stern, willful man, given to fits of rage and haunted by a profound loneliness. At the age of thirty-five, he has returned to the capital from his country estate to visit his dying mother and to find a wife. (He was Rosa's fiance, and her death has marked him as deeply as it has Clara.) This is the man Clara has foreseen -- has summoned -- to be her husband; Esteban, in turn, will conceive a passion for Clara that will last the rest of his long and rancorous life. We go with this couple as they move into the extravagant house he builds for her, a structure that everyone calls "the big house on the corner," which is soon populated with Clara's spiritualist friends, the artists she sponsors, the charity cases she takes an interest in, with Esteban's political cronies, and, above all, with the Trueba children...their daughter, Blanca, a practical, self-effacing girl who will, to the fury of her father, form a lifelong liaison with the son of his foreman...the twins, Jaime and Nicolas, the former a solitary, taciturn boy who becomes a doctor to the poor and unfortunate; the latter a playboy, a dabbler in Eastern religions and mystical disciplines...and, in the third generation, the child Alba, Blanca's daughter (the family does not recognize the real father for years, so great is Esteban's anger), a child who is fondled and indulged and instructed by them all. For all their good fortune, their natural (and supernatural) talents, and their powerful attachments to one another, the inhabitants of "the big house on the corner" are not immune to the larger forces of the world. And, as the twentieth century beats on...as Esteban becomes more strident in his opposition to Communism...as Jaime becomes the friend and confidant of the Socialist leader known as the Candidate...as Alba falls in love with a student radical...the Truebas become actors -- and victims -- in a tragic series of events that gives The House of the Spirits a deeper resonance and meaning. It is the supreme achievement of this splendid novel that we feel ourselves members of this large, passionate (and sometimes exasperating) family, that we become attached to them as if they were our own. That this is the author's first novel makes it all the more extraordinary. The House of the Spirits marks the appearance of a major, international writer.

Challenged at Paso Robles High School (CA) in 1994 for objections to “accounts of sexual encounters and violence.” In 1999 it was similarly challenged in a high school reading list in Encinitas (CA) because it “defames the Catholic faith and has pornographic passages.” It endured similar challenges in several other California school districts in Fairfield (2000), Suisun City (2000), and Modesto (2003).
Source: Doyle, Robert P., Banned Books: Challenging Our Freedom to Read, American Library Association, 2014.

What Does It Mean To Grow Up Chicana/o? When I was growing up, I never read anything in school by anyone who had a "Z" in their last name. This anthology is, in many ways, a public gift to that child who was always searching for herself whithin the pages of a book. from the Introduction by Tiffany Ana Lopez Louie The Foot Gonzalez tells of an eighty-nine-year-old woman with only one tooth who did strange and magical healings... Her name was Dona Tona and she was never taken seriously until someone got sick and sent for her. She'd always show up, even if she had to drag herself, and she stayed as long as needed. Dona Tona didn't seem to mind that after she had helped them, they ridiculed her ways. Rosa Elena Yzquierdo remembers when homemade tortillas and homespun wisdom went hand-in-hand... As children we watched our abuelas lovingly make tortillas. In my own grandmother's kitchen, it was an opportunity for me to ask questions within the safety of that warm room...and the conversation carried resonance far beyond the kitchen... Sandra Cisneros remembers growing up in Chicago... Teachers thought if you were poor and Mexican you didn't have anything to say. Now I know, "We've got to tell our own history...making communication happen between cultures."

Challenged, along with seventeen other titles in the Fairfax County, Va. elementary and secondary libraries (2002), by a group called Parents Against Bad Books in Schools. The group contends the books “contain profanity and descriptions of drug abuse, sexually explicit conduct, and torture.” Source: Krug, Judith F, editor. “Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom.” Jan. 2003.

From "one of the nation's foremost Chicano literary artists" comes a coming-of-age classic and the bestselling Chicano novel of all time that follows a young boy as he questions his faith and beliefs -- now one of PBS's "100 Great American Reads" (Denver Post). Antonio Marez is six years old when Ultima comes to stay with his family in New Mexico. She is a curandera, one who cures with herbs and magic. Under her wise wing, Tony will probe the family ties that bind and rend him, and he will discover himself in the magical secrets of the pagan past--a mythic legacy as palpable as the Catholicism of Latin America. And at each life turn there is Ultima, who delivered Tony into the world... and will nurture the birth of his soul.

Banned from Stanislaus County Schools as well as in various schools districts in California, Utah, Colorado and Texas for profanity, depictions of the occult, and vulgar language.
Source: Doyle, Robert P., Banned Books: Challenging Our Freedom to Read, American Library Association, 2014.

Literary Nonfiction. Poetry. Latino/Latina Studies. LGBT Studies. Fourth Edition. Rooted in Gloria Anzaldúa's experience as a Chicana, a lesbian, an activist, and a writer, the essays and poems in this volume profoundly challenged, and continue to challenge, how we think about identity. BORDERLANDS/LA FRONTERA remaps our understanding of what a "border" is, presenting it not as a simple divide between here and there, us and them, but as a psychic, social, and cultural terrain that we inhabit, and that inhabits all of us. This twenty-fifth anniversary edition features a new introduction by scholars Norma Cantú (University of Texas at San Antonio) and Aída Hurtado (University of California at Santa Cruz) as well as a revised critical bibliography. "The emotional and intellectual impact of the book is disorienting and powerful...all languages are spoken, and survival depends on understanding all modes of thought. In the borderlands new creatures come into being. Anzaldúa celebrates this 'new mestiza' in bold, experimental writing."--The Village Voice "Anzaldúa's pulsating weaving of innovative poetry with sparse informative prose brings us deep into the insider/outsider consciousness of the borderlands; that ancient and contemporary, crashing and blending world that divides and unites America."--Women's Review of Books

Banned in Arizona under the 2010 House Bill 2281, and upheld by an Arizonian court in 2013. The bill prohibits the teaching any course that “promotes the overthrow of the United States government or promotes resentment toward a race or a class of people."

Source: Snarr, Peter. “Banned Books Week Honors Frequently Challenged Literature, Including Former Professor's Banned Work.” Golden Gate Xpress, San Francisco State University, goldengatexpress.org/60103/latest/life/banned-books-week-borderlands/.

Tome is a small, outwardly sleepy hamlet in central New Mexico. In Ana Castillo's hands, though, it stands wondrously revealed as a place of marvels, teeming with life and with all manner of collisions: the past with the present, the real with the supernatural, the comic with the horrific, the Native American with the Latino and the Anglo, the women with the men. With the talkative, intimate voice and the stylistic narrative freedom of a Southwestern Cervantes, Castillo relates the story of two crowded decades in the life of a Chicano family.

Banned by the Tucson Unified School District as a wider part of the abolishment of the Mexican American Studies program.

Source: Herreras, Mari. “Banned Book Author Ana Castillo Visits Tucson Tonight.” Tucson Weekly, 4 May 2012, https://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2012/05/04/banned-book-author-ana-castillo-visits-tucson-tonight.

Winner of: The Pulitzer Prize The National Book Critics Circle Award The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award The Jon Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize A Time Magazine #1 Fiction Book of the Year One of the best books of 2007 according to The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, People, The Village Voice, Time Out New York, Salon, Baltimore City Paper, The Christian Science Monitor, Booklist, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, New York Public Library, and many more... Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight, lovesick Dominican ghetto nerd. From his home in New Jersey, where he lives with his old-world mother and rebellious sister, Oscar dreams of becoming the Dominican J. R. R. Tolkien and, most of all, of finding love. But he may never get what he wants, thanks to the Fukú--the curse that has haunted Oscar's family for generations, dooming them to prison, torture, tragic accidents, and, above all, ill-starred love. Oscar, still waiting for his first kiss, is just its most recent victim. Díaz immerses us in the tumultuous life of Oscar and the history of the family at large, rendering with genuine warmth and dazzling energy, humor, and insight the Dominican-American experience, and, ultimately, the endless human capacity to persevere in the face of heartbreak and loss. A true literary triumph, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao confirms Junot Díaz as one of the best and most exciting voices of our time.

Challenged by parents (and some students) at a New Jersey high school, expressing displeasure at the book being taught, calling it "dirty, disgusting and pornographic."

Source: “Some West Essex H.S. Students, Parents Disapprove of 'Pornographic' Book.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 7 May 2014, https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/some-west-essex-h-s-students-parents-disapprove-of-pornographic-book/.

Winner of the 1999 Independent Publisher Book Award for Creative Non-fiction/Memoir in the US'In this book, full of Martin Espada's intelligence and heart, poetry emerges as passionate artistic practice, and essays as acts of tough-minded engagement.' Adrienne RichIn his first collection of essays, award-winning poet Martin Espada turns his fierce critical eye toward a broad range of urgent political and cultural issues. With the same insight and integrity displayed in his poetry, Espada chronicles many struggles of the Latino community: the backlash against Latino immigrants and the Spanish language, the borders of racism, and U.S. colonialism in Puerto Rico.

Banned by Tucson Unified School District as part of a wider abolishment of the district's Mexican American Studies program.

Source: Reddington, Pete. “Martín Espada's Book Banned in Tucson.” Valley Advocate, H.S. Gere and Sons, Inc., 9 Feb. 2012, https://valleyadvocate.com/2012/02/09/martn-espadas-book-banned-in-tucson.

Author Abraham Rodriguez, Jr. captures what it's like to grow up too fast amid the crushing poverty of the South Bronx. A gritty slice of New York Latino life - now reissued with a striking new cover.

The book survived being banned at Rosemount High School in Minnesota after a single complaint about “profane language and promiscuity in the stories.”

Source: Doyle, Robert P. Banned Books: Challenging Our Freedom to Read. American Library Association, 2014.

Newbery Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Matt de la Peña's Mexican WhiteBoy is a story of friendship, acceptance, and the struggle to find your identity in a world of definitions. Danny is tall and skinny. Even though he's not built, his arms are long enough to give his pitch a power so fierce any college scout would sign him on the spot. Ninety-five mile an hour fastball, but the boy's not even on a team. Every time he gets up on the mound, he loses it. But at his private school, they don't expect much else from him. Danny is brown. Half-Mexican brown. And growing up in San Diego that close to the border means everyone else knows exactly who he is before he even opens his mouth. Before they find out he can't speak Spanish, and before they realize his mom has blond hair and blue eyes, they've got him pegged. But it works the other way too. And Danny's convinced it's his whiteness that sent his father back to Mexico. That's why he's spending the summer with his dad's family. But to find himself, he may just have to face the demons he refuses to see--the demons that are right in front of his face. And open up to a friendship he never saw coming. Matt de la Peña's critically acclaimed novel is an intimate and moving story that offers hope to those who least expect it. "[A] first-rate exploration of self-identity." --SLJ "Unique in its gritty realism and honest portrayal of the complexities of life for inner-city teens...de la Peña poignantly conveys the message that, despite obstacles, you must believe in yourself and shape your own future." --The Horn Book Magazine "The baseball scenes...sizzle like Danny's fastball. Danny's struggle to find his place will speak strongly to all teens, but especially to those of mixed race." --Booklist "De la Peña blends sports and street together in a satisfying search for personal identity." --Kirkus Reviews "Mexican WhiteBoy...shows that no matter what obstacles you face, you can still reach your dreams with a positive attitude. This is more than a book about a baseball player--this is a book about life." --Curtis Granderson, New York Mets outfielder An ALA-YALSA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults A Junior Library Guild Selection

Banned by the Tucson Unified School District as part of the wider abolishment of the Mexican American Studies curriculum.

Source: Winerip, Michael. “Racial Lens Used to Cull Curriculum in Arizona.” The New York Times, 19 Mar. 2012, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/19/education/racial-lens-used-to-cull-curriculum-in-arizona.html.

"This bilingual edition of Zoot Suit combines the original English-language version with the first-ever Spanish translation of the critically acclaimed play by Luis Valdez, a work that cracked open the depiction of Chicanos on the stage, challenging viewers to revisit a troubled moment in our nation's history. From the moment the myth-infused character of El Pachuco burst onto the stage, literally cutting his way through the drop curtain with a switchblade, Luis Valdez spurred a revolution in Chicano theater." "Focusing on the events surrounding the Sleepy Lagoon Murder Trial of 1942 and the ensuing Zoot Suit Riots that turned Los Angeles into a bloody war zone, this is a gritty and vivid depiction of the horrifying violence and racism suffered by young Mexican Americans on the home front during World War II. Valdez's cadre of young urban characters struggle with the stereotypes and generalizations of America's dominant culture, the questions of assimilation and patriotism, and a desire to rebel against the mainstream pressures that threaten to wipe them out." "Experimenting with brash forms of narration, pop culture of the war era, and complex characterizations, this quintessential exploration of the Mexican-American experience in the United States during the 1940s was the first, and only, Chicano play to open on Broadway."--BOOK JACKET.

Banned by the Tucson Unified School District as part of a wider abolishment of the district's Mexican American Studies program (HB 2281, 2012).

Source: Stephenson, Hank. “What Arizona's 2010 Ban on Ethnic Studies Could Mean for the Fight over Critical Race Theory.” Politico, 11 July 2021, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/07/11/tucson-unified-school-districts-mexican-american-studies-program-498926.

A modern classic of manhood, marginalization, survival, and transcendence--and a lyrical memoir of coming of age on the streets of Spanish Harlem.  "A report from the guts and heart of a submerged population group ... It claims our attention and emotional response." --The New York Times Book Review Thirty years ago Piri Thomas made literary history with this lacerating memoir. Here was the testament of a born outsider: a Puerto Rican in English-speaking America; a dark-skinned morenito in a family that refused to acknowledge its African blood. Here was an unsparing document of Thomas's plunge into the deadly consolations of drugs, street fighting, and armed robbery--a descent that ended when the twenty-two-year-old Piri was sent to prison for shooting a cop. As he recounts the journey that took him from adolescence in El Barrio to a lock-up in Sing Sing to the freedom that comes of self-acceptance, faith, and inner confidence, Piri Thomas gives us a book that is as exultant as it is harrowing and whose every page bears the irrepressible rhythm of its author's voice.

Banned from the middle school library by order of Queens Community School Board 1250. The appeal to keep this book banned was upheld in court by President’s Council Dist. 25 v. Community School Board. It was also one of nine books banned by the Island Trees Free School District until the ban was successfully challenged and overturned in 1982 by the U.S. Supreme Court (Island Trees School District v. Pico). The reasons given were the book was considered “immoral, anti-American, anti-Christian and just plain filthy.” (NY)

Source: Doyle, Robert P. Banned Books: Challenging Our Freedom to Read. American Library Association, 2014.

A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021) This Printz Honor Book is a "tender, honest exploration of identity" (Publishers Weekly) that distills lyrical truths about family and friendship. Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship--the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.

The book is on a compiled list of more than 850 books proposed for banning in the state of Texas by lawmaker Matt Krause on subjects ranging from racism to sexuality that could "make students feel discomfort." (2022)

Sources: Gamboa, Suzanne. “Latino Authors, Activists Lead Caravan, March Against Book Bans.” NBCNews.com, NBC Universal News Group, 4 Apr. 2022, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/latino-authors-caravan-protest-texas-book-bans-rcna26162.

Siemaszko, Corky. “Texas Lawmaker Says 850 Books Ranging from Race to Sexuality Could Cause 'Discomfort'.” NBCNews.com, NBC Universal News Group, 27 Oct. 2021, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-lawmaker-says-850-books-ranging-race-sexuality-cause-discomfort-rcna3953.

An intersectional history of the shared struggle for African American and Latinx civil rights Spanning more than two hundred years, An African American and Latinx History of the United States is a revolutionary, politically charged narrative history arguing that the "Global South" was crucial to the development of America as we know it. Ortiz challenges the notion of westward progress, as exalted by widely taught formulations such as "manifest destiny" and "Jacksonian democracy," and shows how placing African American, Latinx, and Indigenous voices unapologetically front and center transforms American history into the story of the working class organizing against imperialism. In precise detail, Ortiz traces this untold history from the Jim Crow-esque racial segregation of the Southwest, the rise and violent fall of a powerful tradition of Mexican labor organizing in the twentieth century, to May 1, 2006, International Workers' Day, when migrant laborers-Chicana/os, Afro-Cubanos, and immigrants from nearly every continent on earth-united in resistance on the first "Day Without Immigrants." Incisive and timely, An African American and Latinx History of the United States is a bottom-up history told from the viewpoint of African American and Latinx activists and revealing the radically different ways people of the diaspora addressed issues still plaguing the United States today.

Banned from some schools and libraries in Texas. Also part of a proposed list of more than 850 books a Texas lawmaker would like to have banned from schools and libraries in the state.

Source: Gamboa, Suzanne. “Latino Authors, Activists Lead Caravan, March Against Book Bans.” NBCNews.com, NBC Universal News Group, 4 Apr. 2022, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/latino-authors-caravan-protest-texas-book-bans-rcna26162.

A New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and IndieBound bestseller! Balancing epic and intensely personal stakes, bestselling author Adam Silvera's Infinity Son is a gritty, fast-paced adventure about two brothers caught up in a magical war generations in the making. Growing up in New York, brothers Emil and Brighton always idolized the Spell Walkers--a vigilante group sworn to rid the world of specters. While the Spell Walkers and other celestials are born with powers, specters take them, violently stealing the essence of endangered magical creatures. Brighton wishes he had a power so he could join the fray. Emil just wants the fighting to stop. The cycle of violence has taken a toll, making it harder for anyone with a power to live peacefully and openly. In this climate of fear, a gang of specters has been growing bolder by the day. Then, in a brawl after a protest, Emil manifests a power of his own--one that puts him right at the heart of the conflict and sets him up to be the heroic Spell Walker Brighton always wanted to be. Brotherhood, love, and loyalty will be put to the test, and no one will escape the fight unscathed. Don't miss Infinity Reaper, the gripping sequel, which includes a special prequel short story starring Ness!

On a compiled list of more than 849 proposed books for banning in the state of Texas by lawmaker Matt Krause on subjects ranging from racism to sexuality. (2022)

Source: Dearman, Eleanor. “Fort Worth Lawmaker Targets 849 Books in School Libraries. Their Topics? Sex, Race, LGBTQ.” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, McClatchy, 27 Oct. 2021, https://www.star-telegram.com/news/politics-government/article255302606.html.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho continues to change the lives of its readers forever. With more than two million copies sold around the world, The Alchemist has established itself as a modern classic, universally admired. Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the magical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found. The story of the treasures Santiago finds along the way teaches us, as only a few stories can, about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, above all, following our dreams. Acclaimed illustrator Daniel Sampere brings Paulo Coelho's classic to new life in this gorgeously illustrated graphic novel adaptation.

Banned in Iran. The Iran Book News Agency told Coelho that one of the reasons his book was banned was that "there is concern over the story of dark mysticism, which is sealed in his works . . . following World War II and [which is] backed by the Zionists, Christianity and the [Catholic] church." The real reason is said to have stemmed from Coelho's support of his Iranian editor, who attempted to administer first aid to an anti-government protester, thus running afoul of the Iranian government.

Margolis, Mac. “Paulo Coehlo Banned in Iran.” Newsweek, Newsweek Digital, 13 Jan. 2011, https://www.newsweek.com/paulo-coehlo-banned-iran-67049.

Drawing on rich new scholarship, this translation restores Sor Juana's own emphasis and diction. Known as the First Feminist of America, the Mexican nun Sor Juana Ins de la Cruz (1648/51 - 1695) was a brilliant and popular poet, playwright, and essayist whose feminist theory stands as a link between that of Christine de Pizan and Mary Wollstonecraft in the struggle to establish the intellectual rights of women. Sor Juana's persistent defense of these rights brought her increasingly into conflict with church officials who wanted to silence her. The Answer (1691) is Sor Juana's culminating response to years of attacks. The introduction, bibliography, chronology, and complete Spanish texts of The Answer and nine poems make this volume the indispensable Sor Juana reader. One of the landmarks of Renaissance literature and an important document in the history of intellectual freedom.... Essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand not only this remarkable woman but also the whole world in which she forged her identity.-Stephen Greenblatt, UCLA Berkeley * A 1995 PEN Center West Literary Translation Award Finalist * * Alternate of the Quality Paperback Book Club * Suggested for course use in: Feminist Theory Latin American Studies Religious History Women's history

Sor Juana Inez de La Cruz was ordered by the Catholic Church to cease all writing, had all her works banned, and her personal library was confiscated by her bishop for defending women’s rights to education. Today, she is one of Mexico’s most celebrated scholars and poets.

Source: Grossman-Heinze, Dahlia. “My Favorite Feminist: Sor Juana Inés De La Cruz.” Ms. Magazine, Feminist Majority Foundation, 20 Mar. 2019, https://msmagazine.com/2011/03/16/my-favorite-feminist-sor-juana-ines-de-la-cruz/.

In his twisty, gritty, profoundly moving New York Times bestselling-debut--also called "mandatory reading" and selected as an Editors' Choice by the New York Times--Adam Silvera brings to life a charged, dangerous near-future summer in the Bronx. In the months after his father's suicide, it's been tough for sixteen-year-old Aaron Soto to find happiness again--but he's still gunning for it. With the support of his girlfriend Genevieve and his overworked mom, he's slowly remembering what that might feel like. But grief and the smile-shaped scar on his wrist prevent him from forgetting completely.  When Genevieve leaves for a couple of weeks, Aaron spends all his time hanging out with this new guy, Thomas. Aaron's crew notices, and they're not exactly thrilled. But Aaron can't deny the happiness Thomas brings or how Thomas makes him feel safe from himself, despite the tensions their friendship is stirring with his girlfriend and friends. Since Aaron can't stay away from Thomas or turn off his newfound feelings for him, he considers turning to the Leteo Institute's revolutionary memory-alteration procedure to straighten himself out, even if it means forgetting who he truly is.  Why does happiness have to be so hard? "Silvera managed to leave me smiling after totally breaking my heart. Unforgettable." --Becky Albertalli, author of Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda  "Adam Silvera explores the inner workings of a painful world and he delivers this with heartfelt honesty and a courageous, confident hand . . . A mesmerizing, unforgettable tour de force." --John Corey Whaley, National Book Award finalist and author of Where Things Come Back and Noggin.

Challenged and tentatively retained in Polk County Schools in Florida (2022). Reasons given are that it contains "pornography" and it is "harmful to children."

Source: Moore, Kimberly C. “Polk County Book Review Panel Votes to Return 'More Happy Than Not' to School Library Shelves.” The Ledger. 13 May 2022, https://www.theledger.com/story/news/education/2022/05/13/more-happy-than-not-adam-silvera-return-polk-county-school-library-shelves/9734602002/.

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER * "A love story of astonishing power" (Newsweek), the acclaimed modern literary classic by the beloved Nobel Prize-winning author In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career he whiles away the years in 622 affairs--yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again.

Challenged, but retained in Montgomery County School libraries and reading lists. One lone parent complained that the book contained "perverse sexual acts, adults and children having sex, and rape," and therefore must be removed from every shelf and every school.

Source: Doyle, Robert P. Banned Books: Defending our Freedom to Read. American Library Association, 2017.

The true story of Miguel Littin, a political exile from Chile after the death of Allende, who returned to his homeland disguised after a 12-year absence.

Banned by the Chilean government under Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship, with nearly 15,000 copies confiscated and publicly burned by the military.

Source: Associated Press. “14,846 Books by Nobel Prize Winner Burned in Chile.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 25 Jan. 1987, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-01-25-mn-5720-story.html.

A personal friend of the President is assassinated. Who will pay for this crime? It hardly seems to matter in this Latin American republic.

Banned in Guatemala for criticism against its ruling government at the time.
Source: Green, Jonathon, and Nicholas J. Karolides. Encyclopedia of Censorship: Jonathon Green, Nicholas J. Karolides. Facts On File, 2005.