Source link : https://las-vegas-news.com/8-banned-books-that-are-now-required-reading/
It’s one of the most fascinating paradoxes in modern education. Books that were once pulled from shelves, labeled as dangerous, or deemed inappropriate now sit at the very center of our classrooms. How did that happen? The journey from banned to beloved reveals something powerful about how society shifts, how values evolve, and how the very stories we once feared become the ones we most need our children to understand.
During the 2024-2025 school year, PEN America recorded 6,870 instances of book bans, and since 2021, that amounts to 22,810 cases across 45 states and 451 school districts. In 2024, the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 821 attempts to censor library materials, targeting 2,452 unique titles. Yet ironically, many titles that faced censorship decades ago have become staples of English curricula nationwide. Let’s dive into eight books that weathered storms of controversy to become essential reading for students today.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Harper Lee’s 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is considered a classic of modern American literature, yet it’s among the books most frequently challenged and banned from middle and high school curricula, with profanity, racially charged epithets including the n-word, and a rape scene topping critics’ reasons for removal. The tension around this book remains fierce even now. Some districts have…
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Author : Matthias Binder
Publish date : 2026-02-16 08:10:00
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