About Banned Books Installations
A sculptural look at banned, challenged or burned books in history. The installation of books were positioned in a chosen space within the libraries and left for viewers to interpret their meaning. Below is an image of the bookmark placed in each of the selected books.
These public installations question the values we personally hold and the lines, boundaries and borders we force others to embrace. By looking at the books that have been banned, challenged or burned in history and understanding cultural and social differences, we are better able to make educated decisions about what we should consider taboo. Our social setting often defines what we consider to be right or wrong – but, should these divisions or confinements be universal?
Below is the list of banned, challenged or burned books in history that I used for the installations in the libraries. However, this is not a comprehensive list. These are only the most common. The amount of books found in the individual libraries and the spaces provided determined each installation.
1984, George Orwell
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The, Mark Twain
Adventures of Super Diaper Baby, The, Dav Pilkey
Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The. Mark Twain
Agnes the Sheep, William Taylor
Alice series, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
All the King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren
Always Running, Luis J. Rodriguez
Ambush Moon, J.R. Roberts
American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
American Tragedy, An, Theodore Dreiser
Anarchist Cookbook, The, William Powell
Anastasia Again!, Lois Lowry
And Tango Makes Three, Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
Animal Farm, George Orwell
Annie on my Mind, Nancy Garden
Appointment in Samarra, John O’Hara
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, Judy Blume
Arizona Kid, Ron Koertge
Arming America, Michael Bellasiles
Around the World in a Hundred Years, Jean Fritz
As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner
Asking About Sex and Growing Up, Joanna Cole
Athletic Shorts, Chris Crutcher
Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, The, Ernest Gaines
Bastard Out of Carolina, Dorothy Allison
Being There, Jerzy Kosinski
Bell Jar, The, Sylvia Plath
Beloved, Toni Morrison
Beyond Belief, Brad Steiger
Black Boy, Richard Wright
Bless Me, Ultima, Rudolfo A. Anaya
Blood and Chocolate, Annette Curtis Klause
Blubber, Judy Blume
Bluest Eye, The, Toni Morrison
Boy’s Life, Robert McCammon
Boy Who Lost His Face, The, Louis Sachar
Boys and Sex, Wardell Pomeroy
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut
Bridge to Teribithia, Katherine Paterson
Bumps in the Night Harry Allard
Call of the Wild, The, Jack London
Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer
Captain Underpants, Dav Pilkey
Carrie, Stephen King
Castle in the Attic, The, Elizabeth Winthrop
Catch 22, Joseph Heller
Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
Cat’s Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut
Catspaw, Joan D. Vinge
Cay, The, Theodore Taylor
Ceremony, Leslie Marmon Silko
Charlotte’s Web, E.B. White
Chocolate War, The, Robert Cormier
Christine, Stephen King
Clockwork Orange, A, Anthony Burgess
Color Purple, The, Alice Walker
Congo, Michael Crichton
Crazy Lady, Jane Leslie Conley
Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat, Alvin Schwartz
Cujo, Stephen King
Curses, Hexes and Spells, Daniel Cohen
Cut, Patricia McCormick
Daddy’s Roommate, Michael Willhoite
Day No Pigs Would Die, A, Robert Newton Peck
The Dead Zone, Stephen King
Death Be Not Proud, John Gunther
Deenie, Judy Blume
Deliverance, James Dickey
Detour for Emmy, Marilyn Reynolds
Don’t Call Me Little Bunny, Gregoire Solotareff
Dragonslayers, Bruce Coville
Drowning of Stephan Jones, The, Bette Green
Earth’s Children (series), Jean M. Auel
Education of Harriet Hatfield, The, May Sarton
Education of Little Tree, The, Forrest Carter
Egypt Game, The, Zilpha Snyder
The Exorcist, William Peter Blatty
The Face on the Milk Carton, Caroline B. Cooney
Fade, Robert Cormier
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
Fallen Angels, Walter Dean Myers
Family Secrets, Norma Klein
Farewell to Arms, A, Ernest Hemingway
Final Exit, Derek Humphry
Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes
For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway
Forever, Judy Blume
From Here to Eternity, James Jones
Funhouse, The, Dean Koontz
Girls and Sex, Wardell Pomeroy
Giver, The, Lois Lowry
Go Ask Alice, Anonymous
Go Tell it on the Mountain, James Baldwin
The Goats, Brock Cole
Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
Goosebumps (series), R. L. Stine
Grapes of Wrath, The, John Steinbeck
Great Gatsby, The, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Great Gilly Hopkins, The, Katherine Paterson
Grendel, John Champlin Gardner
Guess What?, Mem Fox
Halloween ABC, Eve Merriam
Handmaid’s Tale, The, Margaret Atwood
Harry Potter (series), J. K. Rowling
Headless Cupid, The, Zilpha Snyder
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
Heather Has Two Mommies, Lesléa Newman
The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende
How to Eat Fried Worms, Thomas Rockwell
I Have to Go, Robert Munsch
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou
I, Claudius, Robert Graves
Iceman, The, Chris Lynch
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
In Country, Bobbie Ann Mason
Indian in the Cupboard, Lynne Reid Banks
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
It’s Perfectly Normal, Robie Harris
It’s So Amazing, Robie Harris
Jack, A. M. Homes
James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
Jay’s Journal, Anonymous
Journey of the Sparrows, Fran Leeper Buss
Julie of the Wolves, Jean Craighead George
Jump Ship to Freedom, James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
Jumper, Steven C. Gould
The Jungle, Upton Sinclair
Kaffir Boy, Mark Mathabane
Keeping the Love You Find, Harvelle Hendrix
Killers, The, Ernest Hemingway
Killing Mr. Griffin, Lois Duncan
Kim, Rudyard Kipling
Lady Chatterly’s Lover, D.H. Lawrence
Last Mission, The, Harry Mazer
Learning Tree, The, Gordon Parks
Leaving the Fold, Edward T. Babinski
A Light in the Attic, Shel Silverstein
Lily, Cindy Bonner
Little Black Sambo, Helen Bannerman
Little Red Riding Hood, Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
Lord of the Flies, The, William Golding
Lucy, Jamaica Kincaid
Maggie, Girl of the Streets, Stephen Crane
Matilda, Roald Dahl
Maurice, E.M. Forster
Minpins, The, Roald Dahl
Mommy Laid An Egg, Babette Cole
My Brother Sam is Dead, Christopher and James Lincoln Collier
My Teacher Glows in the Dark, Bruce Coville
My Teacher is an Alien, Bruce Coville
Naked and the Dead, The, Norman Mailer
Naomi in the Middle, Norma Klein
Naked Lunch, William Burroughs
The New Joy of Gay Sex, Charles Silverstein and Felice Picano
Night Chills, Dean Koontz
Nightmare, Marjorie Dorner
Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
On My Honor, Marion Dane Bauer
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Ordinary People, Judith Guest
Out of Control, Norma Fox
The Outsiders, S. E. Hinton
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
The Pigman, Paul Zindel
The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett
Phantom Tollbooth, The, Norton Juster
Point Counter Point, Aldous Huxley
Portnoy’s Complaint, Philip Roth
Postman, The (Ardiente Paciencia), Antonio Skarmeta
Private Parts, Howard Stern
Probing the Unknown, Stephen Tchudi
Queen of the Summer Stars, Persia Woolley
Rabbit, Run, John Updike
The Rabbit’s Wedding, Garth Williams
Rainbow, The, D.H. Lawrence
Rainbow Boys, Alex Sanchez
Return of the Indian, Lynne Reid Banks
Revolting Rhymes, Roald Dahl
Run With the Horseman, Ferrol Sams
Runaway Sleigh Ride, The, Astrid Lundgren
Running Loose, Chris Crutcher
Samurai’s Tale, The, Erik C. Hauggard
The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie
Scarlet Letter, The, Nathaniel Hawthorne
Scary Stories (series), Alvin Schwartz
Schindler’s List, Thomas Keneally
Separate Peace, A, John Knowles
Sex, Madonna
Sex Education, Jenny Davis
Short Takes, Elizabeth Segel
Skin Deep, Isaac Asimov
Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
The Sledding Hill, Chris Crutcher
Sleeping Beauty Trilogy, A. N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison
Sons and Lovers, D.H. Lawrence
Sophie’s Choice, William Styron
Studs Lonigan, James T. Farrell
Sun Also Rises, The, Ernest Hemingway
Tar Beach, Faith Ringgold
Tex, Susie E. Hinton
That Was Then, This Is Now, S. E. Hinton
Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
Then Again, Maybe I Won’t, Judy Blume
Tintin in America, Herge
Tiger Eyes, Judy Blume
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller
Turn of the Screw, Henry James
Ulysses, James Joyce
View From the Cherry Tree, The, Willo Davis Roberts
Wayside School is Falling Down, Louis Sachar
We All Fall Down, Robert Cormier
Whale Talk, Chris Crutcher
What My Mother Doesn’t Know, Sonya Sones
What’s Happening to My Body? Book for Boys, A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons, Lynda Madaras
What’s Happening to My Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters, Lynda Madaras
When the Legends Die, Hal Borland
Where Did I Come From?, Peter Mayle
White Ninja, Eric Van Lustbader
The Wish Giver, Bill Brittain
Witches of Worm, The, Zilpha Snyder
Witches, The, Roald Dahl
Wizard in the Tree, The, Lloyd Alexander
Women in Love, D.H. Lawrence
Women on Top, Nancy Friday
Wrinkle in Time, A, Madeleine L’Engle
