Banned or Challenged Books of Alabama

Dreaming in Cuban

By: Cristina García
Narrated by: Frankie Corzo, Marisa Blake, Anthony Lee Medina & Angel Harper
Length: 8 hours 8 minutes

“Impressive . . . [Cristina García’s] story is about three generations of Cuban women and their separate responses to the revolution. Her special feat is to tell it in a style as warm and gentle as the ‘sustaining aromas of vanilla and almond,’ as rhythmic as the music of Beny Moré.”—Time
 
Cristina García’s acclaimed book is the haunting,... Read more

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

By: Maya Angelou
Narrated by: Maya Angelou
Length: 10 hours 10 minutes

Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. Her life story is told in the documentary film And Still I Rise, as seen on PBS’s American Masters.

Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute... Read more

Year of Wonders

A Novel

By: Geraldine Brooks
Narrated by: Geraldine Brooks
Length: 10 hours 5 minutes

“Plague stories remind us that we cannot manage without community . . . Year of Wonders is a testament to that very notion.” – The Washington Post

An unforgettable tale, set in 17th century England, of a village that quarantines itself to arrest the spread of the plague, from the author The Secret Chord and of March, winner of the Pulitzer Prize 

... Read more

The House of the Spirits

A Novel

By: Isabel Allende
Narrated by: Thom Rivera & Marisol Ramirez
Length: 18 hours 51 minutes

This “spectacular… absorbing and distinguished work…is a unique achievement, both personal witness and possible allegory of the past, present, and future of Latin America” (The New York Times Book Review).

The House of the Spirits, which introduced Isabel Allende as one of the world’s most gifted storytellers, brings to life the triumphs and... Read more

Bless Me, Ultima

By: Rudolfo Anaya
Narrated by: Robert Ramirez
Length: 11 hours 12 minutes

Exquisite prose and wondrous storytelling have helped make Rudolfo Anaya the father of Chicano literature in English. Indeed, Anaya's tales fairly shimmer with the haunting beauty and richness of his culture. The winner of the Pen Center West Award for Fiction for his unforgettable novel Alburquerque, Anaya is perhaps best loved for his classic... Read more

The Giver

By: Lois Lowry
Narrated by: Ron Rifkin
Length: 4 hours 47 minutes

Lois Lowry’s The Giver is the quintessential dystopian novel, followed by its remarkable companions, Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son.

Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. When Jonas turns 12 he is singled out to receive... Read more

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

The Definitive Edition

By: Anne Frank
Narrated by: Selma Blair
Length: 9 hours 54 minutes

THE DEFINITIVE EDITION • Discovered in the attic in which she spent the last years of her life, the remarkable diary that has become a world classic—a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit.

Updated for the 75th Anniversary of the Diary’s first publication with a new introduction by Nobel... Read more

Beloved

Pulitzer Prize Winner

By: Toni Morrison
Narrated by: Toni Morrison
Length: 12 hours 2 minutes

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A spellbinding novel that transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. With a new afterword by the author. 

This "brutally powerful, mesmerizing story” (People) is an unflinchingly look into the abyss of slavery, from the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner.

Sethe... Read more

The Things They Carried

CliffsNotes

By: Jill Colella
Narrated by: Tim Wheeler
Length: 4 hours 18 minutes

This CliffsNotes study guide on Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried supplements the original literary work, giving you background information about the author, an introduction to the work, a graphical character map, critical commentaries, expanded glossaries, and a comprehensive index, all for you to use as an educational tool that will allow... Read more

Brave New World

By: Aldous Huxley
Narrated by: Michael York
Length: 8 hours

Originally published in 1932, this outstanding work of literature is more crucial and relevant today than ever before. “One of the most prophetic dystopian works of the 20th century” —Wall Street JournalCloning, feel-good drugs, antiaging programs, and total social control through politics, programming, and media—has Aldous Huxley accurately... Read more

To Kill a Mockingbird

By: Harper Lee
Narrated by: Sissy Spacek
Length: 12 hours 17 minutes

Voted America's Best-Loved Novel in PBS's The Great American ReadHarper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork of honor and injustice in the deep South—and the heroism of one man in the face of blind and violent hatredOne of the most cherished stories of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than forty languages, sold... Read more

The Kite Runner

By: Khaled Hosseini
Narrated by: Khaled Hosseini
Length: 12 hours 3 minutes

A Stunning Novel of Hope and Redemption

Taking us from Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy to the present, The Kite Runner is the unforgettable and beautifully told story of the friendship between two boys growing up in Kabul. Raised in the same household and sharing the same wet nurse, Amir and Hassan grow up in different worlds: Amir... Read more

And Tango Makes Three

By: Justin Richardson & Peter Parnell
Narrated by: Neil Patrick Harris
Length: 8 minutes

The heartwarming true story of two penguins who create a nontraditional family is now available in a sturdy board book edition.

At the penguin house at the Central Park Zoo, two penguins named Roy and Silo were a little bit different from the others. But their desire for a family was the same. And with the help of a kindly zookeeper, Roy and Silo... Read more

Beyond Magenta

Transgender Teens Speak Out

By: Susan Kuklin
Narrated by: Tanya Eby, Nick Podehl, Todd Haberkorn, Roxanne Hernandez, Janina Edwards, Nancy Wu & Marisol Ramirez
Length: 4 hours 35 minutes

A 2015 Stonewall Honor BookA groundbreaking work of LGBT literature takes an honest look at the life, love, and struggles of transgender teens.Author and photographer Susan Kuklin met and interviewed six transgender or gender-neutral young adults and used her considerable skills to represent them thoughtfully and respectfully before, during, and... Read more

The Hate U Give

By: Angie Thomas
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
Length: 11 hours 50 minutes

“This bestselling, powerful young adult novel about social justice and one teen girl's effort to fight for what is right, will leave you breathless. The narration by Bahni Turpin is hands down the best I've ever heard. This is such an important book it should be required reading for life in general. Or listening. Definitely listening. Read more

Lawn Boy

By: Jonathan Evison
Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
Length: 8 hours 28 minutes

For Mike Muñoz, a young Chicano living in Washington State, life has been a whole lot of waiting for something to happen. Not too many years out of high school and still doing menial work—and just fired from his latest gig as a lawn boy on a landscaping crew—he knows that he's got to be the one to shake things up if he's ever going to change his... Read more

Out of Darkness

By: Ashley Hope Pérez
Narrated by: Benita Robledo & Lincoln Hoppe
Length: 12 hours 30 minutes

“Wow! Reminded me a bit of Winter's Bone . This is a beautifully written story of heartbreaking events and tortured characters with simple, lovely, happy dreams. Read more

All Boys Aren't Blue

A Memoir-Manifesto

By: George M. Johnson
Narrated by: George M. Johnson
Length: 5 hours 11 minutes

“After listening to this book, I was outraged to learn how widely banned it is across the country - This story needs to be told and shared. Read more

A Court of Mist and Fury

Court of Thorns and Roses: Book #2

By: Sarah J. Maas
Narrated by: Jennifer Ikeda
Length: 23 hours 16 minutes

Masterful storytelling from #1 bestselling global phenomenon Sarah J. Maas brings her sexy, action-packed series to new heights. Feyre has undergone more trials than one human woman can carry in her heart. Though she’s now been granted the powers and lifespan of the High Fae, she is haunted by her time Under the Mountain and the terrible deeds... Read more

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

By: Stephen Chbosky
Narrated by: Noah Galvin
Length: 6 hours 23 minutes

“This is one of my favorite books. I read it at a time when adolescence, finding your tribe and discovering who you are were all starting to take shape for me. And then I went and grew up and named my bookstore after it! Read more