Banned and Challenged Books 2023

Melissa (previously published as GEORGE)

By: Alex Gino
Narrated by: Jamie Clayton
Length: 3 hours 16 minutes

“This book, which the author is now calling Melissa’s Story, is tender and wholesome—about a young transgender girl who wants to play Charlotte in her 4th grade production of Charlotte’s Web. 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

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

By: Jonathan Safran Foer
Narrated by: Barbara Caruso, Jeff Woodman & Richard Ferrone
Length: 10 hours 56 minutes

Jonathan Safran Foer emerged as one of the most original writers of his generation with his best-selling debut novel, Everything Is Illuminated. Now, with humor, tenderness, and awe, he confronts the traumas of our recent history. Nine-year-old Oskar Schell has embarked on an urgent, secret mission that will take him through the five boroughs of... Read more

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You

A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning

By: Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi
Narrated by: Jason Reynolds
Length: 4 hours 11 minutes

“I really enjoyed this audiobook, and was lucky enough to meet Jason Reynolds at Winter Institute 2020, and he said he hopes this book helps all of us have a full knowledge and a frank discussion about race in America. Reynolds is an engaging narrator, and he deftly reads this remix of Ibram X. Kendi's National Book Award winning Stamped From the... Read more

The Bluest Eye

By: Toni Morrison
Narrated by: Toni Morrison
Length: 7 hours 5 minutes

“READ BANNED BOOKS. In this modern classic, Toni Morrison tells the story of Pecola Breedlove, a young Black girl in post-Depression Ohio whose desire to have blue eyes, to be considered beautiful by society, eventually drives her to insanity. Morrison excellently conveys the damage done by white supremacist concepts of beauty in this moving and... Read more

The Blood Years

By: Elana K. Arnold
Narrated by: Carlotta Brentan
Length: 12 hours 39 minutes

From Michael L. Printz honoree & National Book Award finalist Elana K. Arnold comes the harrowing story of a young girl's struggle to survive the Holocaust in Romania.Frederieke Teitler and her older sister, Astra, live in a house, in a city, in a world divided. Their father ran out on them when Rieke was only six, leaving their mother a... Read more

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Revised Edition)

By: Jesse Andrews
Narrated by: Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler, Keith Szarabajka, Hillary Huber, Kirby Heyborne, Abigail Revasch & Adenrele Ojo
Length: 6 hours 8 minutes

THE BOOK THAT INSPIRED THE HIT FILM!

Up until senior year, Greg has maintained total social invisibility. He only has one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time—when not playing video games and avoiding Earl’s terrifying brothers— making movies, their own versions of Coppola and Herzog cult classics. Greg would be the first one to tell... Read more

The Poet X

By: Elizabeth Acevedo
Narrated by: Elizabeth Acevedo
Length: 3 hours 30 minutes

“The Poet X is written and narrated by Elizabeth Acevedo. It is a novel made up of poems by a teenager, Xiomara Batista, growing up in Harlem. Acevedo's narration is wonderful and brings the story to life. Xiomara's dad is MIA even though he lives at home; her mother is extremely religious and pushes her faith onto her daughter; her twin brother... Read more

I Am Malala

The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban

By: Malala Yousafzai
Narrated by: Archie Panjabi
Length: 9 hours 54 minutes

A MEMOIR BY THE YOUNGEST RECIPIENT OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

As seen on Netflix with David Letterman
"I come from a country that was created at midnight. When I almost died it was just after midday."

When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to... 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

Animal Farm

By: George Orwell
Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
Length: 3 hours 11 minutes

George Orwell’s classic satire of the Russian Revolution has become an intimate part of our contemporary culture, with its treatment of democratic, fascist, and socialist ideals through an animal fable.The animals of Mr. Jones’s Manor Farm are overworked, mistreated, and desperately seeking a reprieve. In their quest to create an idyllic society... Read more

The 1619 Project

A New Origin Story

By: Caitlin Roper, Ilena Silverman & Jake Silverstein
Narrated by: Nikole Hannah-Jones & Full Cast
Length: 18 hours 56 minutes

“This book was a true education, even coming after many recent books I’ve read on race in America. It details the history of African Americans, making clear not only how central it is to the history of the United States, but how revealing it is of our national character, past and present. Chapters of historical events alternate with poetry and... Read more

Looking for Alaska

By: John Green
Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
Length: 6 hours 39 minutes

NOW A HULU LIMITED SERIES!

The award-winning, genre-defining debut from John Green, the #1 bestselling author of Turtles All the Way Down and The Fault in Our Stars
Winner of the Michael L. Printz Award • A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist • A New York Times Bestseller • A USA Today Bestseller • NPR’s Top Ten Best-Ever Teen... 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

Red, White & Royal Blue

A Novel

By: Casey McQuiston
Narrated by: Ramon de Ocampo
Length: 12 hours 15 minutes

“Fresh, irreverent, and funny, Red, White & Royal Blue is a delight and a treasure. With subtle jabs, Casey McQuiston pokes fun at both the public face of the British monarchy as well as the back-door politicking that dominates the U.S. political scene. The story follows the self-centered Alex Claremont-Diaz (America’s First Son) and his... 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

Black Girl Unlimited

The Remarkable Story of a Teenage Wizard

By: Echo Brown
Narrated by: Echo Brown
Length: 8 hours 29 minutes

This program is read by the author

"Just brilliant."—Kirkus Reviews

Heavily autobiographical and infused with magical realism, Black Girl Unlimited fearlessly explores the intersections of poverty, sexual violence, depression, racism, and sexism—all through the arc of a transcendent coming-of-age story for fans of Renee Watson's Piecing Me... Read more

The Midnight Lie

By: Marie Rutkoski
Narrated by: Justine Eyre
Length: 9 hours 26 minutes

Set in the world of the New York Times–bestselling Winner’s Trilogy, Marie Rutkoski's The Midnight Lie is an epic LGBTQ romantic fantasy about learning to free ourselves from the lies others tell us—and the lies we tell ourselves.

Where Nirrim lives, crime abounds, a harsh tribunal rules, and society’s pleasures are reserved for the High Kith.... Read more

Lobizona

A Novel

Wolves of No World: Book #1

By: Romina Garber
Narrated by: Sol Madariaga
Length: 12 hours 33 minutes

“In LABIZONA, Romina Garber weaves Argentinian folklore with the ache to belong somewhere completely. She plays with identity, gender, and family to create a magical landscape in which an entire culture must recognize that they have been complicit in a societal structure that hurts anyone who does not fit in. Manuela is undocumented in both... Read more

A Song Below Water

A Novel

A Song Below Water: Book #1

By: Bethany C. Morrow
Narrated by: Andrea Laing & Jennifer Haralson
Length: 9 hours 23 minutes

“A Song Below Water was a great listen! The narrators were fantastic. I think teen readers will connect to Tavia and Effie's identity journeys. A standout YA fantasy! Read more