Every year for the duration of Banned Books Week in September, all of the books listed in Strawberry Moon that have ever been banned go on sale. This year is bittersweet, of course, because there are currently no listings in the shop, due to the horrible fire that claimed my home and the inventory of my shop. So although there will be no Banned Books Week Sale in 2015, I’m still celebrating this fun and important week here on the blog!
Today we are looking at 10 gorgeous examples of cover art from books that have been banned or challenged at some point since their publication. Many of these are classics but there are a few more modern examples as well, which is always such a surprise to me. These books are most often banned for expressing political or religious ideologies or for sexual content. Yet no matter the reason or how rabid the assaults against these books, they seem to always emerge again to find new readers and new best friends.
Ulysses by James Joyce and Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
The Color Purple by Alice Walker and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Green and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Which one is your favorite? I find I really like the last two in particular; these both feature cover art I’ve never seen for books I’ve read many times which is interesting.
