Books Banned in South Carolina

15 banned books

BANNED 224 challenges

Forever

by Judy Blume

Forever is Judy Blume's groundbreaking novel about Katherine and Michael, two teenagers who fall in love and make the de...

Sexual ContentAge Inappropriateness
BANNED 213 challenges

The Color Purple

by Alice Walker

The Color Purple is Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning epistolary novel about Celie, a young Black woman in the rural...

Sexual ContentLGBTQ+ ThemesLanguage
BANNED 198 challenges

Nineteen Minutes

by Jodi Picoult

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult examines a school shooting and its aftermath through multiple perspectives, exploring b...

ViolenceSexual Content
BANNED 189 challenges

Looking for Alaska

by John Green

Looking for Alaska is John Green's debut novel about a teenager who enrolls at a boarding school and falls for the brill...

Sexual ContentLanguageDrug/Alcohol Use
BANNED 185 challenges

The Hate U Give

by Angie Thomas

The Hate U Give follows sixteen-year-old Starr Carter, who witnesses the fatal shooting of her unarmed childhood friend ...

Racial ContentLanguageViolence
BANNED 174 challenges

All Boys Aren't Blue

by George M. Johnson

All Boys Aren't Blue is George M. Johnson's young adult memoir about growing up Black and queer in New Jersey and Virgin...

Sexual ContentLGBTQ+ Themes
BANNED 156 challenges

Lawn Boy

by Jonathan Evison

Lawn Boy is Jonathan Evison's coming-of-age novel about Mike Muñoz, a young Mexican-American man working as a landscaper...

Sexual ContentLGBTQ+ Themes
BANNED 155 challenges

Thirteen Reasons Why

by Jay Asher

Thirteen Reasons Why follows high school student Clay Jensen as he listens to cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, a...

ViolenceDrug/Alcohol UseSexual Content
BANNED 148 challenges

The Kite Runner

by Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner follows Amir, the son of a wealthy Kabul businessman, and his complicated relationship with Hassan, the ...

Sexual ContentViolenceReligious Objections
BANNED 146 challenges

Out of Darkness

by Ashley Hope Pérez

Out of Darkness is a historical novel set in 1937 East Texas, interweaving a forbidden interracial love story between a ...

Sexual ContentRacial ContentViolence
BANNED 143 challenges

The Handmaid's Tale

by Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid's Tale is Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel set in Gilead, a totalitarian theocracy that has replaced the U...

Sexual ContentPolitical ContentReligious Objections
BANNED 142 challenges

This Book Is Gay

by Juno Dawson

This Book Is Gay is a nonfiction guide for LGBTQ+ teens and their allies, covering topics from coming out to safe sex to...

LGBTQ+ ThemesSexual Content
BANNED 138 challenges

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You

by Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi

Stamped is a young adult adaptation of Ibram X. Kendi's Stamped from the Beginning, remixed by Jason Reynolds to trace t...

Racial ContentPolitical Content
BANNED 132 challenges

Water for Elephants

by Sara Gruen

Water for Elephants is a historical novel set in a Depression-era traveling circus, following veterinary student Jacob J...

Sexual ContentViolence
BANNED 14 challenges

Like a Love Story

by Abdi Nazemian

Like a Love Story follows three teenagers in 1989 New York City navigating love, identity, and the AIDS crisis. It has b...

LGBTQ+ ThemesSexual Content