Banned Book Week celebrates the freedom of reading, including books that express ideas, characters, and storylines that are unorthodox. Check out this post (as well as our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages) every weekday to find out which banned audiobooks we’ll be featuring and the reason some have deemed them too controversial.

1. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser, narrated by Dan Miller
Reason for being banned: Sexual content, abortion, murder

In Theodore Dreiser’s classic portrait of the dark side of the American dream, Clyde Griffiths finds his social-climbing aspirations and love for a rich and beautiful debutante threatened when his lower-class pregnant girlfriend gives him an ultimatum. Based on an actual crime case, An American Tragedy tells the story of a society whose values shape Clyde’s ambitions and seal his fate.
Read more and sample the audio.

2. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, narrated by Jeff Woodman
Reason for being banned: Offensive language, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group, and other (profanity and atheism)

Christopher John Francis Boone knows every country of and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow. Christopher’s quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels.
Read more and sample the audio.

3. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien, narrated by Rob Inglis
Reason for being banned: Supernatural themes

Inspired by The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings was created to provide “the necessary background of history for Elvish tongues.” The Fellowship of the Ring, the first in the trilogy, tells the fateful power of the One Ring. It begins a magnificent tale of adventure that plunges the members of the Fellowship of the Ring into a perilous quest and sets the stage for the ultimate clash between powers of good and evil.
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4. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, narrated by James Colby
Reason for being banned: Sexually explicit, violence, anarchist themes, smoking, and drinking

Internationally best-selling author Chuck Palahniuk’s uproarious and irreverent debut novel Fight Club was transformed into a wildly successful film starring Edward Norton and Brad Pitt. When a listless office employee meets Tyler Durden, his ho-hum life takes a dramatic turn as a contender in amateur bare-knuckle street fighting matches that soon develop a fanatical following.
Read more and sample the audio.

5. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, narrated by Robert Sean Leonard
Reason for being banned: Allegations that the book promotes secular humanism, New Age religion, occultism, and Satanism

Jess Aarons has been practicing all summer so he can be the fastest runner in the fifth grade. And he almost is, until the new girl in school, Leslie Burke, outpaces him. The two become fast friends and spend most days in the woods behind Leslie’s house, where they invent an enchanted land called Terabithia. One morning, Leslie goes to Terabithia without Jess and a tragedy occurs. It will take the love of his family and the strength that Leslie has given him for Jess to be able to deal with his grief.
Read more and sample the audio.

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