TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Barnes & Noble bookstores are now including “banned book” sections in some of its stores, as well as an entire page on its website.
There are currently 186 books listed by Barnes & Noble in the section online. Some of those books include “The Lord of the Rings,” “The Great Gatsby,” “Critical Race Theory: An Introduction” and many more. Some locations in the Tampa Bay area have also dedicated small sections in their stores.
Several of the books listed in the banned books section of the website are titles that were pulled from shelves in Polk County school libraries in January. The district removed 16 books in total after a local group determined they were “inappropriate” and contained “obscene material.”
On its website, the book store giant explains that literary works are usually banned on “moral, religious or political grounds.”
“They were believed to be obscene or too controversial to be read by society,” Barnes & Noble explained. “Books that explore race, sexuality and new concepts and ideas are still often prohibited by certain communities, although they can easily be purchased in most bookstores.”
The top banned and challenged books, according to Barnes & Noble include:
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- Maus by Art Spiegelman
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- 1984 by George Orwell
- Lord of the Flies by William Golding
- Animal Farm by George Orwell
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
- The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
- Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
- The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones
- Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Blog posts on the Barnes & Noble website relating to banned books include a post about banned books week in 2021, “7 Banned Books That Should Be Required Reading” and “11 Books That Were Banned for Completely Ridiculous Reasons.”