banned books week

This year, Banned Book Week has celebrated comics and graphic novels that have been banned. You can read about that here and about Banned Book Week here. 

To celebrate Banned Book Week, I put together a list of graphic narratives that I have read and enjoyed. I think most people would also find joy in reading these books:

1. Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi
An autobiography about her childhood and young adult years in Iran during the Islamic Revolution

2. Maus - Art Spieglman
A beautiful autobiography about Spieglman interviewing his dad about the experience of being a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor. It was the first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize. 

3. Blankets - Craig Thompson
An autobiographical coming of age story that depicts Thompson's Christian upbringing, first love and early adulthood. It's a great story about being an individual and finding your way through it's pitfalls. 

4. Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak
An imaginative children's book with only 338 words. It depicts Max dressing up, wreaking havoc in the house and being banished to his room without dinner where he imagines the place where the wild things are.

5. Watchmen - Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
Though it critiques the superhero concept which is a source of imaginative escape for myself, Moore creates a brilliant reflection of contemporary anxieties. 

6. The Book of Bunny Suicides - Andy Riley
Just a funny book with no real purpose other than to provide your imagination with a diving board to cruel black humor.

7. Captain Underpants - Dav Pilkey
It's about a hypnotized adult that can change in a snap. If it wasn't for this book, I probably wouldn't enjoy reading as much as I do.

8. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian - Sherman Alexie (Illustrations by Ellen Forney)
A fun read about a boy growing up on an a reservation near Spokane. An insightful look into Native American culture. It's a great story of feeling outside the group and how to overcome that.


There are also others that I still need to read that I found out have been banned such as Pride of Baghdad, Sandman, and Bone.

I enjoy my banned comics and other books. If it wasn't for Captain Underpants and Harry Potter (both of which have been banned before), I wouldn't have such a huge love of reading. I would be a regular underachiever.

Books and comics help me to believe in a better world and a better me.