Seven banned books that shouldn't be missed

At the BN Teen blog Natasha Ochshorn tagged seven "(mostly) YA books off the ALA’s banned book lists that should be required reading," including:

Looking For Alaska by John Green

challenged in 2016 (and others) for sexually explicit scene

If I’m correct in my assumption as to what scene this challenge is referring to…it’s very funny. Which is great, because sex is sometimes really funny, and it’s important to have diverse representations of an experience that’s too often depicted only as solemn or sexy or scary The humor of this scene doesn’t detract from what the book takes very seriously, which is friendship, and grief, and love, written so beautifully that people are still getting quotes from Green’s first novel tattooed on their bodies.

Read about another entry on the list.

Looking For Alaska is among Alyssa Sheinmel's five favorite books set at boarding school.

--Marshal Zeringue