“Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.”
-Albert Camus (French author, journalist and philosopher)
Join us for programs that explore intellectual freedom in recognition of Freedom to Read Week:
Words Under Fire: Revisiting Banned & Challenged Classics
"We can't teach a book with that word in it": Reflections on the role of literature in society
This book is for everyone, regardless of gender or sexual preference. This book is for anyone who’s ever dared to wonder. This book is for YOU.
Has this book caught your interest? Click here to borrow.Read the cult-favorite coming of age story that takes a sometimes heartbreaking, often hysterical, and always honest look at high school in all its glory. Now a major motion picture starring Logan Lerman and Emma Watson, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a funny, touching, and haunting modern classic.
The critically acclaimed debut novel from Stephen Chbosky, Perks follows observant "wallflower" Charlie as he charts a course through the strange world between adolescence and adulthood. First dates, family drama, and new friends. Sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show . Devastating loss, young love, and life on the fringes. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it, Charlie must learn to navigate those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.
Has this book caught your interest? Click here to borrow.Award-winning author and artist Mike Curato draws on his own experiences in Flamer , his debut graphic novel, telling a difficult story with humor, compassion, and love. “This book will save lives.” —Jarrett J. Krosoczka, author of National Book Award Finalist Hey, Kiddo I know I’m not gay. Gay boys like other boys. I hate boys. They’re mean, and scary, and they’re always destroying something or saying something dumb or both. I hate that word. Gay. It makes me feel . . . unsafe. It’s the summer between middle school and high school, and Aiden Navarro is away at camp. Everyone’s going through changes—but for Aiden, the stakes feel higher. As he navigates friendships, deals with bullies, and spends time with Elias (a boy he can’t stop thinking about), he finds himself on a path of self-discovery and acceptance. Godwin Books
Has this book caught your interest? Click here to borrow.A New York Times bestselling author delivers a gripping new work of verse that tells five moving stories that remain separate at first, then interweave to tell a larger, powerful story-a story about making choices, taking leaps of faith, falling down, and growing up.
Has this book caught your interest? Click here to borrow.A graphic novel about sex, sexuality, gender, body, consent, and many other topics for teens”–Provided by publisher.
Has this book caught your interest? Click here to borrow.Thirteen-year-old Lakshmi leaves her poor mountain home in Nepal thinking that she is to work in the city as a maid only to find that she has been sold into the sex slave trade in India and that there is no hope of escape.
Has this book caught your interest? Click here to borrow.Seventeen-year-old Greg has managed to become part of every social group at his Pittsburgh high school without having any friends, but his life changes when his mother forces him to befriend Rachel, a girl he once knew in Hebrew school who has leukemia. Banned and challenged because it was considered sexually explicit and degrading to women.
Has this book caught your interest? Click here to borrow.