October 4th – 10th is Banned Books Week. For each day of Banned Books Week, TBR Books is featuring a banned book that we have available in our store. Today’s banned book is The Giver by Lois Lowry.
The Giver
Written by Lois Lowry and published in 1993, The Giver tells the story of Jonas, a 12-year-old boy who assumes a newly assigned role in a heavily controlled society and discovers the secrets hidden from his community. Although the community seems utopian, it is actually very dystopian.
The novel is for middle grade readers and deals with themes of memory, isolation, security, censorship, propaganda, freedom, and choice. It has won multiple awards, including the Newbery Medal. Despite the awards and accolades, the book has received dozens of challenges over the years.
The challenges are about violence, sexual content, age appropriateness, and political content. Banned-books.org points out the irony of censoring a book which emphasizes the importance of choice and access to both information and discomfort.
In 1994, it was banned in Bonita Unified School District in California due to “violent and sexual passages.”
In 1995, it was banned in Columbia Falls School district in Montana because of “depictions of infanticide and euthanasia” and Franklin County Schools in Kansas because of “murder, suicide, and the degradation of motherhood.”
In 2001, it was banned in Pueblo County Schools in Colorado because a parent believed “those types of books sow the seeds of school shootings.”
In 2003, it was banned in Blue Springs School District in Missouri because of references to euthanasia.
Here’s a helpful study guide if you want to learn more about the book.
For further reading, here’s a great in-depth essay from This Book Is Banned.
At the end of Banned Books Week, you’ll be able to find all of this week’s book descriptions on the 2026 Banned Books Week page.
No AI was used in the making of this post, and all sources should be linked. Please let us know if anything is missing.
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