In a world of uncertainty and indecision, literature can act as a guiding light, an outlet of expression or, at the very least, give insight into the minds of others and the world around them. Throughout history and the world, there have been efforts to obscure this light, expression and insight.
In 2023 and 2024, the United States has faced some of the most extreme challenges to literature in recent history. ABC News reports that from 2022 to 2023 the number of books that were targeted for the purposes of censorship rose 65%. Not only this, but the American Library Association tracked over 400 attempts to censor library materials and services and over 1,100 challenged titles from Jan. 1, 2024 to Aug. 31, 2024.
At GlenOak, we choose to teach 13 different commonly banned and challenged books across the 10 traditional English classes offered directly through the high school. To understand the weight that these novels carry in our classrooms, it is necessary to hear the experiences of the educators and students who interact with them.

“To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is taught in Honors English II. This Pulitzer Prize winning novel is the first thing that students read their sophomore year.
The book is a coming of age story told in a flashback through the eyes of a young girl named Scout Finch who watches as her father attempts to defend an African American man in a courtroom full of prejudice
Throughout the story, there is a theme of deceptive appearances. As the novel develops, students are introduced to many different characters that go to show that things, and especially people, are not always as they seem.
This is exemplified by Boo Radley, the man who lives across the street from Scout and her brother Jem. As the town recluse, children make up extravagant and frightening stories about Boo, his whereabouts and his behaviors.
“I loved that in the end, Boo Radley was different than everyone thought he was,” junior Mariana Clutter said.
When students reach the end of the novel and actually meet the character they have heard so much about, it humanizes him and puts them in his shoes.
“I truly believe that you have trouble understanding things until you take the time to walk in someone else’s shoes, which is one of the biggest lessons in that book,” sophomore English teacher Jessica Cunningham said.
Understanding different perspectives is one of the most important things that teachers aim for students to take away from sophomore year English.
Alongside examining different perspectives, this story takes a deep dive into the idea of courage and what it truly is.
“It helps them learn that courage is an important thing to have…so even if you’re not confident in something in life you need to own it and do the best that you can always,” Cunningham said. “Even though the trial ends in a catastrophe, it still shows that there are still things worth fighting for in this world and social justice and equality are absolutely two of those things.”
When reading about topics such as these set in the 1930s South, it also gives students a look into their own history.
“It’s one thing to have a history teacher just telling someone about the social conditions in the south concerning racism and prejudice, but allowing them to put themselves in the shoes of others helps them see through that,” Cunningham said.
There is no foolproof way of making sure that current actions, ideals and ideas do not repeat the past, but making sure that young people truly understand the ugliest parts of our history is one of the best ways to try.

“Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood” is a graphic novel taught in IB English, written and illustrated by Marjane Satrapi. The coming of age story features a young Satrapi growing up in the Iranian Revolution.
“We see war and violence through the eyes of a child and it really just more so follows through this coming of age story,” IB English teacher Jennifer Caldwell said. “We see her idealism and childhood innocence at the beginning and how those things can change through the violence and confusion that’s happening around her.”
Throughout the novel, Satrapi utilizes her experience to highlight the preconceived notions people hold that she was forced to endure. By sharing her stories, she draws a stark contrast between the danger that other people see when they look at her and the reality of her situation: a young girl seeking safety.
“She grew up in Iran and people were classifying them all in one certain way and that was shocking to her because she wasn’t that way and her family was actually trying to fight against what was happening in the country,” Caldwell said.
This point-of-view provides a much more complex understanding of a conflict such as the Iranian Revolution than most students may be exposed to through simple news or history lessons.
“It gives you a perspective that is not pursued in America to understand what it’s like to live during a war,” Caldwell said. “We may be looking at someone as an enemy, and she’s looking at it like ‘I can’t believe everyone looks at me as being dangerous,” when that’s not how she sees herself and she was actually in danger in that country.”
The perspective provided also makes students take a look at their coming of age and how that differs from what Satrapi experienced.
In her classroom, Caldwell has students create their own coming of age comic strip at the end of the novel. This assignment uses elements and accounts in “Persepolis” to delve into the uncertainty and contradictions that come with growing up.
By examining the coming-of-age of a girl who grew up in an entirely different culture and environment, students expand their worldview past personal experience while also recognizing that all people have a certain level of shared experience.
For many school boards, the imagery of the novel has made it troubling to keep in a classroom.
“With a graphic novel, sometimes they are taught at the wrong age level because this is extremely complicated but since it’s a graphic novel it feels like it would be accessible to a child and it’s not,” Caldwell said.
The images in the book depict the darkest parts of war in a cartoonish style that keeps it from becoming explicitly graphic. Despite this, the content matter is still mature.
“If you look at it, I don’t think people would be too affected by the images…but it is a book about war,” Caldwell said. “At a high school level, when you’re learning about war, it gives more relevance to things that you’re learning about in your history classes.”
When learning about historical events such as these, first-hand accounts and storytelling add a layer to the material, making it more engaging and understandable. “Persepolis” uniquely contributes to these elements with images.
“The graphicness is through the point of view of a child which makes it interesting,” Caldwell said. “A lot of what we talk about is the interplay between the images and the text, which gives you a lot to think about based upon how something is drawn.”
This story in particular uses a cartoonish art style that leaves much to the imagination and replicates the experience of a child.
“A lot of the time people are disappointed in graphic novels that are adapted to movies because they show you too much,” Caldwell said. “If it was written as a story a lot would be told to you…you have to bring a lot of interpretation and thinking to a graphic novel in a different way than you might for a literary novel.”
This teaches students to find the nuance in a story that does not directly provide very much. Instead of just reading what the author wants them to hear, they have to dig into subtext, images and other story elements to pick apart the book.
“Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood” not only forces students to use context clues and other reading comprehension skills. Not only that, but it also provides a unique reading experience and perspective on war, life and growing up that students may not be exposed to otherwise.