Banned Books Week Programming Ideas
September 26–October 3, 2009

With a Public Performance license from Movie Licensing USA, your library has the freedom to legally use movies for Banned Books Week!
You can also create a Banned Books display, show related movies and talk about controversial elements. Or, hold a film festival showing movies about censorship, such as Farenheit 451 based on Ray Bradbury’s classic science fiction story about book burning, 1984 based on George Orwell’s classic, Inherit the Wind about the Scopes Monkey Trial, or Footloose about small town censorship.
Banned or Controversial Book |
Related Movie |
Rating |
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare |
She’s the Man |
PG-13 |
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell |
How to Eat Fried Worms |
PG |
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier |
The Chocolate War |
R |
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl |
James and the Giant Peach |
PG |
Matilda by Roald Dahl |
Matilda |
PG |
The Witches by Roald Dahl |
The Witches |
PG |
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis |
American Psycho |
R |
Maurice by E.M. Forster |
Maurice |
R |
Lord of the Flies by William Golding |
Lord of the Flies |
R |
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller |
Catch 22 |
R |
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton |
The Outsiders |
PG |
From Here to Eternity by James Jones |
From Here to Eternity |
NR (1972) |
Carrie by Stephen King |
Carrie |
R |
Cujo by Stephen King |
Cujo |
R |
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee |
To Kill A Mockingbird |
G |
The Call of the Wild by Jack London |
The Call of the Wild |
PG |
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell |
Gone with the Wind |
NR (1939) |
Beloved by Toni Morrison |
Beloved |
R |
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov |
Lolita |
NR (1962) |
Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling |
Harry Potter Series |
PG & PG13 |
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck |
Of Mice and Men |
PG13 |
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe |
Uncle Tom’s Cabin |
NR (1927) |
Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift |
Gulliver’s Travels |
NR (1939) |
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain |
Huckleberry Finn |
G |
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain |
Tom Sawyer |
G |
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vannegut |
Slaughterhouse Five |
R |
The Color Purple by Alice Walker |
The Color Purple |
PG |
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown |
The Da Vinci Code |
PG13 |
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