Coming soon

Stories shape the way we view the world. They allow us to see ourselves in others, engage our empathy, and introduce cultures we may never have experienced. The Rubber Banned Book Club chooses 1 banned book from PEN America’s list to read, discuss, and advocate for its bounce back into circulation. We concentrate on literature that made it’s way to stage.

Join our book club to hear our award-winning artists read and stay for the discussion. We host both in-person and live-streamed gatherings for national members. Admission is free. Growth is priceless.

Fun Home – a Family Tragicomic

by Alison Bechdel

Meets June 25 (in person) & July 23 (via Zoom); Register now

MacArthur Award-winning graphic artist Alison Bechdel’s groundbreaking, bestselling graphic memoir that charts her fraught relationship with her late father. Distant and exacting, Bruce Bechdel was an English teacher and director of the town funeral home, which Alison and her family referred to as the “Fun Home.” This graphic novel has been attacked for “pornography” and removed from public libraries, college libraries and reading lists, and high school libraries.

To Kill a Mockingbird

by Harper Lee

Meets Apr 23 (in person) & May 28 (via Zoom); Register now

To Kill a Mockingbird was praised for its sensitive treatment of a child’s awakening to racism prejudice in the American South. Enormously popular, it was translated into some 40 languages and sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. In 1961, Harper Lee won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction.  It has made the American Library Association’s Top 10 of most challenged book in 2009, 2022, 2017, & 2022. There are current bans in many schools today.

The Bluest Eye

by Toni Morrison

Meets Feb 27 (in person) & Mar 26 (via Zoom); Register now

First published in 1970, Morrison’s novel about a Black girl growing up during the Great Depression is a meditation on the oppressive nature of America’s white-centric conception of beauty, as New York Times reviewer John Leonard wrote at the time. The story’s depiction of child abuse and sexual violence led it to being banned at a Southern California high school and elsewhere. (32 bans, 73 challenges)