Students across Tennessee have had differing experiences when it comes to English classes and more specifically the books they read. Books are banned every year for various reasons, and from July 2021 and June 2022, 1,648 books were banned in public schools across the country. This raises the questions: 

  What books are banned? 

  Where are the books banned? 

  Why are these books banned? 

  When questioned if she knew about The Ugly Duckling being a banned book, Senior Nylah Brooks commented, “What? The book, if anything, made people feel more special and they are not like everyone else and that is what makes them gorgeous.” 

  When asked a similar question, Izabel Ulrich, a senior, said “I felt the book was about in reality, how she is beautiful, not only on the outside, but the inside.” 

  Books such as The Ugly Duckling have been banned for promoting topics parents don’t feel should be promoted to children. The book, The Ugly Duckling, was created to portray how society is quick to dismiss somebody based on their appearance and their “conventional beauty.” Despite this fact, the book was banned for the opposite reasons as critics voiced that they believed the book was promoting bullying, not criticizing it.  

  Whether or not these books should be banned is an open-ended question and a debate that will continue; however, one question does arise: What books do you think should be banned?