In this episode of Banned Before Breakfast, host AP explores the incendiary power of Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give — a YA novel that didn’t just spark controversy, it sparked a movement. Banned across schools and libraries for its unflinching critique of police violence and systemic racism, The Hate U Give gives voice to a generation silenced by fear and institutional denial.

We break down what censors misunderstood, what the novel actually teaches about justice, protest, and identity, and why literature that speaks hard truths — especially from Black voices — continues to be buried. This episode reframes Starr Carter’s story as more than fiction. It’s a mirror, a megaphone, and a masterclass in resistance.

Because in a world that bans books for telling the truth, reading becomes a revolutionary act.



References & Citations

• Thomas, Angie. The Hate U Give. Balzer + Bray, 2017.
• "Banned Spotlight: The Hate U Give." BannedBooksWeek.org. https://bannedbooksweek.org/banned-spotlight-the-hate-u-give/
• "Banned Books Week: The Hate U Give." Marshall University Libraries. https://www.marshall.edu/library/bannedbooks/the-hate-u-give/
• “This Is the Most Banned Book in Georgia.” WSAV News, 2023. https://www.wsav.com/news/this-is-the-most-banned-book-in-georgia/
• “The Hate U Give lands on school district banned lists.” MSNBC, 2023. https://www.msnbc.com/ali-velshi/-hate-u-give-book-ban-lists-rcna96251
• Autside. “Banned Books Week: The Hate U Give.” https://autside.substack.com/p/banned-books-week-the-hate-u-give/comments

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email us at "[email protected]"

Want to do more?

Check out this information from the American Library Association: Get Involved | Banned Books

When is a novel more than a story—and who pays the price when fiction masquerades as fact?

In this episode of Banned Before Breakfast, we dive deep into Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, a global bestseller that sparked lawsuits, cultural outrage, and ongoing questions about narrative ownership. We explore how a white male author’s imagined memoir—based on a betrayed geisha’s real-life testimony—became both a literary phenomenon and a symbol of Western commodification of Eastern identity.

From defamation lawsuits to bans across Asia and American schools alike, Memoirs of a Geisha isn’t just controversial for its content—it’s controversial for its context. Join us as we unpack cultural appropriation, Orientalism in literature, and the power imbalance behind one of publishing’s most seductive lies.

This isn’t just about geishas. It’s about who gets to tell your story—and what happens when they get it wrong.

#ReadDangerously

References:

These resources informed our analysis of Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden and the controversies surrounding its cultural impact, authorship, and reception:

• “Why Memoirs of a Geisha Still Keeps Reeling Me In”
  A personal essay exploring the emotional complexity and problematic allure of the novel.
  Medium
• “Memoirs of a Geisha Banned by Beijing in Row Over Chinese Stars”
  Reporting on the film adaptation’s ban in China due to its controversial casting and cultural sensitivities.
  The Independent
• “A Cultural Critique of Memoirs of a Geisha”
  An honors thesis examining the novel’s Orientalist framing and Western gaze.
  University of Southern Mississippi Honors College
• “Books Banned in Orange County, Florida”
  Memoirs of a Geisha is listed among books challenged for sexual content and cultural misrepresentation.
  PEN America
• “Accurate Portrayal or Fetishism of the East?”
  A reader response that investigates whether the novel educates or exoticizes.
  Miranda Reads Brum

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email us at "[email protected]"

Want to do more?

Check out this information from the American Library Association: Get Involved | Banned Books

What happens when a book is too beautiful to look away from—and too disturbing to accept at face value? In this premiere episode of Banned Before Breakfast, we dive into Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, a novel as infamous as it is misunderstood.

Banned across continents and challenged in classrooms for decades, Lolita is often mislabeled as obscene—but it's true danger lies in how it manipulates language, empathy, and perspective. Told from the point of view of a self-aware predator, the novel draws readers into the mind of a man who rebrands abuse as romance. And somehow, it’s done so with prose so seductive that entire generations forgot who the real victim was.

We unpack the book’s publication history, the global backlash, and the legacy of misreading that turned a critique of obsession into a cultural archetype. This episode asks: What do we risk when we fall for beautiful language—and what do we ignore when we confuse control with love?

☕ Pour the coffee. We’re getting uncomfortable.

References & Citations

·         Nabokov, Vladimir. *Lolita*. Olympia Press, 1955.

·         Appel Jr., Alfred. *The Annotated Lolita*. Vintage, 1991.

·         https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/lolita/publishing/

·         https://politics-prose.com/book-notes/banned-book-lolita-0

·      https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/02/lifetimes/nab-r-booksoftimes.html

·         Short, Emma. “Lolita: Why This Vivid, Illicit Portrait of a Pervert Matters.” *The Conversation*, 2022.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email us at "[email protected]"

Want to do more?

Check out this information from the American Library Association: Get Involved | Banned Books