NOVL Reads Banned Books
It’s officially Banned Books Week! And here at NOVL, we believe in supporting, reading, and sharing books that are banned and challenged. As book challenges and bans are on the rise, here are some books you can pick up today and support!
The #1 Banned Book in America*
A NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST!
This poignant, bestselling verse novel gives voice to a young girl robbed of her childhood yet determined to find the strength to triumph.
Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her family in a small hut on a mountain in Nepal. Though desperately poor, her life is full of simple pleasures, like playing hopscotch with her best friend from school, and having her mother brush her hair by the light of an oil lamp. But when the harsh Himalayan monsoons wash away all that remains of the family’s crops, Lakshmi’s stepfather says she must leave home and take a job to support her family.
He introduces her to a glamorous stranger who tells her she will find her a job as a maid in the city. Glad to be able to help, Lakshmi journeys to India and arrives at “Happiness House” full of hope. But she soon learns the unthinkable truth: she has been sold into prostitution.
An old woman named Mumtaz rules the brothel with cruelty and cunning. She tells Lakshmi that she is trapped there until she can pay off her family’s debt-then cheats Lakshmi of her meager earnings so that she can never leave.
Lakshmi’s life becomes a nightmare from which she cannot escape. Still, she lives by her mother’s words—Simply to endure is to triumph—and gradually, she forms friendships with the other girls that enable her to survive in this terrifying new world. Then the day comes when she must make a decision-will she risk everything for a chance to reclaim her life?
Written in spare and evocative vignettes by the co-author of I Am Malala (Young Readers Edition), this powerful novel renders a world that is as unimaginable as it is real, and a girl who not only survives but triumphs.
* “Hard-hitting … The author beautifully balances the harshness of brothel life with the poignant relationships among its residents.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
* “An unforgettable account of sexual slavery as it exists now.” —Booklist (starred review)
Publishers Weekly Best 100 Books of the Year
NPR’s Best Books of the Year
American Library Association Top Ten List, Best Books of the Year
Gustav-Heinemann Peace Prize
Booklist Editor’s Choice Award
New York Public Library Best Books for Teens
Children’s Literature Council’s Choice
Book Sense Pick
*“2025-2026 Spotlight on School Book Bans,” PEN America Freedom to Read Program, “2025 Top 11 Most Challenged Books,” American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom