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The Bluest Eye cover
FEEL THE FISSURE RAISE THE FUTURE

The Bluest Eye

by Toni Morrison

She wants blue eyes. Morrison shows exactly how that happens.

For you if

you want to understand how racism operates inside a child's mind — not as hatred from outside but as self-hatred from within

⚡ Choose Your Route ⚡

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$17 MSRP
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Pecola Breedlove is a Black girl in 1940s Ohio who wants blue eyes — who has absorbed so completely the message that white beauty is the only beauty that she prays for a physical transformation that will make her lovable. Morrison's first novel is the most precise account ever written of what racism does to a child's self-conception — not the dramatic violence but the daily erosion, the accumulation of small messages, the way a culture convinces a child she is ugly. The most important novel about internalized racism ever written and the one that most clearly shows how it is manufactured.

In effect right now

Somebody decided you shouldn’t read this. Read it this week.

It only works if nobody notices. Get a copy, pass it on, and tell the people who made the call that you did.

Back the lawsuit ↗Get Your Copy →

Morrison's first novel: a Black girl who wishes for blue eyes because she's been taught that whiteness is beauty. Challenged for the depiction of child sexual abuse. The challenge erases the context — a novel about the violence that white beauty standards inflict on Black children — by focusing on the "content." The uncomfortable truth is the content is the point.

The record

  • Cobb County, GA

    Sept 17, 2026

    Removed from school libraries · Grades 6–12

    Other Morrison novels remain on the shelves

    Initiated by: administrator or superintendent

    In effect nowLast verified Oct 2, 2026Source ↗

  • Utah

    Apr 17, 2026

    Removed statewide (state law or state board rule) · Every public K–12 school

    Public libraries (students may not bring copies to school)

    Initiated by: government or statute

    In effect nowLast verified Oct 2, 2026Source ↗

  • Hillsborough County, FL

    2026

    Removed from school libraries · Hillsborough County schools

    Initiated by: government or statute

    In effect nowLast verified Oct 3, 2026Source ↗

  • Pinellas County, FL

    2026

    Challenged (not removed)

    Kept on shelves while the district reviews it

    Initiated by: government or statute

    Under challengeLast verified Oct 3, 2026Source ↗

  • Elizabeth School District, CO

    Aug 12, 2024

    Removed from school libraries · All school libraries

    Initiated by: school board

    ReversedSource ↗

  • Forsyth County, GA

    2022

    Removed from school libraries · Middle and high schools

    Restored in Aug 2022, but to high school shelves only

    ReversedSource ↗

Where This Book Lives

Setting
North America
Voice
Written by a North America author
Themes
coming of ageinternalized racism

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