Which 1969 novel by Kurt Vonnegut was banned in many schools for its language and themes?

The 1969 novel by Kurt Vonnegut that was banned in many schools for its language and themes is Slaughterhouse-Five.

The novel follows Billy Pilgrim, an American soldier and former chaplain's assistant who becomes “unstuck in time.” Billy moves between his World War II experiences, his postwar life, and episodes involving the fictional Tralfamadorians. Vonnegut uses this fractured structure to portray trauma and question how people try to make sense of mass death.

The book is strongly shaped by the 1945 bombing of Dresden, Germany, which Vonnegut experienced as a prisoner of war. Its antiwar message, dark comedy, profanity, sexual references, and irreverent treatment of religion have all contributed to censorship attempts. In one notorious 1973 incident, copies were burned by a North Dakota school district after a board official objected to obscene language.

Readers sometimes confuse Slaughterhouse-Five with Vonnegut's other novels, especially Cat's Cradle and Breakfast of Champions. Those books also use satire and speculative ideas, but Slaughterhouse-Five is the Dresden novel centered on Billy Pilgrim and the recurring phrase “So it goes.”