The number of book bans and challenges has drastically increased across the United States in recent years.
PEN America
tracked nearly 16,000 bans in public schools since 2021. While the American Library Association reports fewer censorship attempts in 2024 than the prior year, it said level remain high and some libraries have taken preemptive actions, like placing books in restricted areas, out of
fear of challenges.
What does it mean to ban a book?
A book ban is when someone’s objection to a book’s content leads to the title’s full or partial withdrawal from libraries, according to PEN America.
A book ban can also occur when a school or district prohibits or restricts a certain book. School book bans can take the form of prohibitions in school libraries, or restrictions on accessibility of the title.
What does it mean to challenge a book?
According to the American Library Association, a book challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials from a curriculum or library, such as to prevent children from accessing books with difficult topics. The ALA points out most challenges are unsuccessful.
Banned books
The below lists have been compiled from various sources, including PEN America, the Boston Public Library, the First Amendment Museum, Social Justice Books, the Evanston Public Library, Commonplace Reader, Palabras Bilingual Bookstore, the Loutit District Library and A Seat At The Table Books.
The top most-banned books in America in 2024, according to PEN America
- “Nineteen Minutes” by Jodi Picoult, 98 bans
- “Looking for Alaska” by John Green, 97 bans
- “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky, 85 bans
- “Sold” by Patricia McCormick, 85 bans
- “Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher, 76 bans
- “Crank” by Ellen Hopkins, 76 bans
- “Identical” by Ellen Hopkins, 74 bans
- “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, 73 bans
- “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood, 67 bans
- “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen, 66 bans
- “Tricks” by Ellen Hopkins, 66 bans
Frequently banned picture books
- “A Is for Activist” by Innosanto Nagara
- “And Tango Makes Three” by Peter Parnell, Justin Richardson, and Henry Cole
- “Baseball Saved Us” by Ken Mochizuku and Dom Lee
- “Bathe the Cat” by Alice B. McGinty and David Roberts
- “Different Can Be Great: All Kinds of Families” by Lisa Bullard and Renée Kurilla
- “Draw Me a Star” by Eric Carle
- “Harriet Gets Carried Away” by Jessie Sima
- “I Am Billie Jean King” by Brad Meltzer and Chrisopher Eliopoulos
- “In the Night Kitchen” by Maurice Sendak
- “It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book About Gender Identity” by Theresa Thorn and Noah Grigni
- “Julián Is a Mermaid” by Jessica Love
- “Milo Imagines the World” by Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson
- “Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress” by Christine Baldacchino and Isabelle Malenfant
- “No, David!” by David Shannon
- “Ogilvy” by Deborah Underwood and T.L. McBeth
- “Our Subway Baby” by Peter Mercurio and Leo Espinosa
- “Pink Is for Boys” by Robb Pearlman and Eda Kaban
- “Prince and Knight” by Daniel Haack and Stevie Lewis
- “Sofia Valdez, Future Prez” by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts
- “The Family Book” by Todd Parr; pub. 2019
- “This Day in June” by Gayle E. Pitman and Kristyna Litten
- “Unicorns Are the Worst!” by Alex Willan
- “When Aidan Became a Brother” by Kyle Lukoff and Kaylani Juanita
- “Where The Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak; pub. 1996
Frequently banned books for tweens/teens
- “A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl” by Tanya Lee Stone
- “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’Engle
- “All American Boys” by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
- “Angus, Thongs, and Full-frontal Snogging” by Louise Rennison
- “Athletic Shorts” by Chris Crutcher
- “Blood and Chocolate” by Annette Curtis Klause
- “Captain Underpants” by Dave Pilkey
- “Fallen Angels” by Walter Dean Myers
- “Forever” by Judy Blume
- “Hold Still” by Nina LaCour
- “Killing Mr. Griffin” by Lois Duncan
- “Looking for Alaska” by John Green
- “Lush” by Natasha Friend
- “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck
- “Romiette and Julio” by Sharon M. Draper
- “Speak” by Laurie Helse Anderson
- “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You” by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
- “Taming the Star Runner” by S.E. Hinton
- “The Agony of Alice” by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
- “The Bermudez Triangle” by Maureen Johnson
- “The Color of Earth” by Kim Dong Hwa
- “The Face on the Milk Carton” by Caroline B. Cooney
- “The Giver” by Lois Lowry
- “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins
- “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky
- “The Spoken Word Revolution” by Mark Eleveld
- “Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher
- “This One Summer” by Mariko Tamaki
- “Ttyl” by Lauren Myracle
- “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer
- “Vampire Academy” by Richelle Mead
- “What My Mother Doesn’t Know” by Sonya Sones
Frequently banned books for adults/young adults
- “1984” by George Orwell
- “A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess
- “A Farewell to Arms” by Ernest Hemingway
- “Christine” by Stephen King
- “Cujo” by Stephen King
- “Feed” by M.T. Anderson
- “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes
- “Gossip Girl” by Cecily Von Ziegesar
- “Hold Still” by Nina LaCour
- “I Hunt Killers” by Barry Lyga
- “In the Time of Butterflies” by Julia Alvarez
- “Marked” by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
- “My Sister’s Keeper” by Jodi Picoult
- “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey
- “Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi
- “Song of Solomon” by Toni Morrison
- “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison
- “The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things” by Carolyn Mackler
- “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini
- “The Miseducation of Cameron Post” by Emily M. Danforth
- “The Spoken Word Revolution: Slam, Hip Hop & the Poetry of a New Generation” by Mark Eleveld
- “When I Was Puerto Rican” by Esmerelda Santiago
Frequently banned books by New England authors
- “Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine” by Hannah Moushabeck and Reem Madouh
- “Mystic River” by Dennis Lehane
- “Native Son” by Richard Wright
- “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath
- “The Catcher in the Rye” by JD Salinger
- “The Chocolate War and Beyond the Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier
- “The Poetry of Robert Frost
- “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Frequently banned BIPOC books
- “Beloved” by Toni Morrison
- “Dreaming in Cuban” by Cristina García
- “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou
- “Go Tell It On the Mountain” by James Baldwin
- “Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot” by Mikki Kendall
- “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker
- “The Hate You Give” by Angie Thomas
- “The House of the Spirits” by Isabel Allende
- “The People Shall Continue” by Simon J. Ortiz
- “When Aidan Became a Brother” by Kyle Lukoff and Kaylani Juanita
Frequently banned LGBTQ+ books
- “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson
- “Beyond Magenta: Transgender and Nonbinary Teens Speak Out” by Susan Kuklin
- “Cinderella is Dead” by Kaylynn Bayron
- “Flamer” by Mike Curato
- “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe
- “I am Jazz” by Jessica Herthel, Jazz Jennings, Shelagh McNicholas
- “Melissa” by Alex Gino
- “My Princess Boy” by Cheryl Kilodavis and Suzanne DeSimone
- “Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag” by Rob Sanders
- “Rainbow Boys” by Alex Sanchez
- “Red, White, and Royal Blue” by Casey McQuiston
- “Revolutionary Voices: a Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology
- “Two Boys Kissing” by David Levithan
