It's that time of year again: Banned Books Week. The annual week-long awareness campaign promoted by the American Library Association concludes today.
Why is a full week dedicated to banned books every single year? Why is access to ideas and books of all sorts so important? Consider Dr. Rudine Sims words: “When children cannot find themselves reflected in the books they read, or when the images they see are distorted, negative, or laughable, they learn a powerful lesson about how they are devalued in the society of which they are a part.”
The banning of books and censorship of ideas is something to always push back against. Let's dig into book bans and see which books most frequently met the chopping block.
What is a book ban?
Let's begin simply. What even is a book ban? During my tenure as a public library director I answered many questions and pointed statements from patrons about book bans and what the term actually meant. Especially while successfuly fighting off a book ban for Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe. Questions like:
- Is a book ever really banned when you can buy it from a bookstore?
- Who does this "X" book serve in our town?
- Isn't it illegal to have content like "X" book?
- Would you let your child read this?
For the sake of brevity let's put aside the inherent bias in some of these questions, put aside the issues of accessibility and censorship that people (purposefully or not) are ignorant of, put aside the conflation of school and public libraries, and put aside the idea that even small towns of 2,500 are a homogenous monoculture.
So then, what is a book ban?
PEN America, who compiled the list of banned books I'll be sharing with you defines a school book ban as "any action taken against a book based on its content and as a result of parent or community challenges, administrative decisions, or in response to direct or threatened action by governmental officials, that leads to a book being either completely removed from availability to students, or where access to a book is restricted or diminished."
The Rise of Book Bans
Book bans have seen a significant increase over the last several years. COVID in particular seemed to inflame book bans. During the last school year, book bans affected the works of "almost 2,600 artists, including 2,308 authors, 243 illustrators and 38 translators". For those interested in the nitty-gritty details PEN America published a phenomenal report, The Normalization of Book Banning.
10 Most Banned Books of 2025
- 1. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (23 bans)
- 2. (tie) Breathless by Jennifer Niven (20 bans)
- 2. (tie) Sold by Patricia McCormick (20 bans)
- 4. Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo (19 bans)
- 5. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas (18 bans)
- 6. (tie) Crank by Ellen Hopkins (17 bans)
- 6. (tie) Forever… by Judy Blume (17 bans)
- 6. (tie) The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (17 bans)
- 6. (tie) Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire (17 bans)
- 10. (tie) All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson (16 bans)
- 10. (tie) A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (16 bans)
- 10. (tie) Damsel by Elana K. Arnold (16 bans)
- 10. (tie) The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger (16 bans)
- 10. (tie) Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult (16 bans)
- 10. (tie) Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout (16 bans)
Fantasy and science fiction fans will notice some familiar names on the list. SFF was unfortunately well-represented. Stephen King had 87 titles banned. Sarah J. Maas had 33 titles banned.
A full index of the banned titles and which school districts implemented the bans can be found here.
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