{"id":279443,"date":"2025-10-05T12:03:29","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T12:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/279443\/"},"modified":"2025-10-05T12:03:29","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T12:03:29","slug":"the-15-most-banned-books-in-u-s-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/279443\/","title":{"rendered":"The 15 most banned books in U.S. schools"},"content":{"rendered":"

The most commonly banned books in U.S. schools include LGBTQ titles, international bestsellers, teen romantasy novels and a 1962 classic, according to a new report that compares modern-day censorship to Cold War-era McCarthyism.<\/p>\n

More than 6,800 book bans were enacted during the 2024-25 school year in 87 public school districts across 23 states, according to a report released Wednesday by PEN America, a nonprofit that advocates for free expression. The report was released ahead of Banned Books Week<\/a>, which starts Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cCensorship pressures have expanded and escalated,\u201d Kasey Meehan, director of PEN America\u2019s Freedom to Read program, said in a news release. \u201cA disturbing \u2018everyday banning\u2019 and normalization of censorship has worsened and spread over the last four years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organization\u2019s annual \u201cBanned in the USA<\/a>\u201d report says the current environment of \u201cunfettered book banning is reminiscent of the Red Scare of the 1950s.\u201d It defines a school book ban as \u201cany 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\u201d that leads to the book being removed or restricted.<\/p>\n

The latest report found that 3,752 unique titles were affected by bans in the school year that ended in June. The most banned titles <\/a>included \u201cA Clockwork Orange\u201d and \u201cWicked,\u201d while the most banned authors included Stephen King<\/a>, Sarah J. Maas and Jodi Picoult. More than 80% of all bans originated in just three states: Florida, Texas and Tennessee.<\/p>\n

This past school year saw fewer total bans than in 2023-24, at more than 10,000, though the number is far above where it was in 2021-22 (more than 2,500 bans), when PEN America first started to compile an annual report. Since July 2021, PEN America has tracked 22,810 book bans across 45 states.<\/p>\n

One reason the total number of book bans may have dipped this year is that some titles are being pre-emptively taken off the shelves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis functions as a form of \u2018obeying in advance\u2019 to anticipated restrictions from the state or administrative authorities, rooted in fear or simply a desire to avoid topics that might be deemed controversial,\u201d the report states. <\/p>\n

Another potential reason, as author Malinda Lo pointed out, is that previously banned titles have not returned to shelves. Lo, whose book \u201cLast Night at the Telegraph Club\u201d was No. 4 on PEN America\u2019s new list, said on Instagram that her 2021 novel made the cut \u201cpartly because all of the usual titles like \u2018Gender Queer\u2019 have already been banned and removed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce a book is banned, it\u2019s gone,\u201d she wrote on Wednesday<\/a>. \u201cThis is why we have to keep fighting these attacks on our first amendment rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGender Queer,\u201d a graphic memoir that debuted in 2019, was No. 1 on PEN America\u2019s Most Banned Books List<\/a> in 2022, though it didn\u2019t even make the top 15 on this year\u2019s list.<\/p>\n

Books with LGBTQ themes and characters \u2014 like \u201cGender Queer\u201d and \u201cLast Night at the Telegraph Club\u201d \u2014 are consistently among the most banned books highlighted in the annual reports of PEN America and the American Library Association<\/a>, and this year is no different.<\/p>\n

Here are the 15 most banned books this past school year as tracked by PEN America, ranked in order of those banned by the most public school districts across the country:<\/p>\n

\"A\u201cA Clockwork Orange\u201d by Anthony Burgess.W. W. Norton & Company\u2018A Clockwork Orange\u2019 by Anthony Burgess<\/p>\n

Burgess\u2019 dystopian satire about a sociopathic, Beethoven-obsessed teen gang leader was banned in 23 districts in the 2024-25 school year. The 1962 novel was adapted into an Oscar-nominated film<\/a> by Stanley Kubrick in 1971 and was named one of Time\u2019s 100 best English-language novels<\/a> and one of Modern Library\u2019s 100 Best Novels<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\u2018Breathless\u2019\u201cBreathless\u201d by Jennifer Niven.Knopf Books for Young Readers\u2018Breathless\u2019 by Jennifer Niven<\/p>\n

Niven\u2019s 2020 novel is a coming-of-age love story that was banned in 20 school districts. On her website<\/a>, the bestselling author describes \u201cBreathless\u201d as \u201cthe book I needed when I was sixteen, seventeen, eighteen. A frank take on sex and love, parental divorce, finding yourself, and the importance of writing your story. Of writing your life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u2018Sold\u2019\u201cSold\u201d by Patricia McCormick.Little, Brown Books for Young Readers\u2018Sold\u2019 by Patricia McCormick<\/p>\n

McCormick\u2019s young-adult novel, about a girl from Nepal who is sold into sexual slavery in India, was banned in 20 school districts in the last school year. This 2006 title was a National Book Award finalist<\/a> and was on the Publisher\u2019s Weekly Best Books of the Year<\/a> list and the ALA\u2019s Top Ten Books for Young Adults<\/a> list.<\/p>\n

\"\u2018Last\u201cLast Night at the Telegraph Club\u201d by Malinda Lo.Dutton Books for Young Readers\u2018Last Night at the Telegraph Club\u2019 by Malinda Lo<\/p>\n

Lo\u2019s young-adult historical novel about love and duty in 1950s San Francisco was banned in 19 school districts in the 2024-25 school year. The critically acclaimed 2021 novel won a long list of awards, including a National Book Award, Stonewall Book Award and Asian\/Pacific American Award for Literature.<\/p>\n

\"\u2018A\u201cA Court of Mist and Fury\u201d by Sarah J. Maas.Bloomsbury Publishing\u2018A Court of Mist and Fury\u2019 by Sarah J. Maas<\/p>\n

This bestselling adult romantasy novel, which was banned in 18 districts in the 2024-25 school year, is the second book in Maas\u2019 wildly popular \u201cA Court of Thorns and Roses\u201d series. Maas, the only author with more than one title on this top 15 list, also has the distinction of being one of the most banned authors this year, with 162 total bans, behind only Stephen King and \u201cCrank\u201d author Ellen Hopkins.<\/p>\n

\"\u2018Crank\u2019\u201cCrank\u201d by Ellen Hopkins.Margaret K. McElderry Books\u2018Crank\u2019 by Ellen Hopkins <\/p>\n

Hopkins\u2019 2004 young-adult novel was banned in 17 school districts. On her website, the author revealed this bestseller is loosely based on her \u201colder daughter\u2019s story of addiction to crystal meth.\u201d She said \u201cCrank\u201d began as \u201ca personal exploration of the \u2018why\u2019s\u2019 behind my daughter\u2019s decisions, and what part I might have played in them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u2018Forever...\u2019\u201cForever…\u201d by Judy Blume.Atheneum Books for Young Readers\u2018Forever\u2026\u2019 by Judy Blume<\/p>\n

Blume\u2019s award-winning 1975 young-adult novel, which was banned in 17 districts in the last school year, has been a target of censorship for 50 years, according to PEN America. Blume said she wrote the book \u2014 which was named one of NPR\u2019s 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels<\/a> and Time\u2019s 100 Best YA Books of All Time<\/a> \u2014 because her daughter \u201casked for a story about two nice kids who have sex without either of them having to die<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u2018The\u201cThe Perks of Being a Wallflower\u201d by Stephen Chbosky.MTV Books\u2018The Perks of Being a Wallflower\u2019 by Stephen Chbosky<\/p>\n

Chbosky\u2019s 2009 coming-of-age novel about an observant \u201cwallflower\u201d navigating the \u201cstrange world between adolescence and adulthood<\/a>\u201d was banned in 17 school districts in the 2024-25 school year. The No. 1 New York Times bestseller \u2014 which deals with topics including first dates, family drama, sex, drugs and suicide \u2014 was adapted into a 2012 film starring Logan Lerman, Emma Watson and Ezra Miller.<\/p>\n

\"\u2018Wicked\u2019\u201cWicked\u201d by Gregory Maguire.William Morrow Paperbacks\u2018Wicked\u2019 by Gregory Maguire<\/p>\n

This No. 1 New York Times bestseller, which debuted in 1995 and is a reimagined prequel to \u201cThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz,\u201d was banned in 17 school districts. The story of \u201cWicked,\u201d however, is perhaps best known due to its adaptation into a Tony-winning Broadway musical and an Oscar-winning musical film starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.<\/p>\n

\"\u2018All\u201cAll Boys Aren\u2019t Blue\u201d by George M. Johnson.Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)\u2018All Boys Aren\u2019t Blue\u2019 by George M. Johnson<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s 2020 memoir-manifesto about coming of age as a queer Black man was banned in 16 districts in the last school year, and it also topped the ALA\u2019s list of 10 most challenged library books of 2024<\/a>. In an interview with NBC News<\/a> last year, Johnson said the real book censorship danger lies in the \u201csoft-banning\u201d: \u201cWe can track the books that are being banned, but we can\u2019t track books that are not being ordered.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u2018A\u201cA Court of Thorns and Roses\u201d by Sarah J. Maas.Bloomsbury Publishing\u2018A Court of Thorns and Roses\u2019 by Sarah J. Maas<\/p>\n

The first book in Maas\u2019 internationally bestselling five-book romantasy series was, like the remaining books on this list, banned in 16 school districts. The central character in 2015\u2019s \u201cA Court of Thorns and Roses\u201d is 19-year-old Feyre, a moral huntress who is dragged to a magical land and falls for her immortal captor.<\/p>\n

\"\u2018Damsel\u2019\u201cDamsel\u201d by Elana K. Arnold.Clarion Books\u2018Damsel\u2019 by Elana K. Arnold<\/p>\n

This dark and twisted fairy tale, a 2019 Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book, is, on the surface, about a damsel who is rescued from a dragon by a handsome prince. Prior to \u201cDamsel,\u201d Arnold\u2019s book \u201cWhat Girls Are Made Of\u201d was a finalist for the 2017 National Book Award in Young People\u2019s Literature.<\/p>\n

\"\u2018The\u201cThe DUFF\u201d by Kody Keplinger.Poppy\u2018The DUFF\u2019 by Kody Keplinger<\/p>\n

In Keplinger\u2019s 2010 young-adult novel, 17-year-old Bianca discovers her high school\u2019s \u201cslimy school hottie<\/a>\u201d has given her an offensive nickname \u2014 DUFF, or Designated Ugly Fat Friend \u2014 but she still ends up in a \u201ccloseted enemies-with-benefits relationship\u201d with him. Keplinger was only 17 herself when she wrote this bestselling book, which was adapted into a 2015 film<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\u2018Nineteen\u201cNineteen Minutes\u201d by Jodi Picoult.Atria Books\u2018Nineteen Minutes\u2019 by Jodi Picoult<\/p>\n

This No. 1 New York Times bestseller is about the aftermath of a school shooting in a small New Hampshire town. Published in 2007, this is one of 29 novels written by Picoult<\/a>, whose other works include \u201cMy Sister\u2019s Keeper,\u201d \u201cSmall Great Things\u201d and \u201cThe Pact.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u2018Storm\u201cStorm and Fury\u201d by Jennifer L. Armentrout.Canary Street Press\u2018Storm and Fury\u2019 by Jennifer L. Armentrout<\/p>\n

Armentrout\u2019s 2019 romantasy novel is the first book in her three-book \u201cHarbinger\u201d series<\/a>. \u201cStorm and Fury<\/a>\u201d is centered on 18-year-old Trinity Marrow, who \u201cmay be going blind\u201d but \u201ccan see and communicate with ghosts and spirits,\u201d according to Armentrout\u2019s website.<\/p>\n