Top 13 Challenged Books of 2022
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The American Library Association condemns censorship and works to ensure free access to information. Every year, the Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) compiles a list of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books in order to inform the public about censorship in libraries and schools. The lists are based on information from media stories and voluntary reports sent to OIF from communities across the U.S. The Top 10 lists are only a snapshot of book challenges. Surveys indicate that 82-97% of book challenges – documented requests to remove materials from schools or libraries – remain unreported and receive no media. ---American Library Association, 2021. http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10
Banned Books Week is October 1-7 2023
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1. Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
Number of challenges: 151
Challenged for: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit
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Gender Queer: A Memoir
Maia Kobabe - Oni Press
Format: Book
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In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical comic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only thing e felt comfortable with strangers knowing about em. Now, Gender Queer is here. Maia's... |
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2. All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson
Number of challenges: 86
Challenged for: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit
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All Boys Aren't Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto
Johnson, George M. - FARRAR STRAUSS & GIROUX
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In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother,... |
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3. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Number of challenges: 73
Challenged for: depiction of sexual abuse, EDI content, claimed to be sexually explicit
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The Bluest Eye
Toni Morrison - Knopf
Format: Book
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The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, is the first novel written by Toni Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature.It is the story of eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove -- a black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others -- who prays... |
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4. Flamer by Mike Curato
Number of challenges: 62
Challenged for: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit
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Flamer
Mike Curato - Henry Holt and Co.
Format: Book
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It's the summer between middle school and high school, and Aiden Navarro is away at camp. Everyone's going through changes -- but for Aiden, the stakes feel higher. As he navigates friendships, deals with bullies, and spends time with Elias (a boy he can't stop thinking about)... |
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5. (tie) Looking for Alaska by John Green
Number of challenges: 55
Challenged for: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit
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Looking for Alaska
Green, John
Format: Book
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Sixteen-year-old Miles' first year at Culver Creek Preparatory School in Alabama includes good friends and great pranks, but is defined by the search for answers about life and death after a fatal car crash.
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5. (tie) The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Number of challenges: 55
Challenged for: depiction of sexual abuse, LGBTQIA+ content, drug use, profanity, claimed to be sexually explicit
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The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Stephen Chbosky - MTV Books
Format: Hardcover
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Read the cult-favorite coming of age story that takes a sometimes heartbreaking, often hysterical, and always honest look at high school in all its glory. Now a major motion picture starring Logan Lerman and Emma Watson, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a funny, touching, and haunting... |
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7. Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison
Number of challenges: 54
Challenged for: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit
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Lawn Boy
Jonathan Evison - Algonquin Books
Format: Book
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For Mike Muoz, a young Chicano living in Washington State, life has been a whole lot of waiting for something to happen. Not too many years out of high school and still doing menial work - and just fired from his latest gig as a lawn boy on a landscaping crew - he knows that he's... |
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8. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
by Sherman Alexie
Number of challenges: 52
Challenged for: profanity, claimed to be sexually explicit
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Sherman Alexie - Little, Brown and Co.
Format: Paperback
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Bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other... |
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9. Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez
Number of challenges: 50
Challenged for: depictions of abuse, claimed to be sexually explicit
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Out of Darkness
Ashley Hope PeÌrez - Carolrhoda Lab TM
Format: Hardcover
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A 2016 Michael L. Printz Honor Book A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year2016 Toms Rivera Book Award Winner "[This] layered tale of color lines, love and struggle in an East Texas oil town is a pit-in-the-stomach family drama that goes... |
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10. (tie) A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
Number of challenges: 48
Challenged for: claimed to be sexually explicit
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A Court of Mist and Fury
Sarah J. Maas - Bloomsbury Publishing
Format: Hardcover
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Feyre has undergone more trials than one human woman can carry in her heart. Though she's now been granted the powers and lifespan of the High Fae, she is haunted by her time Under the Mountain and the terrible deeds she performed to save the lives of Tamlin and his people.As her marriage... |
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10. (tie) Crank by Ellen Hopkins
Number of challenges: 48
Challenged for: drug use, claimed to be sexually explicit
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Crank
Ellen Hopkins - Margaret K. McElderry Books; Reissue edition
Format: Paperback
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The 1 New York Times bestselling tale of addiction now features a refreshed look and trade paperback trim size. Life was good before I met the monster. After, life was great, At least for a little while. Kristina Snow is the perfect daughter gifted high school junior, quiet, never... |
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10. (tie) Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
Number of challenges: 48
Challenged for: profanity, claimed to be sexually explicit
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Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Revised Edition)
Jesse Andrews - Amulet Books
Format: Hardcover
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The New York Times bestselling novel that inspired the hit film! This is the funniest book youll ever read about death. It is a universally acknowledged truth that high school sucks. But on the first day of his senior year, Greg Gaines thinks hes figured it out. The answer to the basic... |
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10. (tie) This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson
Number of challenges: 48
Challenged for: LGBTQIA+ content, providing sexual education, claimed to be sexually explicit
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This Book Is Gay
Juno Dawson - Sourcebooks Fire; 2nd edition
Format: Paperback
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The bestselling young adult non-fiction book on sexuality and gender!Lesbian. Gay. Bisexual. Transgender. Queer. Intersex. Straight. Curious. This book is for everyone, regardless of gender or sexual preference. This book is for anyone who's ever dared to wonder. This book is for YOU.This... |
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