Book bans are increasingly becoming common in US schools. In the 2022-23 school year, PEN America reported 3,362 book bans, affecting 1,557 unique titles. And its latest data, released Nov. 1, 2024, shows that the number of book bans soared in the 2023-24 school year to more than 10,000, with Florida and Iowa accounting for over 8,000 of them. Thousands of titles are from authors of colour, especially women and the protagonist being a person of colour.
The book bans are being pushed by people who are trying to protect the children; there is little evidence to suggest that book bans shield them from harmful content. Book bands are becoming such big news in the United States they are raising tension in the local communities where they are occurring, and some estimates put the monetary cost of implementing book bans in the millions of dollars for some states. But because these bans tend to focus on titles featuring characters of colour or LGBTQ+ themes, there’s a risk that diverse characters will become even more underrepresented in children’s literature.
Here is a list of the most Banned Books in America during the 2023-2024 school year; 19 titles were banned in 50 or more school districts nationwide. The most commonly banned title was Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult.
- Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
- Looking for Alaska by John Green
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
- Sold by Patricia McCormick
- Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
- Crank by Ellen Hopkins
- Identical by Ellen Hopkins
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
- Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
- Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
- A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
- Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
- A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
- A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker
- A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas
Pen America found the following points in their report.
- 44% include themes or instances of violence & physical abuse. This includes titles with episodes of violence and physical abuse as a component of the plot or discussion.
- 38% cover topics on health and wellbeing for students. This includes content on mental health, bullying, suicide, and substance abuse, as well as books that discuss sexual well-being and puberty.
- 30% are books that include instances or themes of grief and death. This includes books that have a character death or a related death that is impactful to the plot or a character’s emotional arc.
- 30% include characters of colour or discuss race and racism
- 26% present LGBTQ+ characters or themes. Of note, within this category, 68 are books that include transgender characters, which is 8% of all books banned.
- 24% detail sexual experiences between characters
- 17% of books mention teen pregnancy, abortion, or sexual assault Note: categories less than 10% are not reported; categories are developed based on researcher assessment of banned books, categories are matched to individual titles using publisher summaries, Amazon Books and Goodreads, and expert opinions of librarians and authors.