The number of reported challenges to books in the United States doubled in 2022 — and the number of challenges to unique titles was up nearly 40 percent over 2021 — according to data released by the American Library Association's Office of Intellectual Freedom.
Each year the ALA releases data on books it says have been most often challenged for removal from public and school library shelves. Though the group says it's not possible to track every challenge, and that many go unreported, the data come through a variety of sources, including news stories and voluntary reports sent to the Office of Intellectual Freedom.
ALA documented 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources in 2022, the highest number of attempted book bans since ALA began compiling data about censorship in libraries more than 20 years ago. Of the record 2,571 unique titles targeted for censorship, the most challenged and reasons cited for censoring the books are listed below.
Lessa Kananiʻopua Pelayo-Lozada, president of the American Library Association, says it used to be that titles were challenged when a parent or other community member saw a book in the library they didn't like. But times have changed: "Now we're seeing organized attempts by groups to censor multiple titles throughout the country without actually having read many of these books." Pelayo-Lozada says that despite the high challenge numbers, a library association poll shows a large majority of Americans don't believe in banning books.
Once again this year, Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, published in 2019, tops the ALA's list. The graphic memoir follows Kobabe's path to gender-identity as nonbinary and queer. Most of the books on the list have been challenged with claims of including LGBTQIA+ or sexually explicit content.
It's worth noting that many of the efforts to ban books are ineffective in the end. The vast majority of the books that parents complain about and hope to see removed from their children's schools, eventually remain on their shelves. Few, if any, books are actually 'banned', if we take the term to mean unobtainable within the country. Still, the ongoing challenges to the written word and to librarians providing it, are concerning to many.
Just like last year, Erasmus University Library acquired all targeted books on the 2022 list and all titles are available for loan at the library. In relation to important values such as intellectual freedom and access to information, the library plays a prominent role and with a strong awareness of information ethics, the Erasmus University Library collected these works. These books are a valuable addition to the diverse literature collections available at the library.
Several titles tied for the same place this year, resulting in this top-13 of most challenged books over 2022, according to ALA data:
Once again the most challenged book according to the American Library Association, Maia Kobabe's graphic novel has been the topic of heated debate in several high school board meetings. Criticism seems to focus mostly on one panel depicting an erotic scene on a Greek urn, which some parents deem pornographic. However, sceptics point out that this is part of a growing anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment. As one county official in Illinois tells the Chicago Daily Herald: "The words we're hearing are not different from what we're seeing in other parts of the country with anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that's being pursued. And we know that this language is dangerous. It causes violence."
Kobabe, who identifies as non-binary and uses the pronouns e, em, eir (known as Spivak pronouns), wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post responding to the controversy. Recollecting eir own journey to understanding eir identity, e underlines the importance of having access to a library with books by non-binary authors in which e could recognize eir own experience: "Queer youth are often forced to look outside their own homes, and outside the education system, to find information on who they are. Removing or restricting queer books in libraries and schools is like cutting a lifeline for queer youth, who might not yet even know what terms to ask Google to find out more about their own identities, bodies and health."
Journalist and activist George M. Johnson's book All boys aren't blue is a young adult 'memoir-manifesto', detailing his own youth as a queer Black man and directly addressing kids growing up in similar circumstances. The book discusses, among other topics, consent, agency, and sexual abuse. It also contains two sexual encounters and statutory rape. In Florida, a member of the school board filed a report with the Sherriff's Office, claiming the book violates state obscenity laws and stating she was particularly concerned about the book's "detailed descriptions" of masturbation, oral sex and sodomy. Even though the committee appointed to review the book deemed it "appropriate for use", the book was banned "for now" from all schools in the county by the school's superintendent.
The oldest book on the list, Nobel laureate Toni Morrison's The bluest eye has faced criticism since 1970 and has been on the most challenged book list for decades. Most recently, it was banned by a school board in Missouri. Morrison's debut novel has come under fire for its depiction of racism and for containing sexually explicit content, including sexual abuse and rape, making it not appropriate for school-age children according to some parents and teachers.
The bluest eye tells the story of Pecola, a young African-American girl growing up in Ohio following the Great Depression. She is consistently told that she is ugly because of her dark skin, fueling her desire for blue eyes, which she equates with whiteness. On her reasons for writing this novel, Morrison said: "I felt compelled to write this mostly because in the 1960s, black male authors published powerful, aggressive, revolutionary fiction or nonfiction, and they had positive racially uplifting rhetoric with them that were stimulating and I thought they would skip over something and thought no one would remember that it wasn't always beautiful."
Mike Curato's graphic novel Flamer tells the story of Aiden Navarro, a 14-year-old boy away at Boy Scout Camp, who is coming to grips with his sexuality. The book has been singled out by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the book banning group Moms for Liberty, whose concerns include that it contains “alternate sexualities.”
What gets lost in that conversation, Curato said, is that Flamer is a book about suicide prevention. “This is a book about telling someone that regardless of how someone may disagree with who you are as a person, you still deserve to be here. There is a place for you, and no one has the right to take that away.”
Back on this year's list after being the most challenged book in 2015 is John Green's bestseller Looking for Alaska. Most complaints were for “offensive language” and “sexually explicit descriptions”. Author John Green responded to the controversy at the time, saying in a YouTube-video that the complainants judged his book based on a few extracts, as opposed to the book as a whole. "Text is meaningless without context," according to Green. He also pointedly argued that "If you have a world view that can be undone with a novel, let me submit that the problem is not with the novel".
“I wondered why so many students have mental health issues, bad disciplinary problems. I believe they are being poisoned by what they hear and what they read," was the statement from Board Chair Kevin Adams when voting to ban The perks of being a wallflower from Florida's Northview High School. The book by Stephen Chbosky is a coming-of-age novel written as a series of letters from its main character, Charlie, to an unnamed friend. In these letters, Charlie writes about his struggles with relationships, substance abuse, mental health, and identity. Today, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is still subjected to multiple bans for including topics like drug use, teenage sex, sexual abuse, and abortion.
In an interview with the National Coalition Against Censorship, Chbosky commented: “This book is my love letter and wish for every kid who is struggling with identity, because at the time I was writing it, I was struggling with my own.”
Jonathan Evison's semi-autobiographical coming-of-age novel tells the story of Mike Muñoz, a young Mexican-American boy who is going though a phase of self-discovery. The book was challenged by parents in multiple high school board meetings, with complaints focusing on sexually explicit content, supposed homo-erotic content and scenes containing pedophilia. To this latter claim author Evison responded that the scene in question was an adult man recollection an experience with a fourth grader at the time he himself was also in fourth grade. One high school in Virginia had a committee review the books by both Evison and Kobabe and decided to put both books back on the library shelves. Another school however, placed Evison's book back in the library after review but decided to remove Kobabe's Gender Queer.
The young adult novel The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie tells the story of Arnold Spirit Jr., a Native American teenager growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. The protagonist decides to go the the nearly all-white public school away from the reservation, where the only other Native American is the school mascot. The book was critically praised and won multiple awards, some of which were later rescinded as Alexie was accused of sexual harassment by several women.
The absolute true diary was in the top ten of the most challenged book list from 2010 to 2021, having been target of complaints and investigation in dozens of schools. The reasons ranged from depictions of alcoholism, cultural insensitivity, profanity, sexual references, violence, and also the allegations of misconduct by the author. Not all schools eventually banned the book from libraries, but a number of them did remove the book from library shelves.
Out of Darkness is a historical young adult novel by Ashley Hope Pérez, which chronicles a love affair between a teenage Mexican American girl and a teenage African-American boy in 1930s New London, Texas. Themes include racism, classism and segregation, and the book contains descriptions of consensual and non-consensual sex. Central-Texas middle schools pulled the book from library shelves pending investigation as one parent complained about a specific sexually explicit scene. Responding on her Instagram, author Pérez stated: “What she’s reading from, is from a part of the book where the whole point is to capture the utterly relentless sexual objectification and racialization the Mexican American main character endures.” In Utah, the book was also removed from a school library, but returned after investigation.
Author Sarah J. Maas is the creator of three bestselling fantasy series, one of which is the five-book-series A court of Thorns and Roses. Its second installment A court of Mist and Fury has come under fire for containing sexually explicit scenes. Maas' work often features a female heroine living through epic adventures, and elements of fairytales and myths. Romance is a prominent component of Maas's books.
In the state of Virginia, a Republican politician filed a law suite against the bookstore chain Barnes & Noble and Virginia Beach Schools, to prevent minors from buying or borrowing Maas' book, as well as Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer, without parental consent. Another petition filed by a Republican politician claimed that both books violated the state’s obscenity law. A judge later dismissed the case, stating that the state’s obscenity law was unconstitutional because it violates the First Amendment and due process.
Ellen Hopkins' novel Crank is based loosely on the real life addictions of the author's daughter to crystal meth. It is required reading in many high schools, as well as drug and drug court programs. However, the book has been banned in many locations due to complaints that the book's depictions of drug use, adult language, and sexual themes are inappropriate to some readers. After Hopkins was banned from speaking at an Oklahoma middle school, she responded saying she has heard from thousands of readers (including middle schoolers) that her books have helped to turn them away from drugs.
Jesse Andrew's book Me and Earl and the dying girl depicts the high-school friendships of two boys and a girl who is suffering from cancer. It was published in 2012 and a film adaptation came out in 2015, but it only entered the top 10 of the most challenged books list in 2021. The book has faced challenges because of profanity and language considered degrading to women, as well as sexually explicit scenes. The author has reacted on Twitter that these book bans are "picking up momentum" and are "fearful purity-obsessed parents and opportunistic politicians are makings kids' lives worse."
With This book is gay, Juno Dawson (also credited as James Dawson until 2015) aimed to write "a manual to all areas of life for an L.G.B.T.Q. person". As Dawson told the Guardian: "I'm willing to bet there are thousands of boys and girls in single bedrooms in towns, villages, suburbs and cities who are in hiding. There will be kids who are still scared and ashamed and that's not good enough. Every child has the right to feel safe and secure in both their environment and their skin."
The book was challenged among other places in Alaska, where a petition was started to remove it from a public library for profanity and sexually explicit content. The library director declined to do so. Dawson responded to the petition saying she wouldn't mind the book being moved to a different shelf: “I love librarians with all my heart and I trust they will find an appropriate shelf to stock This Book Is Gay where younger readers can’t get to it, but those who desperately need it can".
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