Book challenges spike

U.S. libraries logged challenges to 4,235 unique titles in 2025, the second-highest annual total the American Library Association has recorded. (ala.org) The American Library Association said 1,671 of those titles, or 39%, reflected the lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ people and people of color. Its Office for Intellectual Freedom also counted 713 attempts to censor library materials and services in 2025, including 487 aimed at books. (ala.org) The group’s 2026 State of America’s Libraries report said the record remains 4,240 challenged titles in 2023, putting 2025 just five titles below the high-water mark. The 2025 figure followed 2,452 challenged titles in 2024. (ala.org, ala.org) The American Library Association says the pattern of who is filing objections has shifted. About 91.7% of challenged titles in 2025 were targeted by pressure groups and government decision-makers, while 2.7% came from parents and 1.4% from individual library users. (ala.org) The annual list of most challenged books is one of the main ways the association tracks what librarians call a “challenge,” meaning a formal request to remove, restrict, or relocate a title. A “ban” is narrower: the association says 5,668 books were removed from libraries in 2025, equal to 66% of all challenged titles. (ala.org, ala.org) This year’s most challenged list included “Sold” by Patricia McCormick at No. 1, followed by “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky and “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe. Other frequently challenged titles included “Tricks,” “Looking for Alaska,” “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,” and Sarah J. Maas’s “A Court of Thorns and Roses” series. (ala.org, nprillinois.org) The association argues the numbers reflect organized censorship campaigns rather than case-by-case objections from local readers. Groups seeking removals have said schools and libraries should limit minors’ access to books they view as sexually explicit or age-inappropriate. (ala.org, wxxinews.org) The fight has also moved into state policy. The American Library Association’s 2026 report said some states adopted laws meant to protect librarians and access to collections, while federal library funding and free-speech disputes remained active pressure points. (ala.org) The 2025 totals leave the book-challenge debate near its recent peak, with libraries still caught between organized removal campaigns and their role in keeping collections broadly available. (ala.org, ala.org)