The latest Top 10 Most Challenged Books list from the American Library Association shows ongoing censorship of books with LGBTQIA+ characters and themes and that discuss race, racism, inclusivity, equity, and social justice—while a drop in censorship numbers from the previous year actually hides troubling trends.
Censorship Numbers
The Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2024 list was released today, Right to Read Day, as part of the American Library Association’s (ALA’s) annual “State of America’s Libraries Report” (PDF). “Challenges” are documented requests to remove materials from schools or libraries, calculated from censorship reports submitted through the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom as well as from media mentions. Such book challenges may result in the book being restricted, withdrawn, or retained in the collection. I’ll add that even when a book is retained, it is often unavailable for a period of time while the challenge is evaluated.
The most common reasons for book challenges in 2024 were “false claims of illegal obscenity for minors; inclusion of LGBTQIA+ characters or themes; and dealing with topics of race, racism, inclusivity, equity, and social justice.” That continues patterns we’ve seen for many years.
Last year saw a drop in the number of censorship attempts and titled censored, however. The ALA said that in 2024, it received reports of 821 attempts to censor library books and other materials across all library types. That’s a decrease from 2023, which saw 1,247 attempts—but is still the third-highest number ever documented by the ALA and far higher than the annual average of 273 unique titles in the period from 2001 to 2020.
Those 821 attempts targeted 2,452 unique titles, with a total of 5,813 books that were challenged. Here’s how that compares with previous years, per ALA data:
- 2024: 5,813
- 2023: 9,021
- 2022: 6,863
- 2021: 3,916
- 2020: 278
- 2019: 334
- 2018: 258
- 2017: 304
- 2016: 241
- 2015: 233
While the decline in censorship numbers in 2024 might be seen as a good thing, the ALA also points to some disturbing factors that account for the decline, including underreporting, especially when “reporting censorship poses significant risk to a library worker’s professional livelihood and personal safety”; censorship by exclusion, when libraries are prohibited from purchasing certain titles, or titles are kept in less accessible or restricted areas; and legislative restrictions that also limit what libraries can acquire. In other words, fewer books are being challenged in libraries because books with certain types of content aren’t getting into libraries in the first place and because library workers may be afraid to report censorship attempts. As Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, observed in the report:
We are witnessing an effort to eliminate entire genres and categories of books from library shelves in pursuit of a larger goal of placing politics and religion over the well-being and education of young people and everyone’s right to access and find information in our libraries. It is impacting our youth and our communities.
She also importantly noted that “Pressure groups, elected officials, board members, and administrators initiated nearly 72% of demands to censor books in school and public libraries. Parents only accounted for 16% of demands to censor books, while less than 5% of reported book challenges were brought by individual library users.” That 72% is up from 25% in 2020. The titles targeted by these groups, she said, “were primarily books addressing the lives, experiences, and concerns of LGBTQIA+ persons, or books addressing the lives, experiences, and concerns of Black persons, Indigenous persons, and persons of color.”
The impact of these group-led censorship efforts is also reflected in book bans in public schools, as PEN America noted in its February “Cover to Cover” report. The attacks on our schools and libraries are coordinated and well-funded.
Top 10
The ALA’s Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2024 were:
1. All Boys Aren’t Blue, by George M. Johnson*
2. Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe*
3. (TIE) The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
3. (TIE) The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky*
5. Tricks, by Ellen Hopkins*
6. (TIE) Looking for Alaska, by John Green
6. (TIE) Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, by Jesse Andrews
8. (TIE) Crank, by Ellen Hopkins
8. (TIE) Sold, by Patricia McCormick
10. Flamer, by Mike Curato*
(Books with asterisks include LGBTQ content.)
I share the Top 10 list here because it’s useful in a general way to show the types of books that are being challenged, but I don’t think we should read too much into relative placement on the list or how the rankings compare with last year. Lots of books that aren’t on the list are still being censored—and to the ALA’s point, many books aren’t making it into libraries to begin with.
Libraries themselves are under pressure in other ways, too. As Leslie Burger, the ALA’s interim executive director, noted in the report, “The Institute of Museum and Library Services, the only federal funding dedicated to libraries, is slated for elimination and grant funding will be stopped. Library services throughout the U.S. are in jeopardy because of this action.” Burger encouraged people to follow the #ShowUpForOurLibraries campaign for more information.
What to Do
The numbers and titles above should not just be data to consume, but tools to inspire mobilization and action. Here are some ways you can do so.
- Confidentially report censorship attempts to the ALA and/or to the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC).
- Visit Unite Against Book Bans, an ALA-led coalition that includes LGBTQ organizations, publishers, and others, for talking points, suggested actions, and more resources.
- Participate in town, school board, and library meetings. The ALA and PFLAG have created some helpful tips for testifying at such meetings.
- Vote even in purely local elections.
- Consider running for school and library boards yourself.
- Donate to organizations fighting book bans, if your means allow.
- Recommend books about LGBTQ and other marginalized people to your local libraries to show there is community support and need for them. Also recommend them to the young people you know so that they check them out.
- Leave online reviews for LGBTQ- and BIPOC-inclusive children’s and young adult books to counter reviews that claim such titles are inappropriate.
- Keep up with all that’s happening with book censorship. I recommend Book Riot’s Literary Activism newsletter (though I’ll keep reporting on highlights, particularly LGBTQ-related ones, here at Mombian, too).