Hands Off Our Books! Part 1

Have You Found My Motivation? Waiting for Milton

Hands Off Our Books! Part 1

Image by Amy from Pixabay

September 22-28 was Banned Books Week.

Preliminary data released by the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom found 1128 unique titles challenged from January 1 through August 31, 2024.

Every year they compile a list of the ten most challenged books. I looked at the top 10 for 2023 and was not very familiar with most of them, since they are new books, mostly dealing with gender issues. The only two I knew well and had read were The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.

Incidentally, the most banned book of all time is George Orwell’s 1984.

Only about 90 percent of book challenges are even reported. That said, the most frequently challenged books from 2010 through 2019 include these favorites:

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman AlexieCaptain Underpants (series) by Dav PilkeyThirteen Reasons Why by Jay AsherLooking for Alaska by John GreenGeorge by Alex GinoAnd Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter ParnellDrama by Raina TelgemeierFifty Shades of Grey by E. L. JamesInternet Girls (series) by Lauren MyracleThe Bluest Eye by Toni MorrisonThe Kite Runner by Khaled HosseiniHunger Games by Suzanne CollinsI Am Jazz by Jazz Jennings and Jessica HerthelThe Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen ChboskyTo Kill a Mockingbird by Harper LeeBone (series) by Jeff SmithThe Glass Castle by Jeannette WallsTwo Boys Kissing by David LevithanA Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill TwissSex is a Funny Word by Cory SilverbergAlice McKinley (series) by Phyllis Reynolds NaylorIt’s Perfectly Normal by Robie H. HarrisNineteen Minutes by Jodi PicoultScary Stories (series) by Alvin SchwartzSpeak by Laurie Halse AndersonBrave New World by Aldous HuxleyBeyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan KuklinOf Mice and Men by John SteinbeckThe Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret AtwoodThe Hate U Give by Angie ThomasFun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison BechdelIt’s a Book by Lane SmithThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark TwainThe Things They Carried by Tim O’BrienWhat My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya SonesA Child Called “It” by Dave PelzerBad Kitty (series) by Nick BruelCrank by Ellen HopkinsNickel and Dimed by Barbara EhrenreichPersepolis by Marjane SatrapiThe Adventures of Super Diaper Baby by Dav PilkeyThis Day in June by Gayle E. PitmanThis One Summer by Mariko TamakiA Bad Boy Can Be Good For A Girl by Tanya Lee StoneBeloved by Toni MorrisonGoosebumps (series) by R.L. StineIn Our Mothers’ House by Patricia PolaccoLush by Natasha FriendThe Catcher in the Rye by J. D. SalingerThe Color Purple by Alice WalkerThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark HaddonThe Holy BibleThis Book is Gay by Juno DawsonEleanor & Park by Rainbow RowellExtremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran FoerGossip Girl (series) by Cecily von ZiegesarHouse of Night (series) by P.C. CastMy Mom’s Having A Baby by Dori Hillestad ButlerNeonomicon by Alan MooreThe Dirty Cowboy by Amy TimberlakeThe Giver by Lois LowryAnne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl by Anne FrankBless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo AnayaDraw Me a Star by Eric CarleDreaming In Cuban by Cristina GarciaFade by Lisa McMannThe Family Book by Todd ParrFeed by M.T. AndersonGo the Fuck to Sleep by Adam MansbachHabibi by Craig ThompsonHouse of the Spirits by Isabel AllendeJacob’s New Dress by Sarah HoffmanLolita by Vladimir NabokovMonster by Walter Dean MyersNasreen’s Secret School by Jeanette WinterSaga by Brian K. VaughanStuck in the Middle by Ariel SchragThe Kingdom of Little Wounds by Susann Cokal1984 by George OrwellA Clockwork Orange by Anthony BurgessAlmost Perfect by Brian KatcherAwakening by Kate ChopinBurned by Ellen HopkinsEnder’s Game by Orson Scott CardFallen Angels by Walter Dean MyersGlass by Ellen HopkinsHeather Has Two Mommies by Lesle´a NewmanI Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya AngelouMadeline and the Gypsies by Ludwig BemelmansMy Princess Boy by Cheryl KilodavisPrince and Knight by Daniel HaackRevolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology by Amy SonnieSkippyjon Jones (series) by Judith SchachnerSo Far from the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima WatkinsThe Color of Earth (series) by Tong-hwa KimThe Librarian of Basra by Jeanette WinterThe Walking Dead (series) by Robert KirkmanTricks by Ellen HopkinsUncle Bobby’s Wedding by Sarah S BrannenYear of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

How many of these have you read? I have read only about 30, so I am behind on my reading!

For the 2022-2023 school year, here are the states with the largest number of banned books:

Florida 1406

Texas 625

Missouri 333

Utah 281

Pennsylvania 186

South Carolina 127

Virginia 75

North Carolina 58

Here are the states that had only one book banned in the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years combined:

California