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Lucy Scribner Library

Banned Books Week: 2022

Banned books week celebrates the freedom to read whatever you want!

Check out the top challenged books from 2021.

The Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2021, The American Library Association tracked 729 challenges to library, school, and university materials and services in 2021. Of the 1,597 individual books that were challenged or banned in 2021, here are the top 10 most challenged. 1. Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe 2. Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison 3. All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M Johnson 4. Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez 5. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas 6. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie 7. Earl, Me, and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews 8. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison 9. This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson 10. Beyond Magenta by Susan Kuklin

Table of the types of 729 challenges in 2021, 82% were challenges of books, graphic novels, and textbooks

Censorship By The Numbers

Word cloud of the many reasons for a book being challenged, the phrase Sexually Explicit is the most dominant followed by Critical Race Theory and LGBTQIA

Censorship By The Numbers

Infographic showing that 44% of challenges take place at school libraries and 37% take place at public libraries

Censorship By The Numbers

Pie Chart showing who makes the most challenges with 39% being parents followed by 24% being patrons

Censorship By The Numbers

Banned Books Resources

Vote!

What's your favorite challenged book from 2021?
Gender Queer: 1 votes (12.5%)
Lawn Boy: 0 votes (0%)
All Boys Aren't Blue: 0 votes (0%)
Out of Darkness: 0 votes (0%)
The Hate U Give: 4 votes (50%)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian: 0 votes (0%)
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl: 1 votes (12.5%)
The Bluest Eye: 2 votes (25%)
This Book Is Gay: 0 votes (0%)
Beyond Magenta: 0 votes (0%)
Total Votes: 8