It is all the time good to see some outdated favourites make it onto a brand new checklist, proper?
Toni Morrison’s 1970 basic The Bluest Eye, Stephen Chbosky’s 1999 YA The Perks of Being a Wallflower and John Inexperienced’s 2005 e book On the lookout for Alaska have as soon as once more been named among the many most challenged library books in the U.S. in 2024.
The American Library Affiliation (ALA) launched its annual list of most-challenged books on Monday, which incorporates new knowledge that reveals the vast majority of censorship makes an attempt in class and public libraries within the U.S. come from organized actions fairly than mother and father.
Practically three-quarters, or 72 per cent, of calls for to censor books in class and public libraries got here from “well-funded,” “organized” advocacy teams and authorities entities that embody elected officers, board members and directors, notes the ALA’s report.
These are teams which have “lengthy been devoted to curbing entry to info and concepts,” the ALA provides.
Solely 16 per cent of calls for to censor books got here from particular person mother and father.
“The motion to ban books shouldn’t be a motion of oldsters, however a motion of partisans who search to restrict our freedom to learn and make totally different decisions about issues that matter,” stated Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of ALA’s workplace for mental freedom, in a news release.
Most of the challenges, for example, could be traced to the conservative activist group “Mothers for Liberty,” and web sites like RatedBooks, Caldwell-Stone instructed The Associated Press.

The ten most-challenged books of 2024
Final yr, 2,452 distinctive titles had been challenged, famous the ALA. That is the third-highest quantity ever documented by the group, which additionally defined that the numbers are possible even greater on account of under-reporting, censorship by exclusions, and legislative restrictions.
Most of the most-challenged books of the final yr included 2SLGBTQ+ characters or themes, the ALA famous. In addition they lined subjects of race, racism, fairness and social justice.
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All Boys Aren’t Blue, by George M. Johnson (2020) — A younger grownup (YA) memoir/manifesto concerning the trials and triumphs of Black queer boys.
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Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe (2019) — A graphic novel memoir about popping out as non-binary and asexual.
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(Tie) The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison (1970) — An grownup fiction about an 11-year-old Black woman who prays for her eyes to show blue.
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(Tied with the above) The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky (1999) — A coming-of-age novel about an introverted highschool freshman.
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Methods, by Ellen Hopkins (2009) — A YA verse novel about 5 troubled teenagers.
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(Tie) On the lookout for Alaska, by John Inexperienced (2005) — A YA e book a couple of high-school junior looking for solutions about life and dying after a deadly automotive crash.
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(Tied with the above) Me and Earl and the Dying Woman, by Jesse Andrews (2012) — A YA fiction a couple of teen compelled to rekindle a childhood friendship with a lady dying of most cancers.
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(Tie) Crank, by Ellen Hopkins (2004) — A YA fiction concerning the turbulent relationship between a teen woman and crystal meth.
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(Tied with the above) Bought, by Patricia McCormick (2006) — A YA fiction a couple of teen from Nepal bought into sexual slavery in India.
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Flamer, by Mike Curato (2020) — A graphic novel a couple of boy’s journey to self-discovery and acceptance.

Guide challenges on the rise in Canada
Specialists have famous that e book bans are also on an upswing here in Canada. CBC reported last year that, based on Canadian librarians, latest challenges primarily contain opposition to books that take care of sexuality, 2SLGBTQ+ themes or gender range.
On the identical time, sales of 2SLGBTQ+ fiction in Canada elevated 34 per cent within the fourth quarter of 2024, based on new knowledge launched by the business analysts at BookNet Canada. Library loans of 2SLGBTQ+ titles additionally elevated throughout this time.
The Canadian Library Challenges Database, an initiative by Toronto Metropolitan College’s Centre for Free Expression, lists 119 titles that had been challenged in 2024 and one other 30 to date in 2025. (The numbers might be greater, however the database is proscribed by self-reporting.) The vast majority of the complaints had been for books that had been thought-about “age inappropriate,” contained “specific content material” or had been “pro-LGBTQIA2S+.”
In a recent blog post, the Centre for Free Expression defined that in 2024, most complaints had been filed by members of the general public, many of the challenges occurred in Ontario, the highest rationale was “age inappropriate,” the highest requested motion was to take away the e book and the highest motion taken by the library, “after cautious evaluate of the merchandise, is to retain the merchandise.”
In accordance with the database, All Boys Aren’t Blue was challenged in 2022 and 2023, each instances in B.C. Gender Queer was challenged six instances between 2021 and 2023 in a number of provinces. The Bluest Eye was challenged as soon as in 2023 at a public library in Creston, B.C.
Me and Earl and the Dying Woman was challenged in 2023 and Crank was challenged in 2006.
Among the books challenged to date this yr embody The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Bought and On the lookout for Alaska, in addition to some Canadian content material like Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Story (for “violence”) and Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald, for being “anti-Christian.”
Chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton speaks with Canadian writer Louise Penny about cancelling the U.S. dates on her e book tour and supporting the Haskell Free Library and Opera Home on the Canada-U.S. border.
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