There were 6,870 instances of book bans in the 2024-2025 school year. Since July 2021, Pen America’s Index has recorded 22,810 cases of book bans across 45 states and 451 public school districts. Click here to see the full list.
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TOP 25 MOST-FREQUENTLY BANNED CLASSICS
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  1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  2. The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
  3. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
  4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
  6. Ulysses by James Joyce
  7. Beloved by Toni Morrison
  8. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
  9. 1984 by George Orwell
  10. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
  11. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
  12. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
  13. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  14. Animal Farm by George Orwell
  15. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
  16.  A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
  17. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
  18. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
  19. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
  20. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
  21. Native Son by Richard Wright
  22. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
  23. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
  24. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
  25. The Call of the Wild by Jack London

​TOP 25 MOST-BANNED BOOKS (2024–2025 School Year)
Based on reports from PEN America, Literary Hub, and the American Library Association: 
  1. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess 
  2. Breathless by Jennifer Niven 
  3. Sold by Patricia McCormick
  4. Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
  5. All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson
  6. Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
  7. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
  8. Crank by Ellen Hopkins
  9. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
  10. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
  11. Flamer by Mike Curato
  12. Damsel by Elana K. Arnold
  13. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
  14. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
  15. Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
  16. Looking for Alaska by John Green
  17. Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison
  18. This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson
  19. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
  20. Milk & Honey by Rupi Kaur
  21. Forever... by Judy Blume
  22. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
  23. The DUFF by Kody Keplinger
  24. Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout
  25. House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros ​

​MOST FREQUENTLY BANNED LGBTQ+ TITLES 2025 ​
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PEN America data has shown consistently in recent years that book bans in schools and public libraries target books with LGBTQ+ characters and/or characters of color—in recent years, 39% and 44%, respectively—far greater than the portion of published books featuring characters of those identities.

1. All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson
2. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson, Peter Parnell and Henry Cole
3. Be Gay, Do Comics: Queer History, Memoir, and Satire by The Nib
4. Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron
5. Flamer by Mike Curato
6. Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
7. Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag by Rob Sanders
8. The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang
9. Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
10. This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson
11. When Aidan Became a Brother by Kyle Lukoff and Kaylani Juanita
12. Uncle Bobby’s Wedding by Sarah S. Brannen and Lucia Soto
13. Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan
14. Hurricane Child by Kacen Callender
15. The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen
TOP 100 MOST FREQUENTLY BANNED BOOKS
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  1. ​The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
  2. Captain Underpants (series) by Dav Pilkey
  3. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
  4. Looking for Alaska by John Green
  5. George by Alex Gino
  6. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
  7. Drama by Raina Telgemeier
  8. Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James
  9. Internet Girls (series) by Lauren Myracle
  10. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
  11. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
  12. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
  13. I Am Jazz by Jazz Jennings and Jessica Herthel
  14. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
  15. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  16. Bone (series) by Jeff Smith
  17. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
  18. Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan
  19. A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss
  20. Sex is a Funny Word by Cory Silverberg
  21. Alice McKinley (series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
  22. It's Perfectly Normal by Robie H. Harris
  23. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
  24. Scary Stories (series) by Alvin Schwartz
  25. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
  26. A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  27. Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin
  28. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
  29. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
  30. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
  31. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
  32. It's a Book by Lane Smith
  33. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
  34. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
  35. What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones
  36. A Child Called "It" by Dave Pelzer
  37. Bad Kitty (series) by Nick Bruel
  38. Crank by Ellen Hopkins
  39. Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
  40. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
  41. The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby by Dav Pilkey
  42. This Day in June by Gayle E. Pitman
  43. This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki
  44. A Bad Boy Can Be Good For A Girl by Tanya Lee Stone
  45. Beloved by Toni Morrison
  46. Goosebumps (series) by R.L. Stine
  47. In Our Mothers' House by Patricia Polacco
  48. Lush by Natasha Friend
  49. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
  50. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
  51. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
  52. The Holy Bible
  53. This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson
  54. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
  55. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
  56. Gossip Girl (series) by Cecily von Ziegesar
  57. House of Night (series) by P.C. Cast
  58. My Mom's Having A Baby by Dori Hillestad Butler
  59. Neonomicon by Alan Moore
  60. The Dirty Cowboy by Amy Timberlake
  61. The Giver by Lois Lowry
  62. Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
  63. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
  64. Draw Me a Star by Eric Carle
  65. Dreaming In Cuban by Cristina Garcia
  66. Fade by Lisa McMann
  67. The Family Book by Todd Parr
  68. Feed by M.T. Anderson
  69. Go the Fuck to Sleep by Adam Mansbach
  70. Habibi by Craig Thompson
  71. House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
  72. Jacob's New Dress by Sarah Hoffman
  73. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
  74. Monster by Walter Dean Myers
  75. Nasreen’s Secret School by Jeanette Winter
  76. Saga by Brian K. Vaughan
  77. Stuck in the Middle by Ariel Schrag
  78. The Kingdom of Little Wounds by Susann Cokal
  79. 1984 by George Orwell
  80. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
  81. Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher
  82. Awakening by Kate Chopin
  83. Burned by Ellen Hopkins
  84. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
  85. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
  86. Glass by Ellen Hopkins
  87. Heather Has Two Mommies by Lesle´a Newman
  88. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
  89. Madeline and the Gypsies by Ludwig Bemelmans
  90. My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis
  91. Prince and Knight by Daniel Haack
  92. Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology by Amy Sonnie
  93. Skippyjon Jones (series) by Judith Schachner
  94. So Far from the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins
  95. The Color of Earth (series) by Tong-hwa Kim
  96. The Librarian of Basra by Jeanette Winter
  97. The Walking Dead (series) by Robert Kirkman
  98. Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
  99. Uncle Bobby’s Wedding by Sarah S Brannen
  100. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
BOOKS BANNED IN CALIFORNIA
While California passed a law in 2023 prohibiting the banning of books, particularly those with inclusive/diverse content, challenges and local restrictions still occur. Commonly challenged books often involve LGBTQIA+ themes, racism, or sexual content, such as Gender Queer: A Memoir by the Bay Area's own Maia Kobabe, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and The Handmaid's Tale. The books below were banned in California prior to 2023.

​STATEWIDE BANS IN UTAH
Utah’s HB 29, which was signed into law in March 2024, is one of the most extreme book banning laws currently in effect. In Utah, books can now be banned on a statewide basis by defining them as "Objective Sensitive Materials." Since then, the following books have been banned in every public school in Utah.

  • What Girls are Made of by Elana K. Arnold
  • Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
  • Forever by Judy Blume
  • Tilt by Ellen Hopkins
  • Fallout by Ellen Hopkins
  • Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
  • A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
  • A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas
  • A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
  • A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas
  • A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
  • Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
  • Blankets by Craig Thompson​