Frequently Challenged Books

The ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) receives reports from libraries, schools, and the media on attempts to ban books in communities across the country. We compile lists of challenged books in order to inform the public about censorship efforts that affect libraries and schools. The top ten most challenged books of 2015 include:
  1. Looking for Alaska, by John Green
    Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group.
  2. Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James
    Reasons: Sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and other (“poorly written,” “concerns that a group of teenagers will want to try it”).
  3. I Am Jazz, by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings
    Reasons: Inaccurate, homosexuality, sex education, religious viewpoint, and unsuited for age group.
  4. Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out, by Susan Kuklin
    Reasons: Anti-family, offensive language, homosexuality, sex education, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group, and other (“wants to remove from collection to ward off complaints”).
  5. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon
    Reasons: Offensive language, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group, and other (“profanity and atheism”).
  6. The Holy Bible
    Reasons: Religious viewpoint.
  7. Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel
    Reasons: Violence and other (“graphic images”).
  8. Habibi, by Craig Thompson
    Reasons: Nudity, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group.
  9. Nasreen’s Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan, by Jeanette Winter
    Reasons: Religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group, and violence.
  10. Two Boys Kissing, by David Levithan
    Reasons: Homosexuality and other (“condones public displays of affection”) [information pulled from: The American Library Association on August 2016]
2021 Top Ten Best FictionThe full 2021 Best Fiction for Young Adults list can be found here.
TOP TEN
  • Be Not Far from Me by Mindy McGinnis. Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins. 2020. $18.99. ISBN: 9780062561626. 
  • Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas. Swoon Reads/Macmillan. 2020. $17.99. ISBN: 9781250250469. 
  • Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo. HarperTeen/HarperCollins. 2020. $18.99. ISBN: 9780062882769.
  • Deeplight by Frances Hardinge. Amulet Books/ABRAMS. 2020. $19.99. ISBN: 9781419743207. 
  • Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson. Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins. 2020. $17.99. ISBN: 9780062840356. 
  • More Than Just a Pretty Face by Syed M. Masood. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers/Hachette. 2020. $17.99. ISBN: 9780316492355. 
  • Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko. Amulet Books/ABRAMS. 2020. $18.99. ISBN: 9781419739828. 
  • This Is My America by Kim Johnson. Random House Books for Young Readers. 2020. $17.99. ISBN: 9780593118764. 
  • We Are Not from Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez. Philomel Books/Penguin Random House. 2020. $18.99. ISBN: 9781984812261. 
  • What I Carry by Jennifer Longo. Random House Books for Young Readers. 2020. $17.99. ISBN: 9780553537710. 
2020 Teens' Top Ten Announced!
  1. Wayward Son (Simon Snow, #2) by Rainbow Rowell. Wednesday Books/Macmillan. 9781250146076.
  2. Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell. Illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks. First Second/Macmillan. 9781626721623.
  3. With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo. HarperTeen/HarperCollins. 9780062662835.
  4. Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. Alfred A. Knopf/Penguin Random House. 9781524720995.
  5. Broken Throne: A Red Queen Collection by Victoria Aveyard. HarperTeen/ HarperCollins. 9780062423023.
  6. #MurderFunding (#MurderTrending #2) by Gretchen McNeil. Freeform/Disney Book Group. 9781368026277.
  7. We Hunt the Flame (Sands of Arawiya) by Hafsah Faizal. Farrar Straus Giroux /Macmillan 9780374311544.
  8. Lovely War by Julie Berry Viking/Penguin Random House. 9780451469939.
  9. Wilder Girls by Rory Power. Delacorte Press/Penguin Random House. 9780525645580.
  10. The Memory Thief by Lauren Mansy. Blink/HarperCollins Publishing. 9780310767657.
2019 Teens' Top Ten TitlesThe top ten titles are as follows:
  1. #MurderTrending by Gretchen McNeil. Freeform Books/Disney Book Group. 9781368010023.
  2. Wildcard by Marie Lu. G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers/Penguin Random House. 9780399547997.
  3. The Cruel Prince by Holly Black. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers/Hachette Book Group. 9780316310277.
  4. Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers/ Simon & Schuster. 9781978614306.
  5. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. Henry Holt Books for Young Readers/Macmillan. 9781250170972.
  6. The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang. First Second/Macmillan. 9781250159854.
  7. American Panda by Gloria Chao. Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster. 9781481499101.
  8. Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu. Random House Children’s Books/Penguin Random House. 9780399549809.
  9. Speak: The Graphic Novel by Laurie Halse Anderson and Emily Carroll. Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Macmillan. 978037430028
  10. The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. HarperTeen/HarperCollins. 9780062662804.
Download the full list with annotations.
2018 Teens' Top Ten Official List
(Download the PDF with annotations here)
  1. Turtles All the Way Down by John Green. Dutton/Penguin. 9780525555360.
  2. One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus. Delacorte/Random House. 9781524714680. 
  3. Warcross by Marie Lu. G. P. Putnam’s Sons/Penguin. 9780399547966.
  4. Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo. Random House. 9780399549731. 
  5. Caraval by Stephanie Garber. Flatiron. 9781250095251.
  6. Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds. Caitlyn Dlouhy Books/Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster. 9781481438254. 
  7. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez. Knopf/Random House. 9781524700485.
  8. Paper Hearts by Ali Novak. Sourcebooks Fire. 9781492653363.
  9. Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor. Little, Brown and Company. 9780316341684.
  10. Once and For All by Sarah Dessen. Viking/Penguin. 9780425290330.
2017 Teens' Top Ten

  1. Don’t Get Caught by Kurt Dinan. Sourcebooks Fire. 9781492630142.
  2. Scythe by Neal Shusterman. Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. 9781442472426.
  3. The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon. Penguin Random House. 9780553496680.
  4. Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare. Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. 9781442468351
  5. This is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp. Sourcebooks Fire. 9781492622468.
  6. Heartless by Marissa Meyer. Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group. 9781250044655.
  7. P.S. I Like You by Kasie West. Scholastic. 9780545850971.
  8. Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch. Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. 9781481432542.
  9. Genius: The Game by Leopoldo Gout. Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group. 9781250115270.
  10. If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo. Flatiron Books YA. 9781250078407.
View an annotated list of the winners here (pdf).
2016 Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults
  • Albertalli, Becky. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. Harper/Balzer and Bray. 2015. 320p. ISBN: 9780062348678.  Simon is falling in love for the first time. Over email, if that’s even possible.
  • Bardugo, Leigh. Six of Crows. Holt. 2015. 480p. ISBN: 9781627792127. Presented an offer too lucrative to refuse, gang leader Kaz Brekker and his team of convicts, runaways, and thieves set out to smuggle an imprisoned scientist from an impenetrable Fjerdan fortress, only to face treachery and betrayal along the way.
  • Brooks, Kevin. The Bunker Diary. Lerner/Carolrhoda Lab. 2015. 264p. ISBN: 9781467754200. Sixteen-year-old Linus Weems is kidnapped and transported to an underground bunker, where he is joined by five other kidnapping victims. Where are they? Why have they been taken?  And can they survive?
  • Crowder, Melanie. Audacity. Philomel. 2015. 400p. ISBN: 9780399168994. This novel-in-verse fictionalizes the teen years of Clara Lemlich Shavelson, the leader of the New York shirtwaist strike of 1909. Fleeing from anti-Semitic Russia, the teen and her family struggle to adapt to their new home.
  • Older, Daniel José. Shadowshaper. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Books. 2015. 304p. ISBN: 9780545591614. Sierra Santiago was amped on her summer of painting murals and hanging with friends, before noticing the murals were fading faster than normal. Another street artist named Robbie is the only one who can help her to unlock this mystery.
  • Reynolds, Jason. The Boy in the Black Suit. Atheneum. 2015. 272p. ISBN: 9781442459502. To deal with his mother's passing, Matt accepts a job at the local funeral home. Matt meets Lovey at her grandmother’s funeral. The two of them share a bond that will help them both to move past their own respective losses.
  • Ruby, Laura. Bone Gap. Harper/Balzer and Bray. 2015. 368p. ISBN: 9780062317605. In a small town full of strange happenings, Finn is determined to uncover the mystery of Roza’s disappearance.
  • Shabazz, Ilyasah and Kekla Magoon. X: A Novel. Candlewick. 2015. 384p. ISBN: 9780763669676. This fictionalized account of Malcolm X’s teen years poignantly presents the young man’s struggles with identity, racism, and crime.
  • Shusterman, Neal. Challenger Deep. HarperTeen. 2015. 320p. ISBN: 9780061134111. As Caden descends into mental illness, his visions of a descent into the deep waters of a trench take over.
  • Silvera, Adam. More Happy than Not. Soho Teen. 2015. 304p. ISBN: 9781616955601. After enduring his father’s suicide, his own suicide attempt, broken friendships, and more in the Bronx projects, Aaron Soto, 16, is already considering the Leteo Institute’s memory-alteration procedure when his new friendship with Thomas turns to unrequited love.