List of most commonly challenged books in the United States
A challenged book is one that is sought to be removed or otherwise restricted from public access, typically from a library or a school curriculum. This is a list of the most commonly challenged books in the United States. It is primarily based on data gathered by the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF). The OIF gathers their data from media reports from reports from librarians and teachers.[1]
According to the OIF, the top three reasons for challenging such materials were that they contained "sexually explicit" content, "offensive" language, or were "unsuited to any age group".[2]
List
The list is sorted alphabetically by default. Included is each book's rank in the ALA's lists of top 100 challenged books by decade (if applicable).
Title |
Author |
Year(s) published |
2000–2009 ALA rank[3] |
1990–1999 ALA rank[4] |
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian[5] |
Sherman Alexie |
2007 |
N/A |
N/A |
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn |
Mark Twain |
1884 |
14 |
5 |
The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby |
Dav Pilkey |
2002 |
47 |
N/A |
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer |
Mark Twain |
1876 |
N/A |
83 |
Alice (series) |
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor |
1985–2012 |
2 |
14 |
All the King's Men[6] |
Robert Penn Warren |
1946 |
N/A |
N/A |
Always Running |
Luis J. Rodriguez |
1993 |
68 |
85 |
America |
E.R. Frank |
2002 |
100 |
N/A |
American Psycho |
Bret Easton Ellis |
1991 |
N/A |
53 |
An American Tragedy[6] |
Theodore Dreiser |
1925 |
N/A |
N/A |
The Anarchist Cookbook |
William Powell |
1971 |
N/A |
59 |
Anastasia Krupnik (series) |
Lois Lowry |
1979–1995 |
75 |
28 |
And Tango Makes Three |
Peter Parnell, Justin Richardson |
2005 |
4 |
N/A |
Animal Farm[6] |
George Orwell |
1945 |
N/A |
N/A |
Annie on My Mind |
Nancy Garden |
1982 |
N/A |
44 |
Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging |
Louise Rennison |
1999 |
35 |
N/A |
Arizona Kid |
Ron Koertge |
1988 |
N/A |
75 |
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. |
Judy Blume |
1970 |
99 |
60 |
Arming America |
Michael A. Bellesiles |
2000 |
38 |
N/A |
As I Lay Dying[6] |
William Faulkner |
1930 |
N/A |
N/A |
Asking About Sex and Growing Up |
Joanna Cole |
1988 |
N/A |
57 |
Athletic Shorts: Six Short Stories |
Chris Crutcher |
1991 |
44 |
63 |
The Awakening[6] |
Kate Chopin |
1899 |
N/A |
N/A |
A Bad Boy Can Be Good For a Girl[5] |
Tanya Lee Stone |
2006 |
N/A |
N/A |
Beloved |
Toni Morrison |
1987 |
26 |
45 |
Black Boy |
Richard Wright |
1946 |
81 |
N/A |
Bless Me, Ultima |
Rudolfo Anaya |
1972 |
32 |
78 |
Blood and Chocolate |
Annette Curtis Klause |
1997 |
57 |
N/A |
Blubber |
Judy Blume |
1974 |
43 |
30 |
The Bluest Eye |
Toni Morrison |
1970 |
15 |
34 |
Bone (series)[5] |
Jeff Smith |
1991–2004 |
N/A |
N/A |
The Boy Who Lost His Face |
Louis Sachar |
1989 |
92 |
46 |
Boys and Sex |
Wardell Pomeroy |
1968 |
N/A |
61 |
Brave New World |
Aldous Huxley |
1931 |
36 |
54 |
Brideshead Revisited[6] |
Evelyn Waugh |
1945 |
N/A |
N/A |
Bridge to Terabithia |
Katherine Paterson |
1977 |
28 |
8 |
Bumps in the Night |
Harry Allard |
1979 |
93 |
56 |
The Call of the Wild[6] |
Jack London |
1903 |
N/A |
N/A |
Captain Underpants (series) |
Dav Pilkey |
1997–2015 |
13 |
N/A |
Carrie |
Stephen King |
1974 |
N/A |
81 |
Cat's Cradle[6] |
Kurt Vonnegut |
1963 |
N/A |
N/A |
Catch-22[6] |
Joseph Heller |
1961 |
N/A |
N/A |
The Catcher in the Rye |
J. D. Salinger |
1951 |
19 |
10 |
The Chocolate War |
Robert Cormier |
1974 |
3 |
4 |
Christine |
Stephen King |
1983 |
N/A |
95 |
A Clockwork Orange[6] |
Anthony Burgess |
1962 |
N/A |
N/A |
The Color Purple |
Alice Walker |
1982 |
17 |
17 |
The Color Trilogy (series)[5] |
Kim Dong Hwa |
2009 |
N/A |
N/A |
Crank[5] |
Ellen Hopkins |
2004 |
N/A |
N/A |
Crazy |
Benjamin Lebert |
2000 |
77 |
N/A |
Crazy Lady! |
Jane Leslie Conly |
1993 |
45 |
62 |
Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat |
Alvin Schwartz |
1974 |
N/A |
47 |
Cujo |
Stephen King |
1983 |
N/A |
49 |
Curses, Hexes and Spells |
Daniel Cohen |
1974 |
N/A |
71 |
Cut |
Patricia McCormick |
2000 |
86 |
N/A |
Daddy's Roommate |
Michael Willhoite |
1991 |
N/A |
2 |
Daughters of Eve |
Lois Duncan |
1979 |
51 |
N/A |
A Day No Pigs Would Die |
Robert Newton Peck |
1972 |
80 |
16 |
The Dead Zone |
Stephen King |
1979 |
N/A |
82 |
Deal with It! |
Esther Drill |
1999 |
82 |
N/A |
Deenie |
Judy Blume |
1973 |
N/A |
42 |
Detour for Emmy |
Marilyn Reynolds |
1993 |
83 |
N/A |
Drama[5] |
Raina Telgemeier |
2012 |
N/A |
N/A |
Draw Me a Star |
Eric Carle |
1992 |
61 |
N/A |
The Drowning of Stephan Jones |
Bette Greene |
1991 |
N/A |
96 |
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things |
Carolyn Mackler |
2003 |
34 |
N/A |
Earth's Children (series) |
Jean M. Auel |
1980–2011 |
N/A |
19 |
The Face on the Milk Carton |
Caroline B. Cooney |
1990 |
29 |
80 |
The Facts Speak For Themselves |
Brock Cole |
1997 |
54 |
N/A |
Fade |
Robert Cormier |
1988 |
N/A |
65 |
Fahrenheit 451 |
Ray Bradbury |
1953 |
69 |
N/A |
Fallen Angels |
Walter Dean Myers |
1988 |
11 |
36 |
Family Secrets |
Norma Klein |
1985 |
N/A |
76 |
A Farewell to Arms[6] |
Ernest Hemingway |
1929 |
N/A |
N/A |
Fat Kid Rules the World |
KL Going |
2003 |
58 |
N/A |
Fifty Shades of Grey[5] |
E. L. James |
2011 |
N/A |
N/A |
The Fighting Ground |
Avi |
1984 |
42 |
N/A |
Final Exit |
Derek Humphry |
1991 |
N/A |
29 |
Flashcards of My Life[5] |
Charise Mericle Harper |
2006 |
N/A |
N/A |
Flowers for Algernon |
Daniel Keyes |
1966 |
N/A |
43 |
For Whom the Bell Tolls[6] |
Ernest Hemingway |
1940 |
N/A |
N/A |
Forever... |
Judy Blume |
1975 |
16 |
7 |
Friday Night Lights |
H. G. Bissinger |
1990 |
89 |
N/A |
The Giver |
Lois Lowry |
1993 |
23 |
11 |
Girls and Sex |
Wardell Pomeroy |
1970 |
N/A |
98 |
The Glass Castle[5] |
Jeannette Walls |
2005 |
N/A |
N/A |
Go Ask Alice |
Beatrice Sparks |
1971 |
18 |
25 |
Go Tell It on the Mountain[6] |
James Baldwin |
1953 |
N/A |
N/A |
The Goats |
Brock Cole |
1987 |
N/A |
26 |
Gone with the Wind[6] |
Margaret Mitchell |
1936 |
N/A |
N/A |
Goosebumps (series) |
R. L. Stine |
1992–1997 |
94 |
15 |
Gossip Girl (series) |
Cecily von Ziegesar |
2002–2011 |
22 |
N/A |
The Grapes of Wrath[6] |
John Steinbeck |
1939 |
N/A |
N/A |
The Great Gatsby[6] |
F. Scott Fitzgerald |
1925 |
N/A |
N/A |
The Great Gilly Hopkins |
Katherine Paterson |
1978 |
52 |
20 |
Grendel |
John Gardner |
1971 |
96 |
N/A |
Guess What? |
Mem Fox |
1990 |
N/A |
66 |
Halloween ABC |
Eve Merriam |
1987 |
N/A |
31 |
The Handmaid's Tale |
Margaret Atwood |
1985 |
88 |
37 |
Harris and Me |
Gary Paulsen |
1993 |
70 |
N/A |
Harry Potter (series) |
J. K. Rowling |
1997–2007 |
1 |
48 |
Heather Has Two Mommies |
Lesléa Newman |
1989 |
N/A |
9 |
His Dark Materials (series) |
Philip Pullman |
1995–2000 |
8 |
N/A |
The House of the Spirits |
Isabel Allende |
1982 |
97 |
73 |
The Hunger Games[5] |
Suzanne Collins |
2008–2010 |
N/A |
N/A |
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings |
Maya Angelou |
1969 |
6 |
3 |
I Saw Esau |
Iona Opie, Peter Opie |
2000 |
98 |
N/A |
In Cold Blood[6] |
Truman Capote |
1966 |
N/A |
N/A |
In the Night Kitchen |
Maurice Sendak |
1970 |
24 |
21 |
Invisible Man[6] |
Ralph Ellison |
1952 |
N/A |
N/A |
It's Perfectly Normal |
Robie Harris |
1994 |
12 |
13 |
It's So Amazing |
Robie Harris |
1999 |
37 |
N/A |
Jack |
A. M. Homes |
1990 |
N/A |
74 |
James and the Giant Peach |
Roald Dahl |
1961 |
N/A |
50 |
The Joy of Gay Sex |
Charles Silverstein, Edmund White |
1977 |
78 |
N/A |
Julie of the Wolves |
Jean Craighead George |
1972 |
91 |
32 |
Jump Ship to Freedom |
James Lincoln Collier, Christopher Collier |
1981 |
N/A |
100 |
Jumper |
Steven Gould |
1992 |
N/A |
94 |
The Jungle[6] |
Upton Sinclair |
1906 |
N/A |
N/A |
Junie B. Jones (series) |
Barbara Park |
1992–2011 |
71 |
N/A |
Kaffir Boy |
Mark Mathabane |
1986 |
39 |
33 |
Killing Mr. Griffin |
Lois Duncan |
1978 |
25 |
64 |
King & King |
Linda De Haan, Stern Nijland |
2002 |
20 |
N/A |
The Kite Runner |
Khaled Hosseini |
2003 |
50 |
N/A |
Lady Chatterley's Lover[6] |
D. H. Lawrence |
1928 |
N/A |
N/A |
Life is Funny |
E.R. Frank |
2000 |
40 |
N/A |
A Light in the Attic |
Shel Silverstein |
1981 |
N/A |
51 |
Lolita[6] |
Vladimir Nabokov |
1955 |
N/A |
N/A |
Looking for Alaska[5] |
John Green |
2005 |
N/A |
N/A |
Lord of the Flies |
William Golding |
1954 |
N/A |
68 |
The Lord of the Rings[6] |
J. R. R. Tolkien |
1954 |
N/A |
N/A |
The Lovely Bones |
Alice Sebold |
2002 |
74 |
N/A |
Lush[5] |
Natasha Friend |
2006 |
N/A |
N/A |
Mick Harte Was Here |
Barbara Park |
1996 |
64 |
N/A |
Mummy Laid an Egg |
Babette Cole |
1994 |
N/A |
77 |
My Brother Sam Is Dead |
James Lincoln Collier, Christopher Collier |
1974 |
27 |
12 |
My Mom's Having a Baby![5] |
Dori Hillestad Butler |
2005 |
N/A |
N/A |
My Sister's Keeper[5] |
Jodi Picoult |
2004 |
N/A |
N/A |
The Naked and the Dead[6] |
Norman Mailer |
1948 |
N/A |
N/A |
Naked Lunch[6] |
William S. Burroughs |
1959 |
N/A |
N/A |
Native Son |
Richard Wright |
1940 |
N/A |
69 |
The New Joy of Gay Sex |
Charles Silverstein, Edmund White, Felice Picano |
1993 |
N/A |
24 |
Nickel and Dimed[5] |
Barbara Ehrenreich |
2001 |
N/A |
N/A |
Nineteen Eighty-Four[6] |
George Orwell |
1949 |
N/A |
N/A |
Of Mice and Men |
John Steinbeck |
1937 |
5 |
6 |
Olive's Ocean |
Kevin Henkes |
2003 |
59 |
N/A |
On My Honor |
Marion Dane Bauer |
1986 |
N/A |
72 |
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest |
Ken Kesey |
1962 |
49 |
N/A |
Ordinary People |
Judith Guest |
1976 |
N/A |
52 |
The Outsiders |
S. E. Hinton |
1967 |
N/A |
38 |
The Perks of Being a Wallflower |
Stephen Chbosky |
1999 |
10 |
N/A |
Persepolis (series)[5] |
Marjane Satrapi |
2000–2003 |
N/A |
N/A |
The Pigman |
Paul Zindel |
1968 |
N/A |
39 |
The Pillars of the Earth |
Ken Follett |
1989 |
N/A |
91 |
A Prayer for Owen Meany |
John Irving |
1989 |
76 |
N/A |
Private Parts |
Howard Stern |
1993 |
N/A |
86 |
Rabbit, Run[6] |
John Updike |
1960 |
N/A |
N/A |
Rainbow Boys |
Alex Sánchez |
2001 |
48 |
N/A |
Revolutionary Voices[5] |
Amy Sonnie |
2000 |
N/A |
N/A |
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry |
Mildred D. Taylor |
1976 |
66 |
N/A |
Running Loose |
Chris Crutcher |
1983 |
N/A |
92 |
Saga (series)[5] |
Brian K. Vaughan |
2012–present |
N/A |
N/A |
The Satanic Verses[6] |
Salman Rushdie |
1988 |
N/A |
N/A |
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (series) |
Alvin Schwartz |
1981–1991 |
7 |
1 |
A Separate Peace[6] |
John Knowles |
1959 |
N/A |
N/A |
Sex |
Madonna |
1992 |
N/A |
18 |
Sex Education |
Jenny Davis |
1995 |
N/A |
93 |
Shade's Children |
Garth Nix |
1997 |
95 |
N/A |
Slaughterhouse-Five |
Kurt Vonnegut |
1969 |
46 |
67 |
The Sleeping Beauty Quartet (series) |
Anne Rice |
1983–2015 |
N/A |
55 |
Snow Falling on Cedars |
David Guterson |
1994 |
33 |
N/A |
So Far from the Bamboo Grove |
Yoko Kawashima Watkins |
1986 |
84 |
N/A |
Song of Solomon |
Toni Morrison |
1977 |
72 |
84 |
Sophie's Choice[6] |
William Styron |
1979 |
N/A |
N/A |
Sons and Lovers[6] |
D. H. Lawrence |
1913 |
N/A |
N/A |
Speak |
Laurie Halse Anderson |
1999 |
60 |
N/A |
Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes |
Chris Crutcher |
1993 |
85 |
N/A |
A Stolen Life[5] |
Jaycee Dugard |
2011 |
N/A |
N/A |
The Story of Little Black Sambo |
Helen Bannerman |
1899 |
N/A |
90 |
The Stupids (series) |
Harry Allard, James Marshall |
1974–1989 |
62 |
27 |
Summer of My German Soldier |
Bette Greene |
1973 |
55 |
88 |
The Sun Also Rises[6] |
Ernest Hemingway |
1926 |
N/A |
N/A |
Taming the Star Runner[5] |
S. E. Hinton |
1988 |
N/A |
N/A |
The Terrorist |
Caroline B. Cooney |
1997 |
63 |
N/A |
That Was Then, This Is Now |
S. E. Hinton |
1971 |
N/A |
97 |
Their Eyes Were Watching God[6] |
Zora Neale Hurston |
1937 |
N/A |
N/A |
The Things They Carried |
Tim O'Brien |
1990 |
65 |
N/A |
Thirteen Reasons Why[5] |
Jay Asher |
2007 |
N/A |
N/A |
Tiger Eyes |
Judy Blume |
1981 |
87 |
89 |
A Time to Kill |
John Grisham |
1989 |
67 |
N/A |
To Kill a Mockingbird |
Harper Lee |
1960 |
21 |
40 |
Tropic of Cancer[6] |
Henry Miller |
1934 |
N/A |
N/A |
ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series) |
Lauren Myracle |
2004–2007 |
9 |
N/A |
Twilight (series)[5] |
Stephenie Meyer |
2005–2008 |
N/A |
N/A |
Ulysses[6] |
James Joyce |
1922 |
N/A |
N/A |
Uncle Bobby's Wedding[5] |
Sarah S. Brannen |
2008 |
N/A |
N/A |
The Upstairs Room |
Johanna Reiss |
1972 |
79 |
N/A |
We All Fall Down |
Robert Cormier |
1991 |
30 |
41 |
Whale Talk |
Chris Crutcher |
2001 |
41 |
N/A |
What My Mother Doesn't Know |
Sonya Sones |
2001 |
31 |
N/A |
What's Happening to My Body? Book for Boys |
Lynda Madaras |
1987/2007 |
N/A |
58 |
What's Happening to My Body? Book for Girls |
Lynda Madaras |
1987/2007 |
73 |
35 |
When Dad Killed Mom |
Julius Lester |
2001 |
56 |
N/A |
Where Did I Come From? |
Peter Mayle |
1973 |
N/A |
79 |
Where's Waldo? |
Martin Handford |
1987 |
N/A |
87 |
The Wish Giver |
Bill Brittain |
1983 |
N/A |
99 |
The Witches |
Roald Dahl |
1983 |
N/A |
22 |
Women in Love[6] |
D. H. Lawrence |
1920 |
N/A |
N/A |
Women on Top |
Nancy Friday |
1991 |
N/A |
70 |
A Wrinkle in Time |
Madeleine L'Engle |
1963 |
90 |
23 |
You Hear Me? |
Betsy Franco |
2000 |
53 |
N/A |
See also
References
External links
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