Banned Books Week 2026 runs from October 4 to October 10. This year's theme is “Let Books Be. Protect the Freedom to Read,” a call to let stories exist without interference from a few people trying to control what everyone else can access.
The event brings together librarians, authors, educators, booksellers, and readers each year. Together they defend the right to explore any idea, story, or perspective found on a library shelf.
What is Banned Books Week
The American Library Association and a coalition of partner groups launched Banned Books Week in 1982. Organizers created it in response to a sharp rise in attempts to pull books from schools, bookstores, and libraries across the country.
The week defends the right to read freely. A book can challenge a reader, unsettle them, or change how they see the world, and that is precisely why some readers want it removed for everyone else.
Titles like 1984, The Bluest Eye, and The Catcher in the Rye have all faced challenges over the decades. Each remains part of ongoing conversations about surveillance, race, and coming of age, proof that a challenge rarely ends a book's relevance.
Why Books Get Challenged
A challenge occurs when someone tries to have a book removed or restricted. A ban happens when that attempt succeeds.
Several themes show up again and again in these disputes. Sexual content draws frequent objections, as seen with Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe. Violence and strong language trigger challenges too, a pattern visible in The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas.
Books that explore race and discrimination face similar scrutiny, including The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. LGBTQIA+ representation remains one of the most targeted categories of all, covering everything from picture books to young adult fiction.
Many of these titles were chosen by teachers and librarians precisely because they open up hard conversations. Removing them does not erase the topics they cover. It only limits who gets to read about them.
The 2025 Numbers
The American Library Association tracked 4,235 unique titles challenged in 2025, the second highest total the organization has ever recorded. Only 2023 topped it, with 4,240 titles challenged that year.
Some figures in this year's report stand out. Ninety-two percent of challenges came from organized pressure groups and government officials rather than individual parents, up sharply from the year before. Forty percent of the challenged titles represented LGBTQIA+ or BIPOC experiences.
Public libraries endured the pressure, accounting for just over half of all challenges. School libraries made up another significant share, with the rest split between school curricula and higher education.
The 11 Most Challenged Books of 2025
The ALA usually lists 10 titles, but 2025 produced an 11-way list due to a four-way tie. Here is the full ranking.
- Sold by Patricia McCormick
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
- Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
- Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
- Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo (tie)
- Tricks by Ellen Hopkins (tie)
- A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
- A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (tie)
- Identical by Ellen Hopkins (tie)
- Looking for Alaska by John Green (tie)
- Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout (tie)
Several of these titles also appeared on a separate report from PEN America covering challenges within public schools specifically.
The Impact of Censorship
Censorship limits more than a single title. It narrows what a community can access, and it hits marginalized readers hardest.
When a school pulls a book about a specific culture or identity, it tells the students who share that background that their stories are not welcome on the shelf. Queer youth, students of color, and other underrepresented groups feel this loss most directly.
Censorship also sidelines the judgment of the teachers and librarians who chose these books. Their training and daily contact with students give them insight into what helps a young reader grow, and a blanket removal overrides that expertise.
How to Participate
Banned Books Week gives readers several ways to get involved. Pick up a challenged title and read it, then share what you took from it.
Visit a Banned Books Week display at a local library or bookstore if one is available near you. Look into your school district's book review policy so decisions get made through a transparent process rather than a single heated meeting.
Support the librarians and educators doing this work. A note of thanks, a letter to a school board, or a comment at a public meeting all carry weight when review standards come under pressure.
Closing Thoughts
Banned Books Week 2026 asks readers to make room for stories they might never choose for themselves. Protecting that space is not about agreeing with every book on the shelf. It is about defending everyone's right to decide for themselves what they read.
