16 Challenged and Banned Books

The authentic journal of Anne Frank, a Jewish teenager who documented her family’s life while hiding from the Nazis during World War II– widely accepted as “the single most compelling personal account of the Holocaust” (The New York Times Book Review). The riveting story has been challenged for some of the candid, adolescent passages in unedited editions where Anne discusses her developing body, sexual curiosity, and female anatomy. Defenders maintain that these entries are essential to portraying her full, human story against the backdrop of the Holocaust.

Juno Dawson's This Book Is Gay was also a commonly banned book in 2023. A nonfiction book about sex and sexuality for young adults, this guide specifically covers questions about the LGBTQ experience, something which is often glossed over—if mentioned at all—in sexual education classes.

Thankfully, Dawson has written a “witty, no-holds-barred look at the LGBTQ experience . . . An insightful option for those with questions about what it's like to be LGBTQ” (School Library Journal).

A follow-up to This Book Is Gay, What's the T? is a guide to everything trans and nonbinary. How schools should handle discussions on being trans and nonbinary—and how they should treat trans and nonbinary students—is a highly controversial topic at the moment. And unfortunately, misinformation is everywhere, especially about what these identities mean and when and how people transition, if they choose to at all.

Lucky for kids today, Dawson is setting the record straight. "In the irreverent voice of an occasionally profane favorite aunt, Dawson, a transgender woman, talks about her coming out process before presenting a comprehensive introduction to all things transgender... [a] humorous, eye-opening presentation" (The Horn Book Guide).

Another nonfiction guide, The Naked Roommate is a frank discussion of college life, including dorm living, making friends, dating, and dealing with Greek life and the party scene. Though some parents balk at handing their kids a guide that includes sections on sex and drugs, this book is already on its seventh edition. And according to Shelf Awareness for Readers, it's "the perfect gift for high school grads moving on to college."

Another commonly misunderstood concept is “white privilege.” To educate people on this topic—and more generally on racism, internal biases, and allyship—Layla Saad has penned this indispensable guide. As she writes on the book's cover, “This is a simple and straightforward book, but it is not an easy one. Welcome to the work.”

A powerful American classic that chronicles a 14-year-old boy's spiritual, sexual, and moral struggle for identity as the stepson of a minister in a 1935 Harlem Pentecostal church. Deemed “brutal, objective and compassionate” by the San Francisco Chronicle, the book has been celebrated for its lyrical precision. Still, it’s also been repeatedly banned for its candid examination of race, sexuality, and its criticism of religious institutions.  

The tragic story of Pecola Breedlove, a poor, young African-American girl growing up in 1940s Ohio, who internalizes society’s racist beauty standards and believes she is ugly, desperately longing for blue eyes to make her beautiful and loved. Morrison candidly explores the destructive impact of racism and white beauty standards on Black girls.

The novel is “so charged with pain and wonder that [it] becomes poetry” (The New York Times), yet has been banned in schools and libraries due to its depiction of child sexual abuse, incest, and explicit language.

This Ellen Hopkins book—and many more, including the one below—have been challenged in multiple school districts in 2024, such as this one in South Carolina.

This YA novel follows five high school students, the pressure on each of them to be perfect in different ways, and the toll it takes on their mental health. Cara and her twin brother Connor cannot live up to what their parents expect of them, and Connor is having suicidal thoughts. Kendra believes her face and body need to look like the ones she sees on models, and will absolutely anything to achieve those standards. Sean will sacrifice anything to get a perfect home run—and Andre will have to disappoint his ancestors if he's to have the perfect performance he's dreamed of.

The last book in Hopkins' Crank trilogy, Fallout follows Hunter, Autumn and Summer—three out of five children born to Kristina Snow, a woman addicted to meth. Each one is being raised in a different home with different guardians and different last names. Each one is struggling in unstable homes with their own predisposition to addiction, and breaking the cycle may not be possible for all of them.

The first book in Maas' romantasy series is commonly seen on banned and challenged lists, thanks to its spicy content. The story follows huntress Feyre, who runs afoul of Tamlin, an immortal faerie. Though he is her captor, passion grows between them. But they cannot have a happily ever after while an ancient, wicked shadow is growing in the faerie lands.

This National Book Award finalist was removed from multiple school districts in Utah in 2024. The story of a girl raised by a dysfunctional mother who taught her there is no such thing as unconditional love, What Girls Are Made Of  "fearlessly examines the courage and struggle of being a teenage girl in the modern world. With a deft hand, Elana K. Arnold opens up a conversation about how girls survive as a whole when they are too often acknowledged only for their parts."―Christa Desir, author of Other Broken Things

This dystopian novel from Margaret Atwood follows Snowman, who may be the last human alive. He mourns for both his best friend Crake, and Oryx, the woman they both loved. As he tries to find answers, he learns more about what the world has become in this novel that is “full of eyeball-smacking images and riveting social and scientific commentary” (The Buffalo News).

Judy Blume's groundbreaking novel about first relationships and first love has been on banned book lists for decades. First published in 1975, the story contains explicit descriptions of teenage sexual experiences. But it's also a story of the complications of love, the overwhelming feelings that come with early relationships, and the confusion and pain that comes with realizing your first love won't necessarily last forever.

After moving to a new school, seventh grader Cassie finds her good looks make it easy for her to join the popular clique at school. But doing so exposes her to a world of drugs and sex that she isn't ready for. Yet Cassie is willing to deal with almost anything if her new friends will continue to tell her she's beautiful.

One of TIME Magazine's All-Time 100 Novels, Lolita masterfully presents the memoir of Humbert Humbert, an aging European professor detailing his sexual obsession, abuse, and domination of his 12-year-old stepdaughter. Despite receiving praise for its meticulous merging of humor and horror, the book has also been banned in the U.S. (and internationally) because of its vulgar depiction of pedophilia and sexual depravity.

A series of short chapters telling the story of Esperanza Cordero, a young Latina girl coming of age in a poor Hispanic neighborhood in Chicago who dreams of a better life– “[Cisneros] communicates all the rapture and rage of growing up in a modern world” (San Francisco Chronicle). It’s been frequently challenged and banned in schools with complaints citing the book’s mature content and direct exploration of racial and class issues.