The Top 11 Books Challenged in 2025 as determined by the American Library Association

ALA documented 713 attempts to censor library materials and services, 487 of which targeted books. 

The Top 11 Most Targeted Titles in 2025 were: 

1. Sold by Patricia McCormick  

2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky  

3. Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe  

4. Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas  

5. (tie) Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo  

5. (tie) Tricks by Ellen Hopkins  

7. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas  

8. (tie) A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess  

8. (tie) Identical by Ellen Hopkins  

8. (tie) Looking for Alaska by John Green  

8. (tie) Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout 

"ALA defines a “ban” as the removal of materials from a library based on the objections of a person or group. A “challenge” is an attempt to have a library resource removed, or access to it restricted, based on the objections of a person or group. In 2025, OIF documented 5,668 books banned from libraries (66% of the total challenged). An additional 920 books were censored through access restrictions such as relocation or requiring parental permission. This is both the highest number of titles censored in one year and the highest rate of challenges resulting in censorship from 1990–2025."  

I used the ALA Banned Books Week website to generate this blog entry. 

For me, I feel like we should be able to decide for ourselves what we read. I can understand guidance from parents for their children, but they shouldn't seek to prevent all people from reading what they don't want to read or have their children read themselves.