Banned Books: Freedom to Read

This page lists the 10 most challenged books of 2024 and what each book was challenged for. Since 2021, ALA has tracked a sharp spike in censorship attempts in libraries. In 2024, ALA recorded the third highest number of book challenges since tracking began in 1990: ALA documented 821 attempts to censor library books and other materials in 2024 across all library types, a decrease from 2023, when a record high 1,247 attempts were reported. ALA recorded attempts to remove 2,452 unique titles in 2024, which significantly exceeds the average of 273 unique titles that were challenged annually during 2001–2020. The most common justifications for censorship provided by complainants were false claims of illegal obscenity for minors; inclusion of LGBTQIA+ characters or themes; and covering topics of race, racism, equity, and social justice.

In the 2024-2025 school year, PEN America recorded 6,870 instances of book bans affecting nearly 4,000 unique titles. For the third straight year, Florida was the No. 1 state for book bans, with 2,304 instances of bans, followed by Texas with 1,781 bans and Tennessee with 1,622. The 15 most banned books in the 2024-2025 school year, according to the PEN America Index of School Book Bans, include the Anthony Burgess classic A Clockwork Orange, two books in the Sarah J. Maas Court of Thorns and Roses series, and bestselling novelist Jodi Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes, about the unfolding of a school shooting.

List of the most banned and challenged books from 2010-2019 compiled by the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.