In 1949, George Orwell published a little book called “1984,” a dystopian novel about a totalitarian state under the constant watch of Big Brother. It proceeded to become the most banned book of all time. Why? The most commonly challenged reasons include inappropriate sexual content and controversial social and political themes. This year, Banned Books Week takes place Oct. 5 – 11, and features the theme, “Censorship is so 1984. Read for Your Rights,” to remind us that censorship still persists today.
The American Library Association reported challenges to 2,452 unique titles in 2024. It’s interesting that 72% of the demands to censor books came from pressure groups and government entities that included elected officials, board members, and administrators.
Some of our most beloved books have also been the most controversial. I think this is because books that challenge us and allow us to explore the complexity of the world and beliefs in a way that might be different than what we know are the very books that allow us to gain a deeper understanding of the world and our place in it.
American pluralism, or social tolerance for individuals or groups who have different backgrounds, views, or beliefs, is essential to the functioning of a nation with more than 340 million people. If we refuse to share public space comprised of different voices and experiences, how do young people (or adults) learn to function in our diverse public square?
Helena Haywood Henry, author of “Last Chance Live!” (10/7), is a former attorney and wrote in Substack: “In the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1982 case Island Trees School District v. Pico, the Court noted that, though school boards can legitimately exercise discretion over what texts are available to students, this discretion is not unbridled — and students have a First Amendment right to hear speech, to receive information. The adults who promulgate book bans focus on the moral injury caused by objectionable books’ ideas. But book bans present their own moral injury: Failure to prepare young readers to participate in and perpetuate the American democratic experiment.”
Samira Ahmed spoke on banned books at the American Bookseller Association’s Children’s Institute this summer. She reminded us that “curiosity is one of the greatest things about being human,” and that deeply uncurious people in leadership roles will almost always attack art and books first. In an interview with the Chicago Review of Books, Ahmed, the author of young adult and middle grade books, including her newest book, “The Singular Life of Aria Patel,” and national leader of the Authors Against Book Bans organization, states, “[Book bans] are erasing entire identities from our bookshelves and erasing the idea that there is room on our shelves for every single story. When you see statistically that most book bans are being levied against authors of color, BIPOC authors, queer and trans authors, you know these bans stem from a place of hate. They stem from a place of trying to “other” large swaths of our population.”
I lead the Classics Book Club at Roundabout Books and we often read books that were challenged in their publication decades ago but today offer insight into the political and social change that has taken place over the centuries. For example, “Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” was first published in Italy in 1928 by D.H. Lawrence, but was banned in several countries around the world, including the U.S. The British public was also prevented from reading the book by the Obscene Publications Act, until the publishing house printed the original work in 1960 and it was brought to trial. The trial became a symbol of the gap between the established “guardians of morality” and the public take of more liberal views. It makes me wonder if the books that are getting banned now are the very ones that our descendants will be reading for insight into our changing time and social structure, and I ask, what will they know then that we don’t know now?
Below is a list of the top ten most challenged books of 2024. Challenge yourself to read one.
“All Boys Aren’t Blue” by Geroge M Johnson, challenged for LGBTQIA+ content, sexually explicit.
“Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe, challenged for LGBTQIA+ content, sexually explicit.
“The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, challenged for depiction of sexual assault, incest, EDI content, sexually explicit.
“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky, challenged for LGBTQIA+ content, sexually explicit, drug use, profanity.
“Tricks” and “Crank” by Ellen Hopkins, challenged for being sexually explicit, drug use.
“Looking for Alaska” by John Green, challenged for being sexually explicit.
“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” by Jesse Andrews, challenged for being sexually explicit, profanity.
“Sold” by Patricia McCormick, challenged for depiction of sexual assault, sexually explicit.
“Flamer” by Mike Curato, challenged for LGBTQIA+ content, sexually explicit.
This article appears in the Source October 2, 2025.
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