The Most Banned and Challenged Books in the US in 2025
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Most Challenged Books in America in 2025
The American Library Association has released its list most challenging books In American libraries in 2025. Here are the top ten (okay, eleven):
1. sold By Patricia McCormick
2. the perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
3. Gender Queer: A Memoir By Maia Kobabe
4. kingdom of storms Sara J. by month
5. (tie) last night at the telegraph club By Malinda Lo
5. (tie) move by Ellen Hopkins
7. court of thorns and roses Sara J. by month
8. (tie) A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
8. (tie) Similar by Ellen Hopkins
8. (tie) looking for alaska by John Green
8. (tie) storm and fury Jennifer L. by Armentrout
My colleague Kelly Jensen has already done this This list has been written about in more depthSo I’m going to put the book in the number one spot. (Warning: I will discuss pedophilia and slavery.)
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sold was published in 2006, and is about a 13-year-old girl who is sold into sexual slavery in India. In 2023, Patricia McCormick wrote an article the new York Times Topic “My book is terrible. My book is a lifeline. My book has been banned.In this he has told how this book is based on his interviews with girls sold into slavery in India and Nepal. sold It included a description of the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl by an older man – which book banners mistakenly claimed was “pornography”.
McCormick shared how students responded to the book during school visits:
In almost all encounters, students come forward to say that they have been or are being sexually abused – and seeing their experience presented in a book ultimately encouraged them to say so. Some people hang around after book signings and whisper to me privately; I encourage them to tell a trusted adult. A girl and I walked together to the guidance counselor’s office.
But a surprising number of readers – boys and girls – open up in class. I am always prepared for nervous or inappropriate reactions from other kids in the class. I wait for someone to laugh, scoff, or gasp. They never do this. They always view such painful revelations with respect and sympathy. Meanwhile, their teacher steps in to provide assistance with a problem they might not otherwise know about.
Far from “protecting children,” book bans prevent children and teens from finding support, understanding, and community. As anyone who reads Book Riot already knows, books save lives — and often, it’s the “inconvenient” books that are needed most.
see practical magic 2 trailer now
Get any large group of book lovers together, and there will be at least one person who is obsessed with it. practical magic—The original book and/or film. When I worked at a bookstore, many of my coworkers gathered together practical magic-Themed party every year. So, it is no surprise that when teaser trailer for practical magic 2 Dropped, there were a lot of puppet weapons in the Book Riot chat. Although revisiting beloved properties may be risky, it looks promising. It is based on spell book By Alice Hoffman; Produced by Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman and Dennis Di Novi; And it stars Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman reprising their roles as the Owens sisters. Mark your calendars to see your wizard and bookish friends gather in theaters in September!
fans of the pitJack Abbott has an audiobook to look forward to
I’m already doing my weekly mourning the pit episode, and my social media feeds are filled with related content from interviews to fan theories and fanvids. So, I can say with confidence that there is definitely an audience for it Audio erotica narrated by Shawn Hatosy It’s coming to the Quin app today. Hatosy plays fan favorite the pit CEO of the character Jack Abbott and Quinn said, “Shawn is one of our most requested narrators ever.” despite this the pit It’s taking place in one of the less sexy settings imaginable, which hasn’t stopped it from generating an extremely thirsty fan base. And Quinn knows exactly what they’re doing by casting Hatosy: Just look at this teaser video On Instagram.
a modern masterpiece
But New episode of Zero to Well-ReadJeff and Rebecca tackle a new classic. Percival Everett won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for his novel jamesA modern work that retells The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn From the perspective of Jim, the enslaved man who accompanies Huck on a trip to the Mississippi River. This week, Jeff and Rebecca discuss what Everett does with Jim’s interiority and intelligence that Twain couldn’t, how the novel’s central conceit embodies W.E.B. Du Bois’s theory of double consciousness, and how Everett succeeded in creating a book that is layered and intellectually rich, turning into a genuine page-turner.
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