Let Books Be

Censorship By the Numbers

In honor of Banned Books Week, and for the past two decades, the American Library Association (ALA) releases a list of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books of the year. This year, there were eleven.

The American Library Association defines a "ban" as a removal of materials from a library based on the objections of a person or a 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 a group.

Throughout 2025, the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) tracked 7,884 total titles challenges, 4,235 of which were unique titles - the second highest recorded rate documented by the ALA to date. This is a 53% increase over 2024.

In 2025, nearly 92% of these book challenges came from pressure groups, government officials, and the decision makers that influence them, up from 72% from 2024. Less than 3% of challenges were initiated by parents.

The efforts of these well-funded book banning movements saw 5,668 books banned (66% of those challenged), and 920 books censored through restricted access. 39% of those bans represent the lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ people and people of color. The persistence of these groups and the political actors backing them exceeded the annual average number of book challenges of 273 unique titles per year.

This is both the highest number of titles censored in one year and the highest rate of challenges resulting in censorship from 1990–2025.

As challenges continue to emerge, the unwavering dedication of library advocates remains crucial to maintaining. It is vital for library supporters to persist in their efforts to ensure that libraries continue to stand firm against the threat of book banning and other forms of censorship.

Protect your freedom to read by selecting any of the Top 11 Most Challenged Books of 2025 listed below: