Book ban battles pivot as challenges to more titles come from outside groups

Book challenges neared a record high in 2025, showing an increase in pressure from political groups and officials as opposed to parents, as well as new targets in the challenged titles. 

The American Library Association (ALA) found 4,235 unique titles were challenged in 2025, barely missing the 2023 record of 4,240, with the “Top 11 Most Challenged Books” featuring mostly new books that never before appeared on its list.  

The evolving pressures and expanded criticism show a fight that has dramatically shifted over the past few years, though some factors remain consistent, such as the high number of targeted books that feature people of color and/or LGBTQ themes.

In one year, the percentage of book challenges that from outside groups or officials went from 72 percent to 92 percent. Less than 3 percent of the book challenges now come from individual parents.  

“The books that made the list this year [are] kind of further evidence of this expanding national push,” said Sarah Lamdan, executive director of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.

“What’s happening is there are these lists that are being made by book reading websites and by national political operatives, and those are shuffling the types of books and the titles that are being listed,” Lamdan added. “So, you can see that the list is primarily comprised of books that are about LGBTQIA individuals and to pick their stories and books that reflect the stories of people of color in America.” 

The fight over book bans in the U.S. accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, when groups such as Moms for Liberty and others raised alarms over titles they felt were inappropriate for school children. 

In 2025, 40 percent of the unique titles challenged revolved around the experiences of LBGTQ people and people of color.  

The top challenged book in 2025 was “Sold” by Patricia McCormick, which is about a young girl from Nepal who is sold into sexual slavery. It was followed by perennial targets “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” and “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” then fantasy series entry “Empire of Storms.” Tied in fifth place were “Last Night at the Telegraph Club” and “Tricks.”  

The previous year’s report had seen the No. 1 spot taken by “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” with “Gender Queer” at No. 2, and No. 3 being a tie between Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.” 

In 2025, Moms for Liberty celebrated a school district’s decision to permanently ban six books, including “Red, White & Royal Blue” by Casey McQuiston, “The DUFF” by Kody Keplinger and “Felix Ever After” by Kacen Callender.

Other groups battling for books to be removed include Citizens Defending Freedom and Parents’ Rights in Education. Citizens Defending Freedom in 2024 got more than 30 books removed from the Nassau County School District in Florida, including “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.”

The ALA’s data “tells you what happened this year,” said Dan Novack, vice president of associate general counsel at Penguin Random House, adding, “It’s really alarming to see so many titles on that list, of course, but what it doesn’t tell you is … the cumulative effect, because if a book was removed last year, it’s not going to be available to be removed twice.”

“The other piece of it that’s important to recognize is that it doesn’t capture things that are not removals. And so, when a librarian elects not to purchase a copy of John Green’s book in the first instance, you can’t measure it. You can’t see it. It’s invisible,” Novack added. “It’s even more pervasive than the removals.” 

Supporters and opponents of the book removals have seen a mixed bag of victories and losses in courts and statehouses in recent years.

A federal judge in Florida last year ruled part of the state’s book ban law was unconstitutional, saying books can only be removed if subjected to the Miller test, a legal standard for determining if something is obscene.  

The judge also gave a list of books that he said should not have been removed by schools. The state has appealed the decision.  

In Iowa, an appeals court this month sided with the state’s law to enforce a ban on LGBTQ topics and book in schools.  

“This is a huge win for Iowa parents,” Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird (R) said at the time. “Parents should always know that school is a safe place for their children to learn, not be concerned they are being indoctrinated with inappropriate sexual materials and philosophies. I am grateful that our law protecting children was upheld today.”    

“What we’re seeing now is that the state by state tactic is the best way to go and keeping the energy and making people aware that this is an issue that is always, ever present,” said Skip Dye, chair of the Penguin Random House’s Intellectual Freedom Taskforce. 

The book publisher says the red-blue state divide is not a dominating factor in its efforts because it has also seen local efforts in blue states, such as New York, to remove books from shelves.  

“There’s two ways to approach it. There’s going to blue states like New York, where there’s a democratic trifecta, and trying to make the case that, ‘Don’t ignore what’s happening in your backyard’ … Then there’s going into the other states that are maybe leaning the other direction and talking about the dangers of it, and we have had success getting legislatures in Republican controlled places to think better of it,” Novack said.  

Opponents are watching a newly introduced federal bill that would restrict funding for purchasing books related to certain topics, such as LGBTQ themes.  

“I think we’re tracking that one rather closely but certainly see that as yet another escalation in the way in which that bill would effectively prevent schools from buying certain kinds of books and then, also, really chill school districts that may feel that there’s funding could be threatened or withheld for what is being purchased,” said Kasey Meehan, director of the Freedom to Read program at Pen America.  

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