ALA Reports 4,235 Unique Book Challenges in 2025, Second-Highest Year on Record

The American Library Association has released its annual list of the most commonly challenged books at libraries across the United States. According to the ALA, the 11 most frequently targeted books include several tied titles. They are: 1. Sold by Patricia McCormick 2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky 3. Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe 4. Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas 5. (tie) Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo 5. (tie) Tricks by Ellen Hopkins 7. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas 8. (tie) A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess 8. (tie) Identical by Ellen Hopkins 8. (tie) Looking for Alaska by John Green 8. (tie) Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout Many of these individual titles also appear on a 2024-25 report issued last October by PEN America, a separate group dedicated to free expression, which looked at book challenges and bans specifically within public schools. The ALA says that it documented 4,235 unique titles being challenged in 2025 – the second-highest year on record for library challenges. (The highest ever was in 2023, with 4,240 challenges documented – only five more than in this most recent year.) According to the ALA, 40% of the materials challenged in 2025 were representations of LGBTQ+ people and those of people of color. In all, the ALA documented 713 attempts across the United States in 2025 to censor library materials and services; 487 of those challenges targeted books. According to the ALA, 92% of all book challenges to libraries came from "pressure groups," government officials and local decision makers. While 20.8% came from pressure groups such as Moms for Liberty (as the ALA cited in an email to NPR), 70.9% of challenges originated with government officials and other "decision makers," such as local board officials or administrators. In a more detailed breakdown, the ALA notes that 31% of challenges came from elected government officials and and 40% from board members or administrators. In its full report, the ALA states that only 2.7% of such challenges originated with parents, and 1.4% with individual library users. Fifty-one percent of challenges were attempted at public libraries, and 37% involved school libraries. The remaining challenges of 2025 targeted school curriculums and higher education. The ALA defines a book "ban" as the removal of materials, including books, from a library. A "challenge," in this organization's definition, is an attempt to have a library resource removed, or access to it restricted. The ALA is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to American libraries and librarians.