{"id":2313,"date":"2026-10-05T21:59:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T21:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/?p=2313"},"modified":"2026-10-05T21:59:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T21:59:17","slug":"banned-books-week-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2026\/10\/05\/banned-books-week-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Banned Books Week 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Every year, the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) compiles a list of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books in order to inform the public about censorship in libraries and schools. The lists are based on information from confidential reports filed by library professionals and community members, as well as news stories published throughout the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because many book challenges are not reported to the ALA or covered by the press, the data compiled by ALA represents only a snapshot of censorship attempts in libraries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2025 data reported to ALA\u2019s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) shows that the majority of book censorship attempts continue to originate from organized movements.<\/strong> In 2025, 92% of all book challenges were initiated by pressure groups, government officials, and decision makers,<\/strong> up from 72% in 2024. Less than 3% of challenges originated from individual parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most common justifications for censorship provided by complainants were false claims of illegal obscenity for minors; inclusion of LGBTQIA+ characters or themes; and covering topics of race, racism, equity, and social justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2021, ALA has tracked a sharp spike in censorship attempts in libraries. OIF tracked 4,235 unique titles challenged in 2025, the second highest ever documented by ALA.<\/strong> The highest ever documented was 4,240 in 2023. Of the unique titles challenged in 2025, 1,671 (40%) represent the lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ people and people of color. <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

OIF documented 5,668 books banned from libraries (66% of the total challenged)<\/strong> in 2025. An additional 920 books were censored<\/strong> through access restrictions such as relocation or requiring parental permission. This is both the highest number of titles censored in one year and the highest rate of challenges resulting in censorship from 1990\u20132025. (text from the ALA website<\/a>)  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The American Library Association\u2019s website is a fantastic resource on this subject matter. There you will find:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A place to report attempts of censorship.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A portal that allows you to search the Office for Intellectual Freedom\u2019s database for titles and authors to learn if there have been efforts to censor them in libraries.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Book R\u00e9sum\u00e9s that provide you with vital information regarding books that are frequently targeted for censorship so that you can defend them.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As always, here are the top challenged books of 2025:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Sold<\/strong> by Patricia McCormick<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower<\/strong> by Stephen Chbosky<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Gender Queer<\/strong> by Maia Kobabe<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Empire of Storms<\/strong> by Sarah J. Maas<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. (TIE) Last Night at the Telegraph Club<\/strong> by Malinda Lo<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. (TIE) Tricks<\/strong> by Ellen Hopkins<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. A Court of Thorns and Roses<\/strong> by Sarah J. Maas<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. (TIE) A Clockwork Orange<\/strong> by Anthony Burgess<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. (TIE) Identical<\/strong> by Ellen Hopkins<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. (TIE) Looking for Alaska<\/strong> by John Green<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. (TIE) Storm and Fury<\/strong> by Jennifer L. Armentrout<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And also, as always, you can shop this list on my Bookshop!<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(This is an affiliate link to my Bookshop, which supports independent bookstores throughout the United States. If you use this link to purchase the book, I will make a small commission at no additional cost to you.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you enjoy The Magical Buffet? Considering supporting The Magical Buffet on Patreon! For only $5 a month you\u2019ll receive monthly tarot\/oracle forecasts, classes, and behind the scenes updates! https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/magicalbuffet<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2025 saw the highest rates of challenges to books since tracking began in 1990!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":""},"categories":[20,26],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2313"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2313"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2328,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2313\/revisions\/2328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}