ALA Releases Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2024
George M. Johnson’s 'All Boys Aren’t Blue' and Maia Kobabe’s 'Gender Queer' took the top two spots on a list once again dominated by stories by and about LGBTQ+ persons and people of color.
The American Library Association kicked off National Library Week 2025 with the release of its annual top 10 list of most challenged books. Once again, George M. Johnson’s All Boys Aren’t Blue and Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer took the top two spots on a list once again dominated by stories by and about LGBTQ+ persons and people of color.
The Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2024
1. All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson (#2 in 2023).
2. Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe (# 1 in 2023).
3. (TIE) The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (#6 in 2023).
3. (TIE) The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (#4 in 2023).
5. Tricks by Ellen Hopkins (tied for #7 in 2023).
6. Looking for Alaska by John Green (not on the list in 2023).
6. (TIE) Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews (tied for #7 in 2023).
8. (TIE) Crank by Ellen Hopkins (not on the list in 2023).
8. (TIE) Sold by Patricia McCormick (#10 on the 2023 list)
10. Flamer by Mike Curato (#5 on the 2023 list).
The list was released as part of the ALA’s annual State of America's Libraries report, which also reported that the number of censorship attempts tracked by the American Library Association actually declined in 2024. But Deborah Caldwell Stone, director of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, cautioned that book banning attempts remain near record highs—and warned that that the 2024 numbers don’t tell the whole story.
“By any measure, 2024 represented a difficult time for libraries, library workers, and all those who champion the freedom to read,” wrote Deborah Caldwell Stone, director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “The number of demands to censor and restrict library resources remained at record levels, with 821 attempts to censor library books and materials across all library types reported to ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom in 2024. While this is a decrease from 2023, when 1,247 attempts to censor library materials were reported to ALA, it is still the third-highest number of book challenges recorded by ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom since it began documenting library censorship in 1990.”
Now nearly five years into an organized right-wing effort to ban books in schools and libraries across the country, ALA reported 2,452 unique titles challenged in 2024, down from the more than 4,200 unique titles challenge in 2023. Notably, prior to 2021, the average number of titles challenged was less than 250.
ALA reps cited a few factors also believed to be contributing to the decrease in documented censorship in 2024 compared to 2023, including: underreporting by library workers facing “threats to their professional livelihood and personal safety;” so-called “censorship by exclusion,” in which librarians are “prohibited from purchasing books, or required to place books in restricted or less accessible areas of the library” due to fear of controversy; and legislative restrictions passed in several states requiring schools to restrict materials deemed to include allegedly inappropriate content.
