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Overview
In the 2023-2024 school year, PEN America found more than 10,000 book bans affecting more than 4,000 unique titles. [1] This has risen dramatically from the 2022-2023 school year which saw over 3,000 book bans affecting more than 1,500 titles. [2]
Nearly 60% of these banned titles are written for young adult audiences, and depict topics young people confront in the real world, including grief and death, experiences with substance abuse, suicide, depression and mental health concerns, and sexual violence. Disproportionate to publishing rates and like prior school years, books in this prominent subset overwhelmingly include books with people and characters of color (44%) and books with LGBTQ+ people and characters (39%). [2]
Nearly 60% of these banned titles are written for young adult audiences, and depict topics young people confront in the real world, including grief and death, experiences with substance abuse, suicide, depression and mental health concerns, and sexual violence. Disproportionate to publishing rates and like prior school years, books in this prominent subset overwhelmingly include books with people and characters of color (44%) and books with LGBTQ+ people and characters (39%). [2]
Top 10 Banned Books of the 2023-2024 US School Year
5 participants (11 books)
Overview
In the 2023-2024 school year, PEN America found more than 10,000 book bans affecting more than 4,000 unique titles. [1] This has risen dramatically from the 2022-2023 school year which saw over 3,000 book bans affecting more than 1,500 titles. [2]
Nearly 60% of these banned titles are written for young adult audiences, and depict topics young people confront in the real world, including grief and death, experiences with substance abuse, suicide, depression and mental health concerns, and sexual violence. Disproportionate to publishing rates and like prior school years, books in this prominent subset overwhelmingly include books with people and characters of color (44%) and books with LGBTQ+ people and characters (39%). [2]
Nearly 60% of these banned titles are written for young adult audiences, and depict topics young people confront in the real world, including grief and death, experiences with substance abuse, suicide, depression and mental health concerns, and sexual violence. Disproportionate to publishing rates and like prior school years, books in this prominent subset overwhelmingly include books with people and characters of color (44%) and books with LGBTQ+ people and characters (39%). [2]
Challenge Books
10
Tricks
Ellen Hopkins
Tricks by Ellen Hopkins was banned in 66 school districts in 2023-2024 [1] due to sexually explicit content, sexual assault, and LGBTQIA+ characters. [10]
You may notice Tricks is the third Ellen Hopkins title on this list, she was the highest banned author of the 2023-2024 school year with 523 instances of bans and 19 unique titles affected. PEN America noted a "Scarlet Letter" affect on several authors, where a ban on one title is followed by bans to their entire collection of works. [15]
You may notice Tricks is the third Ellen Hopkins title on this list, she was the highest banned author of the 2023-2024 school year with 523 instances of bans and 19 unique titles affected. PEN America noted a "Scarlet Letter" affect on several authors, where a ban on one title is followed by bans to their entire collection of works. [15]
Ellen Hopkins is a New York Times bestselling author [1]