Read banned books
federal and state Republicans are trying to limit your right to read what you want to read.
We think that’s a little crazy—not to mention, it’s a key step in the march to an authoritarian regime that wishes to control your access to information, art, and facts.
ON THIS PAGE
- Banned book lists
- Where to find books
- About banning books
Over the upcoming long winter, why not curl up with "dangerous" books?
Here are some great lists for your whole family!
Most Banned Books of the 2023–2024 School Year
- Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult, 98 bans
- Looking for Alaska, by John Green, 97 bans
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky, 85 bans
- Sold, by Patricia McCormick, 85 bans
- Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher, 76 bans
- Crank (Crank Series), by Ellen Hopkins, 76 bans
- Identical, by Ellen Hopkins, 74 bans
- The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, 73 bans
- The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, 67 bans
- Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen, 66 bans
- Tricks, by Ellen Hopkins, 66 bans
—from PEN America
Eight Books Banned in 50 or More School Districts in the 2023-2024 School Year
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas
Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2024
All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson
Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
Looking for Alaska by John Green
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
Crank by Ellen Hopkins
Sold by Patricia McCormick
Flamer by Mike Curato
Top 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books: 2010–2019
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
- Captain Underpants (series) by Dav Pilkey
- Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
- Looking for Alaska by John Green
- George by Alex Gino
- And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
- Drama by Raina Telgemeier
- Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James
- Internet Girls (series) by Lauren Myracle
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
- I Am Jazz by Jazz Jennings and Jessica Herthel
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Bone (series) by Jeff Smith
- The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
- Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan
- A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss
- Sex is a Funny Word by Cory Silverberg
- Alice McKinley (series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
- It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie H. Harris
- Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
- Scary Stories (series) by Alvin Schwartz
- Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
- Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
- The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
- Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
- It’s a Book by Lane Smith
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
- The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
- What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones
- A Child Called “It” by Dave Pelzer
- Bad Kitty (series) by Nick Bruel
- Crank by Ellen Hopkins
- Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
- Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
- The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby by Dav Pilkey
- This Day in June by Gayle E. Pitman
- This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki
- A Bad Boy Can Be Good For A Girl by Tanya Lee Stone
- Beloved by Toni Morrison
- Goosebumps (series) by R.L. Stine
- In Our Mothers’ House by Patricia Polacco
- Lush by Natasha Friend
- The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
- The Holy Bible
- This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson
- Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
- Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
- Gossip Girl (series) by Cecily von Ziegesar
- House of Night (series) by P.C. Cast
- My Mom’s Having A Baby by Dori Hillestad Butler
- Neonomicon by Alan Moore
- The Dirty Cowboy by Amy Timberlake
- The Giver by Lois Lowry
- Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
- Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
- Draw Me a Star by Eric Carle
- Dreaming In Cuban by Cristina Garcia
- Fade by Lisa McMann
- The Family Book by Todd Parr
- Feed by M.T. Anderson
- Go the Fuck to Sleep by Adam Mansbach
- Habibi by Craig Thompson
- House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
- Jacob’s New Dress by Sarah Hoffman
- Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
- Monster by Walter Dean Myers
- Nasreen’s Secret School by Jeanette Winter
- Saga by Brian K. Vaughan
- Stuck in the Middle by Ariel Schrag
- The Kingdom of Little Wounds by Susann Cokal
- 1984 by George Orwell
- A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
- Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher
- Awakening by Kate Chopin
- Burned by Ellen Hopkins
- Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
- Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
- Glass by Ellen Hopkins
- Heather Has Two Mommies by Lesle´a Newman
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
- Madeline and the Gypsies by Ludwig Bemelmans
- My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis
- Prince and Knight by Daniel Haack
- Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology by Amy Sonnie
- Skippyjon Jones (series) by Judith Schachner
- So Far from the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins
- The Color of Earth (series) by Tong-hwa Kim
- The Librarian of Basra by Jeanette Winter
- The Walking Dead (series) by Robert Kirkman
- Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
- Uncle Bobby’s Wedding by Sarah S Brannen
- Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
WHERE to find banned (and other) books
Books unbanned
Inspired by the American Library Association’s Freedom to Read Statement and the Library Bill of Rights, Brooklyn Public Library founded Books Unbanned in 2022 to support the rights of teens nationwide to read what they like, form their own opinions, and work together with peers across the nation to defend and expand the freedom to read.
Books Unbanned responds to an increasingly coordinated and effective effort to remove books tackling a wide range of topics from library shelves in schools and public libraries nationwide. Partnering libraries provide free digital library cards to teens across the country to enhance access to frequently banned materials and support the freedom to read.
- The Brooklyn Public Library issues library cards to people ages 13-21.
- The Boston Public Library, LA County Library, San Diego Public Library, and the Seattle Public Library issue library cards to people ages 13-26.
Visit this website to get a free library e-card:
books online
This site features selected books that have been the objects of censorship or censorship attempts. Here you can read about these books, and about attempts to ban them. You can follow links to sites that discuss these books, to the catalogs of libraries that may lend them to you, and to booksellers that may sell you copies. You can also read some of these books online for free via The Online Books Page.
hoopla
This tool puts your public library at your fingertips. Anytime. Everywhere! Borrow and enjoy audiobooks, eBooks, comics, movies, TV, magazines, or music everywhere you have a screen—your computer, your phone, your car, even your TV. All you need is a library card. hoopla syncs across all your devices, so you can stream titles immediately or whenever you’re in the mood. Most titles can also be downloaded to your phone or tablet. hoopla offers more content, in more places, than any other digital library platform and it’s all FREE thanks to your public library! Titles may vary based on library catalog.
Check out Fairfield County District Library’s digital resources to find Hoopla
libby
With Libby, you can enjoy free ebooks, digital audiobooks, and magazines from your library. All you need is a library card. Find and download the Libby app on Fairfield County District Library’s digital resources
Free books: Google
Get free e-books on Google Books
minecraft (...yes, truly!)
Yes, that Minecraft. An open library, built in an open-world game to overcome censorship!
On March 12, the “World Day Against Cyber Censorship”, The Uncensored Library opened its doors. Providing access to independent information to young people around the world through a medium they can playfully interact with. Journalists from five different countries now have a place to make their voices heard again, despite having been banned, jailed, exiled and even killed.
Their forbidden articles were republished in books within Minecraft, giving readers the chance to inform themselves about the real political situation in their countries and learn the importance of press freedom.
the palace project
Enjoy instant access to ebooks and audiobooks from your library—no matter where you are: https://thepalaceproject.org/
including the Banned Book Club, where you can get a virtual library card: https://thepalaceproject.org/banned-book-club/
many books
This site is a catalogue of thousands of free eBooks. Here, you can access a variety of banned books, including political cornerstones like Candide by Voltaire and The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine. Simply click on the title you’re interested in, and you’ll be asked to sign in, either using your Google account or creating a new account on the site itself. Afterwards, click “Free Download” where you can choose the format you are seeking: a PDF, an eBook (which can also go directly onto your Apple Books library), and more.
project gutenberg
This site is a library of over 75,000 free eBooks. Choose among free epub and Kindle eBooks, download them or read them online. You will find the world’s great literature here, with focus on older works for which U.S. copyright has expired. Thousands of volunteers digitized and diligently proofread the eBooks, for you to enjoy.
25 places for free kindle books
“21 Best Places to Get Free Kindle Books in 2025” (Lifewire)
https://www.lifewire.com/places-to-get-free-kindle-books-1357954
About book banning
- https://pen.org/report/beyond-the-shelves/
- https://pen.org/book-bans/
- https://www.acluohio.org/news/proud-members-banned-books-club/
- https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2024/09/25/banned-books-week-ohio-challenged-jenny-han/75349893007/
- https://booksunbanned.com/documents/Books%20Unbanned%20Teen%20Testimonials.pdf?v4
- https://mashable.com/article/read-banned-books-access?test_uuid=003aGE6xTMbhuvdzpnH5X4Q&test_variant=b