The American Library Association's Banned Books Week is October 5 - 11, 2025. Because that week falls during our Fall Break week, the library will have Instagram posts, a libguide, and this blog post to recognize the week.
Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to read and spotlights current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools. For more than 40 years, the annual event has brought together the entire book community — librarians, teachers, booksellers, publishers, writers, journalists, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular. The books featured during Banned Books Week have all been targeted for removal or for restriction in libraries and schools.
This year's theme is "Censorship is so 1984 -- Read for your Rights" referring to George Orwell's cautionary tale 1984. George Takei of Star Trek fame is the 2025 honorary chair for Banned Books Week. The youth honorary chair is Iris Mogul.
The annual library guide to Banned Books Week can be found at library.chattanoogastate.edu/bannedbooksweek The guide has resource information, graphics, and more details about the week and the honorary chair.
Find the list of the top challenged books for 2024 on the Forbidden: List of Banned Books page of the guide at https://library.chattanoogastate.edu/bannedbooksweek/forbidden
- All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson
Reasons: Banned and challenged for LGBTQIA+ content and because it was considered to be sexually explicit - Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
Reasons: Banned, challenged, and restricted for LGBTQIA+ content, and because it was considered to have sexually explicit images - The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Reasons: Banned and challenged because it depicts child sexual abuse and was considered sexually explicit - The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Steven Chbosky
Reasons: Claimed to be sexually explicit, rape, drugs, profanity - Flamer by Mike Curato
Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit - Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
Reasons: Claimed to be sexually explicit, drugs, rape, LGBTQIA+ content - Looking for Alaska by John Green
Reasons: Claimed to be sexually explicit - Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
Reasons: Banned and challenged because it was considered sexually explicit and degrading to women - Crank by Ellen Hopkins
Reasons: Drugs, claimed to be sexually explicit - Sold by Patricia McCormick
Reasons: claimed to be sexually explicit, rape - Flamer by Mike Curato
Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit
Find more information at the guide at https://library.chattanoogastate.edu/bannedbooksweek
As depicted in the graph, the number of unique titles challenged in 2024 was lower than the highest number that happened in 2023. Various factors contributed to the decline.
