ALA’s Report on Challenges to Books for Removal from Public and School Library Staircases: A View of What Happens If We Can’t Lose a Book
The number of reported challenges to books doubled in 2022 — and the number of challenges to unique titles was up nearly 40 percent over 2021 — according to data released by the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom Monday.
Each year the ALA releases data on books it says have been most often challenged for removal from public and school library shelves. Though the group says it’s not possible to track every challenge, and that many go unreported, the data come through a variety of sources, including news stories and voluntary reports sent to the Office of Intellectual Freedom.
Lessa Kananiʻopua Pelayo-Lozada, president of the American Library Association, says it used to be that titles were challenged when a parent or other community member saw a book in the library they didn’t like. But times have changed: “Now we’re seeing organized attempts by groups to censor multiple titles throughout the country without actually having read many of these books.”
Pelayo-Lozada says that despite the high challenge numbers, a library association poll shows a large majority of Americans don’t believe in banning books.
Maia Kobabe’s book, Gender Queer, tops the ALA’s list every year. The graphic memoir follows Kobabe’s path to gender-identity as nonbinary and queer. Most of the books have been challenged with claims of being Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual.
There are a handful of titles on the list this year that are new from 2021, including Flamer by Mike Curato, Looking for Alaska by John Green, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Choosky, A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas, and Crank by Ellen Hopkins.
Why Biden’s ‘Maga extremists’ have been banned in the last few days? Why books can’t be banned
President Joe Biden named checked “MAGA extremists” and attempts to ban books in his video on Tuesday announcing he was officially running for office again. Here’s why it’s the topic that just won’t stop.
What is it? It’s a growing trend of politicians and parents trying to restrict access to information in public schools and public libraries.
There has been a campaign for books to be banned over the years: Lessa Kananiopua said she is president of the American Library Association.