Banned & Challenged Books
Created by Stacy Kitsis. Last updated: January 13, 2023.
This page features resources to help you start thinking about book challenges, book bans, intellectual freedom, and censorship.
Defining Key Terms
A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group.
A banning is the removal of those materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others.
Censorship is a change in the access status of material, based on the content of the work and made by a governing authority or its representatives. Such changes include exclusion, restriction, removal, or age/grade level changes.
Intellectual freedom is the right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause or movement may be explored.
Source: Challenge Support (American Library Association)
Lists of Banned & Challenged Books
While not comprehensive (and new challenges arise all the time), these lists and articles are a great place to start.
Blogs & Articles
Book Ban Efforts Spread Across the U.S. (New York Times, January 2022)
As Book Bans Target LGBTQ+ Writers and Writers of Color, Here’s What Banned Books We’re Reading (March 2022)
50 Banned Books to Read Now (While You Still Can) (Pretty Opinionated, January 2022)
American Library Association
PEN America
Banned in the USA: State Laws Supercharge Book Suppression in Schools
Banned in the USA: The Growing Movement to Censor Books in Schools
Other Resources
Locating Books
In addition to the books we've pulled for your class, here are some other ways you can find books:
In print through our AHS Library online catalog!
As an e-book or digital audiobook on Sora!
In print through the Robbins Library online catalog.
Learn More: Books & E-Books
Check our library catalog for actual challenged and/or banned books, as well as works on the author and other related works.
These are a few great surveys of banned book cases:
Learn More: Online Resources
Of course, you can find information on recent book challenges and bans through searching the open web. Here's one article: Banning Books Like 'Maus' Is Part of Sanitizing History (Teen Vogue, February 2022). These library databases also offer great information:
Opposing Viewpoints in Context (Gale)
Opinion articles on both sides of today's "hottest social issues," don't miss their topic page devoted to Book Banning.
New York Times (Gale)
Full text of the New York Times from 1985 to the present.
Boston Globe (ProQuest)
Full text of The Boston Globe from 1980 to the present.
General OneFile (Gale)
Wide range of general interest magazines and newspapers.
Search Tips
Some tips for searching, whether you’re in Google or a library database.
Use quotation marks to find complete phrases, especially proper names and titles. For example:
“hunger games”
“the poet x”
“and tango makes three”
Combine keywords to get articles that match each of your important concepts. For example:
vonnegut AND banned
"harry potter" AND challenged
By adding the “AND” you are limiting your results to sources that include both of the terms. You can even get fancy with Boolean logic. For example:
flamer AND (banned OR challenged)
Target your Google search to specific domains by doing entering your search term followed by "site:[domain]". For example:
Play around. Both ala.org and ila.org are great for this assignment.
Check your spelling when you are searching. Sometimes a misspelled word prevents you from finding all of the resources you can!
Book Challenges in Arlington Public Schools
These School Committee policies address selection and reconsideration for Arlington Public Schools, in case you were curious!