Drug Use

Books Banned for Drug Use

28 books · 214 total challenges

BANNED 15 challenges

Brave New World

by Aldous Huxley

Aldous Huxley's 1932 dystopian masterpiece about a future controlled through pleasure has never gone out of print....

Sexual ContentDrug Use
BANNED 15 challenges

Crank

by Ellen Hopkins

Ellen Hopkins' novel in verse about a teenager's descent into crystal meth addiction became a #1 NYT bestseller....

Drug UseSexual Content
BANNED 15 challenges

Identical

by Ellen Hopkins

Ellen Hopkins' novel about twin sisters and trauma tied for #8 on ALA's 2025 most-challenged books list....

IncestSexual AbuseDrug Use
BANNED 15 challenges

Looking for Alaska

by John Green

John Green's debut YA novel tied for #8 on ALA's 2025 most-challenged books list and remains one of the most frequently ...

Sexual ContentDrug UseProfanity
BANNED 15 challenges

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

by Sherman Alexie

Sherman Alexie's National Book Award winner was #1 ALA 2010-2019 challenge target....

ProfanitySexual ContentDrug Use
BANNED 15 challenges

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

by Stephen Chbosky

Stephen Chbosky's coming-of-age novel placed #2 on ALA's 2025 most-challenged books list and remains a frequent censorsh...

Drug UseSexual ContentMental Health
BANNED 15 challenges

Tricks

by Ellen Hopkins

Ellen Hopkins' novel in verse about teens in the sex trade became the #1 most-banned book of 2022-23....

ProstitutionDrug UseSexual Content
BANNED 14 challenges

Concrete Rose

by Angie Thomas

A prequel to The Hate U Give following Maverick Carter as a 17-year-old in Garden Heights, navigating gang life, fatherh...

Drug UseViolenceSexual Content
BANNED 12 challenges

Firekeeper's Daughter

by Angeline Boulley

An Ojibwe teenager goes undercover to investigate a meth epidemic devastating her tribal community. Challenged for drug ...

Drug UseViolenceSexual Content
BANNED 11 challenges

One of Us Is Lying

by Karen M. McManus

A YA murder mystery about five students who enter detention but only four walk out alive. Challenged for sexual content,...

Sexual ContentDrug UseProfanity
BANNED 10 challenges

Go Ask Alice

by Anonymous

A controversial diary-format novel about a girl's descent into drug abuse, reportedly based on a real diary....

Drug UseProfanitySexual Content
BANNED 10 challenges

It's Kind of a Funny Story

by Ned Vizzini

Ned Vizzini's darkly comic novel about teen depression and hospitalization became a film and beloved YA classic....

Mental HealthSuicide IdeationDrug Use
BANNED 8 challenges

Out of Reach

by Carrie Arcos

Carrie Arcos' novel about a runaway teen....

Drug UseHomelessness
BANNED 7 challenges

White Smoke

by Tiffany D. Jackson

A YA horror novel about a biracial teen who moves into a renovated house in a gentrifying neighborhood and discovers it'...

ViolenceDrug UseProfanity
BANNED 6 challenges

Every Body Looking

by Candice Iloh

A novel-in-verse about a Nigerian American college freshman navigating her mother's addiction, her father's strict expec...

Sexual ContentLGBTQ+ ContentDrug Use
BANNED 5 challenges

Patron Saints of Nothing

by Randy Ribay

A Filipino American teenager travels to the Philippines to investigate his cousin's murder in Duterte's war on drugs. Ch...

Drug UseViolenceProfanity
BANNED 5 challenges

The Initial Insult

by Mindy McGinnis

A Poe-inspired YA thriller where a girl bricks up her former best friend in a basement wall to extract the truth about w...

ViolenceDrug UseProfanity
BANNED 5 challenges

The Midnight Library

by Matt Haig

A novel about Nora Seed, who finds herself in a library between life and death where she can try out alternate versions ...

Suicide/Self-HarmDrug UseProfanity
BANNED 4 challenges

Sick Kids in Love

by Hannah Moskowitz

A YA romance about two chronically ill teenagers who fall in love and refuse to be defined by their conditions. Challeng...

Sexual ContentDrug UseProfanity
BANNED 4 challenges

The Hand on the Wall

by Maureen Johnson

The conclusion of the Truly Devious trilogy, where Stevie Bell solves both a modern murder and a 1930s kidnapping at an ...

ViolenceLGBTQ+ ContentDrug Use
BANNED 1 challenges

Beneath a Meth Moon: An Elegy

by Jacqueline Woodson

'Beneath a Meth Moon: An Elegy...

Race and RacismDrug Use
BANNED 1 challenges

Love Drugged

by James Klise

'Love Drugged...

Sexual ContentDrug Use
BANNED 1 challenges

Mindy Kim and the Yummy Seaweed Business (Mindy Kim Series)

by Lyla Lee

'Mindy Kim and the Yummy Seaweed Business (Mindy Kim Series)...

Drug Use
BANNED 1 challenges

Say Something

by Peter H. Reynolds

'Say Something...

Drug Use
BANNED 1 challenges

Something Happened in Our Town

by Marianne Celano

'Something Happened in Our Town...

Drug Use
BANNED 1 challenges

Something Like Gravity

by Amber Smith

'Something Like Gravity...

Drug Use
BANNED 1 challenges

Something Must Be Wrong with Me: A Boy's Book about Sexual Abuse

by Doris Sanford

'Something Must Be Wrong with Me: A Boy's Book about Sexual Abuse...

Sexual ContentViolenceDrug Use
BANNED 1 challenges

Stella Díaz Has Something to Say (Stella Díaz Series)

by Angela Dominguez

'Stella Díaz Has Something to Say (Stella Díaz Series)...

Drug Use