Books Banned for Profanity
91 books · 1535 total challenges
To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about racial injustice in the American South, challenged for its use of racial...
The Catcher in the Rye
J.D. Salinger's classic novel about teenage alienation, the most censored book in American high schools from 1961 to 198...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain's 1884 novel about a boy and an escaped slave on the Mississippi River, one of the most banned books in Ameri...
The Chocolate War
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier is a YA novel about a student who refuses to participate in his school's chocolate f...
Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck's Depression-era novella about two migrant workers, challenged for profanity, racial slurs, and its portr...
Fallen Angels
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers follows young soldiers in the Vietnam War. One of the most frequently banned books in...
Black Boy
Black Boy by Richard Wright is an autobiography of growing up Black in the Jim Crow South. Banned for decades for 'obsce...
Maus I: A Survivor's Tale
Art Spiegelman's Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust, depicting Jews as mice and Nazis as cats, ban...
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou's memoir of growing up Black in the Jim Crow South, challenged for its depiction of childhood sexual assaul...
Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies by William Golding follows boys stranded on an island who descend into savagery. Banned for violence, ...
The Glass Castle
Jeannette Walls' memoir of growing up with dysfunctional, nomadic parents, challenged for depictions of alcoholism, sexu...
All American Boys
All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely tackles police brutality and racism through two teens' perspective...
The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck follows the Joad family's migration from Oklahoma to California during the Dust Bo...
The Nowhere Girls
The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed follows three misfit teenagers who take on their school's rape culture. Banned in multiple...
Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury's dystopian novel about a future where books are burned by the government — itself repeatedly banned and ce...
Shine
Shine by Lauren Myracle follows a teen girl investigating a hate crime against her gay best friend in a small Southern t...
Blubber
Blubber by Judy Blume depicts schoolyard bullying without a neat moral resolution. Banned for profanity, bullying depict...
Oryx and Crake
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood is a speculative fiction novel about genetic engineering, corporate power, and humanit...
Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell is a sweeping Civil War-era novel challenged for racial slurs, romanticized slav...
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon follows a neurodiverse teen solving a neighborhood myst...
Catch-22
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller is a satirical war novel about the absurdity of military bureaucracy. Banned for sexual conten...
Monster
Monster by Walter Dean Myers follows a 16-year-old Black teenager on trial for felony murder, told through his screenpla...
People Kill People
People Kill People by Ellen Hopkins examines gun violence through six interconnected perspectives. Banned across multipl...
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a classic American novel about wealth, obsession, and the American Dream. Cha...
American Psycho
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis is a satirical novel about a Wall Street serial killer. Banned in Australia, restri...
James and the Giant Peach
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl is a children's fantasy about a boy who escapes his cruel aunts inside a magical...
Nickel and Dimed
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich is an undercover investigation of low-wage work in America. Challenged for promot...
Shout
Laurie Halse Anderson's memoir in verse about surviving sexual assault became another of her books targeted by censors, ...
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston follows Janie Crawford's search for love and independence in the earl...
A Farewell to Arms
Ernest Hemingway's WWI novel remains challenged despite being a literary classic....
Captain Underpants and the Epic Adventure
Dav Pilkey's #2 ALA 2010-2019 series has ~10 bans for toilet humor....
Fight Club
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk is a novel about masculinity, consumerism, and underground violence. Banned from the Texas...
Looking for Alaska
John Green's debut YA novel tied for #8 on ALA's 2025 most-challenged books list and remains one of the most frequently ...
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Jesse Andrews' novel about friendship and cancer ranks #6 ALA 2024 and #11 ALA 2023....
Nineteen Minutes
Jodi Picoult's novel about the aftermath of a school shooting explores multiple perspectives. Was the #1 most-banned boo...
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
A novel about an aging Hollywood icon who finally tells the truth about her glamorous, scandal-filled life and the great...
Slaughterhouse-Five
Kurt Vonnegut's semi-autobiographical anti-war novel about the firebombing of Dresden ranks among the greatest American ...
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Sherman Alexie's National Book Award winner was #1 ALA 2010-2019 challenge target....
The Hate U Give
Angie Thomas' YA novel about witnessing police brutality became a major film and cultural touchstone....
Concrete Rose
A prequel to The Hate U Give following Maverick Carter as a 17-year-old in Garden Heights, navigating gang life, fatherh...
It
It...
Long Way Down
A novel-in-verse about a fifteen-year-old boy who gets in an elevator with a gun, intending to avenge his brother's murd...
One of Us Is Lying
A YA murder mystery about five students who enter detention but only four walk out alive. Challenged for sexual content,...
A Child Called It
Dave Pelzer's memoir about surviving severe child abuse became a #1 NYT bestseller despite ongoing challenges....
Carrie
Carrie...
Go Ask Alice
A controversial diary-format novel about a girl's descent into drug abuse, reportedly based on a real diary....
Just Listen
Sarah Dessen's novel about a girl recovering from assault became a trusted resource for trauma survivors....
The Vanishing Half
A multigenerational saga about identical twin sisters from a small Southern Black community, one of whom secretly passes...
The Shining
The Shining...
Blackout
A YA anthology of six interconnected love stories set during a New York City blackout, all featuring Black teen characte...
The Cruel Prince
A YA fantasy about Jude Duarte, a mortal girl raised in the treacherous High Court of Faerie, who schemes to win a place...
The Stand
The Stand...
The Sun Is Also a Star
A love story between Natasha, a Jamaican American girl facing deportation, and Daniel, a Korean American boy, over the c...
The Things They Carried
Tim O'Brien's masterpiece blending fiction and truth about the Vietnam War....
Christine
Christine...
Pet Sematary
Pet Sematary...
Punching the Air
A novel-in-verse about Amal Shahid, a Black Muslim teenager wrongfully convicted of a crime and sent to a juvenile deten...
The Weight of Blood
A reimagining of Stephen King's Carrie set in a small Georgia town, exploring race, identity, and violence when the scho...
White Smoke
A YA horror novel about a biracial teen who moves into a renovated house in a gentrifying neighborhood and discovers it'...
Dread Nation
An alternate history where the dead rose at the Battle of Gettysburg, and Black and Indigenous children are conscripted ...
Instructions for Dancing
A YA novel about a girl who gains the ability to see how couples' love stories end just by touching a book, and must dec...
Misery
Misery...
Cujo
Cujo...
Eliza and Her Monsters
A YA novel about a socially anxious teen who is secretly the creator of a wildly popular webcomic, and what happens when...
Firestarter
Firestarter...
Patron Saints of Nothing
A Filipino American teenager travels to the Philippines to investigate his cousin's murder in Duterte's war on drugs. Ch...
Razorblade Tears
A crime thriller about two ex-convict fathers, one Black and one white, who team up to avenge the murders of their gay s...
Small Great Things
Small Great Things...
The Dead Zone
The Dead Zone...
The Initial Insult
A Poe-inspired YA thriller where a girl bricks up her former best friend in a basement wall to extract the truth about w...
The Midnight Library
A novel about Nora Seed, who finds herself in a library between life and death where she can try out alternate versions ...
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft...
Riot Baby
A speculative novella about a Black woman with telekinetic powers and her incarcerated brother, spanning from the 1992 L...
Sick Kids in Love
A YA romance about two chronically ill teenagers who fall in love and refuse to be defined by their conditions. Challeng...
The Green Mile
The Green Mile...
The Inheritance Games
A YA thriller about a teenager who inherits a billionaire's fortune and must solve puzzles to figure out why, while his ...
The Love Hypothesis
A STEM romance about a biology PhD candidate who fake-dates a grumpy professor. Challenged for sexual content and profan...
The Princess Diaries
The Princess Diaries...
The Project
A YA thriller about a girl whose sister has been absorbed by a charismatic cult leader, and her desperate investigation ...
Thinner
Thinner...
Vanishing Acts
Vanishing Acts...
We Are Not Free
A novel told through the voices of fourteen Japanese American teenagers forcibly relocated to internment camps during Wo...
A Pho Love Story
A Vietnamese American YA romance about two teens from rival pho restaurants who fall in love. Challenged for sexual cont...
All-American Girl
All-American Girl...
Away Laughing on a Fast Camel
Away Laughing on a Fast Camel...
Dreamcatcher
Dreamcatcher...
Handle with Care
Handle with Care...
Skinny Dipping
A YA romcom about a girl who works at her family's nudist resort and falls for a new employee while keeping her home lif...
Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers
Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers...
This Darkness Mine
This Darkness Mine...
You Had Me at Hola
A Latinx romance about two telenovela actors who fake a relationship for the press and develop real feelings. Challenged...