Books Banned for Religious Objections
18 books · 672 total challenges
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz was the most challenged book in America from 1990 to 1999, targeted ...
It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health
It's Perfectly Normal by Robie H. Harris is a comprehensive sex education book for young people. It has been one of the ...
Black Boy
Black Boy by Richard Wright is an autobiography of growing up Black in the Jim Crow South. Banned for decades for 'obsce...
The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials)
Philip Pullman's fantasy novel about a girl in a parallel universe, challenged for anti-religious themes and criticized ...
Where the Wild Things Are
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak has been challenged and banned since 1963 for being too dark and frightening...
A Wrinkle in Time
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle is a beloved science fantasy novel challenged for decades by both religious conse...
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 Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck follows the Joad family's migration from Oklahoma to California during the Dust Bo...
Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury's dystopian novel about a future where books are burned by the government — itself repeatedly banned and ce...
Animal Farm
Animal Farm by George Orwell is an allegorical novella about a farm revolution that descends into tyranny. Banned for po...
The Diary of a Young Girl
Anne Frank's diary of hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam, challenged for passages about her body, sexuality, and romanti...
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...
Burned
Burned tells the story of Pattyn Von Stratten, a seventeen-year-old girl raised in a strict Mormon household who begins ...
Storm and Fury
Jennifer L. Armentrout's fantasy novel tied for #8 on ALA's 2025 most-challenged books list, reflecting how aggressively...
Nickel and Dimed
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich is an undercover investigation of low-wage work in America. Challenged for promot...
The Poet X
The Poet X follows Xiomara Batista, a Dominican American teenager in Harlem who pours her frustrations with her strict r...
Vampire Academy
Vampire Academy follows Rose Hathaway, a half-vampire guardian-in-training, and her best friend Lissa, a Moroi vampire p...
Charlotte's Web
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White is a classic children's novel about a pig and a spider. Challenged because talking animals...