If you're interested in reading a book that has been frequently challenged or banned, there's a good chance Iwasaki Library can help you. Below, we've gathered a list of almost 70 banned books that are available from the library, loosely categorized by the reason why they were banned. Even if a book isn't on this page (or on the library's shelves), we can probably get it for you through Interlibrary Loan.
The books below were drawn from the top 100 most commonly banned titles on the PEN America Index of School Book Bans as well as the American Library Association's list of the Top 100 Most Banned and Challenged Books: 2010-2019. As such, the list includes books that have frequently been either banned or challenged without necessarily resulting in a ban. The categories were inspired by PEN America's Banned in the USA report for 2022, which shows that the most common subject matter of banned books by far is LGBTQ+ or BIPOC representation. The reasons officially given for challenges often don't explicitly name this content, focusing instead on the presence of violence, sex, or other material that is claimed to be objectionable for young audiences. In addition, books are often challenged along more than one of these lines (for example, Cemetery Boys is a book with a transgender Latinx protagonist who practices magic). For the categories below, we chose to highlight the marginalized identities being targeted wherever possible, even if the challenges focused on other elements more explicitly.
