Librarians List Top “Banned” Books

According to ALA, demands to remove books largely focused on areas that became hot politically over the last year.

The ALA’s Most Challenged Books list, released annually in conjunction with National Library Week, tracks attempts to ban or restrict access to books in libraries across the United States.

“In 2020, the American Library Association reports that more than 273 books were challenged or banned,” explains Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer. “That number is actually down quite a bit from 2019—but for an obvious reason: many libraries and schools were closed or moved online for much of the year because of the pandemic.”

According to ALA, demands to remove books largely focused on areas that became hot politically over the last year. Titles addressing racism and racial justice and those that shared the stories of people of color particularly grew in number, Albanese tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally. Books addressing themes and issues of concern for LGBTQIA+ people also continued to dominate the list.

“This list should be a reminder of what cancel culture really looks like—it’s school boards and parents and parent groups demanding that libraries pull books off the shelf because those books offend them,” Albanese says. “And it happens every day in our communities.”

Every Friday, CCC’s “Velocity of Content” speaks with the editors and reporters of “Publishers Weekly” for an early look at the news that publishers, editors, authors, agents and librarians will be talking about when they return to work on Monday.