According to the American Library Association (ALA), book bans and attempted bans remained at record highs last year. Releasing its annual report on Monday, April 20, the association revealed that several LGBTQ+ titles feature in the top 11 list of most challenged books of 2025.

The ALA defines challenges to books as attempts “to have a library resource removed, or access to it restricted, based on the objections of a person or group.” Each year, the association compiles its reports based on media accounts and submissions from libraries, noting that the actual numbers of challenges are likely to be much higher, as many incidents are never reported.

According to the recently released list, the most challenged book in 2025 was Sold, by Patricia McCormick, a novel about sex trafficking in India. Immediately following McCormick’s book in the list are two books that include LGBTQ+ themes, namely Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Maia Kobabe’s graphic memoir Gender Queer.

While the ALA list usually features only 10 titles, this year four books tied for eighth place, bringing the number up to 11. Challenges were made against books for including sexual violence, use of alcohol and cigarettes, and for representing the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals or people of colour.

Overall, ALA recorded challenges to a total of 4,235 works, a number only topped in 2023, when ban attempts were made against 4,240 books, surging to a record high since the association began keeping track over 30 years ago. Of those 4,235 books, 40% were about or by LGBTQ+ people or people of colour.

Releasing the new data, the ALA noted that “the majority of book censorship attempts continue to originate from organized movements”. According to the figures, 92% of all 2025 challenges were “initiated by pressure groups, government officials, and decision makers”.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Executive Director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, Sarah Lamdan, said: “In 2025, book bans were not sparked by concerned parents, and they were not the result of local grassroots efforts. They were part of a well-funded, politically-driven campaign.”

Lamdan noted that lists of targeted books are circulated nationwide to maximise efforts to ban the titles. “I think this reflects the reality that these lists are getting disseminated widely,” Lamdan added. “You can see video footage from various library board meetings where the same books are singled out over and over again.”

View the full list of the top 11 most challenged books of 2025 below:

1. Sold by Patricia McCormick
2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
3. Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
4. Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
5. (tie) Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
5. (tie) Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
7. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
8. (tie) A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
8. (tie) Identical by Ellen Hopkins
8. (tie) Looking for Alaska by John Green
8. (tie) Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout