Challenged Is Not Banned
Eight books on our shelf have appeared on American Library Association challenge lists. I read the passages that challengers point to, and everything here is as of October twenty twenty-six.
Short answer first. In this set, the stated reasons are mostly violence, sexual content and politics, and they change from book to book. I report the reasons, and I do not argue for or against removing any book.
One word matters here. The A L A tracks challenges. A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict a book. A ban is when it is actually removed. Its numbers are a snapshot, since many challenges are never reported.
How I picked them. I started with our shelf and checked each title against the A L A decade lists, the yearly Top Ten lists, and its page of challenged classics. Born a Crime is a book people expect here, but I did not find it on those pages, so I left it out.
The Giver
The Giver, by Lois Lowry, ranks number eleven on the A L A list of the nineteen nineties, number twenty-three in the two thousands, and number sixty-one in the twenty tens. Those decade lists give ranks, not reasons.
For reasons, I lean on the A L A’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. In twenty fourteen its director was quoted saying most challenges fall under unsuited to age group. Wikipedia sums the reasons up as dark themes and violence.
Here is what is on the page. In my copy, release means a lethal injection. In chapter nineteen, Jonas watches a recording of his father giving a newborn twin that injection. The Giver also says his daughter Rosemary asked for release, and that he did not watch.
The sexual reason is the Stirrings. Jonas dreams about wanting to bathe a friend, and his mother hands him a pill. There is no sex scene, and I found no swearing. In my read, the real argument is about age, since the hero is twelve and the subject is hard.
Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, ranks number sixty-eight on the A L A nineteen nineties list. The A L A classics page then lists dated challenges, which is more specific than any other source I found.
In nineteen eighty-one, a North Carolina high school challenge called it demoralizing, since it implies man is little more than an animal. In nineteen eighty-four, a Texas district heard excessive violence and bad language. In nineteen eighty-eight, a Toronto committee ruled it racist, citing a slur.
In nineteen ninety-two, an Iowa challenge listed profanity and lurid passages about sex. In two thousand, a New York challenge ended with the book retained on the reading list.
I read all of it. The violence is real. Simon is killed in a frenzy in chapter nine, and Piggy dies when a boulder falls in chapter eleven. The swearing is mild schoolboy talk, like sod you in chapter five. The sow hunt in chapter eight uses sexual language.
On the slur, I searched my copy for the word the Toronto committee cited and did not find it, so editions may differ. In my read, the violence is plain and short, and the book treats cruelty as a tragedy.
The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, made the A L A Top Ten in three separate years. In twenty ten it was number five, for sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and violence. In twenty eleven it was number three, with a long list.
That twenty eleven list reads anti-ethnic, anti-family, insensitivity, offensive language, occult or satanic, and violence. In twenty thirteen it was number five again, for religious viewpoint and unsuited to age group.
I read every chapter. The violence is the reason I can confirm. The words kill, killed and killing appear about ninety times, and children fight to the death. But I could not find a sex scene. The kisses are staged romance for sponsors.
The language is mild, with hell three times and no damn. There is no God, prayer or church, and the only witch is an insult. The mutts are engineered, not supernatural. In my read, violence and age fit hold up, and the other reasons are hard to find on the page.
Harry Potter
Harry Potter, by J. K. Rowling, was number one on the A L A Top Ten in twenty oh one and twenty oh two, and number two in twenty oh three. It is number one for the whole two thousands, and number forty-eight for the nineteen nineties.
The stated reasons were anti-family, occult or Satanism, religious viewpoint, and violence. The A L A’s twenty nineteen entry, number nine, says the books were banned and forbidden from discussion for referring to magic and witchcraft, and for containing actual curses and spells.
The A L A lists the series. I read only book one, the Sorcerer’s Stone, so I speak to that book. The word witchcraft appears five times, starting with the school’s full name, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The spells are real words, like Alohomora and Wingardium Leviosa.
But Satan never appears, and neither do God, church or prayer. Magic is taught as school subjects with rules and homework. The Dursleys do keep Harry in a cupboard, and there is a troll and a dead unicorn. In my read, the occult claim is about the word magic, not about worship.
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell, ranks number seventy-nine on the A L A twenty tens list. The A L A classics page gives one dated challenge. In nineteen eighty-one, Jackson County, Florida called it pro-communist and said it contained explicit sexual matter.
I read the parts that match. On politics, the Party is the villain. O’Brien says the Party wants only power, pure power. And Orwell has him say the Russian Communists came very close to the Party in their methods, so the book attacks that kind of rule.
On sex, there is an affair. Winston and Julia undress in a wood and later in a rented room, and the text says their first love-making was an act of will. These passages are short, not clinical. Julia swears, but the book describes her words rather than printing them.
The hard passage is Room one oh one, which is torture. In my read, the book is bleak, and the challenge misreads which side Orwell is on.
Animal Farm
Animal Farm, also by Orwell, has the most dated entries on the A L A classics page. Nineteen sixty-three, the John Birch Society objected to the words masses will revolt. Nineteen sixty-eight, a New York council listed it because Orwell was a communist.
Nineteen seventy-seven, it was suppressed at the Moscow book fair. Nineteen seventy-nine to nineteen eighty-two, a county survey recorded objections to its political theories. Nineteen eighty-seven, a Florida superintendent banned it from seven schools, and it came back after forty-four parents sued.
Notice the difference in wording. An objection from a group is a challenge. A superintendent’s order that removes the book is a ban. The United Arab Emirates banned it in two thousand two, along with one hundred twenty-five other titles, over pictures of alcohol, pigs and other images.
I read all of Animal Farm. I searched it for masses and revolt and found neither, because the book says Rebellion. The alcohol is there. The fifth commandment says no animal shall drink alcohol, and the pigs add to excess. In my read, the politics reason is the main one, and the pigs are the villains.
The Court of Thorns and Roses Books
Two books by Sarah J. Maas are the newest on this list. A Court of Mist and Fury tied for number ten on the A L A twenty twenty-two list, banned and challenged because it was claimed to be sexually explicit. A Court of Thorns and Roses was number seven on the twenty twenty-five list, with twenty-two challenges.
For twenty twenty-five, the A L A page gives titles and counts but no reasons. So for the first book I can only say it was challenged.
These are long adult romance novels, so I did not read every page. I counted the most intimate chapters in each book, then read those chapters in full. Chapter twenty-seven of Thorns and Roses and chapters two and fifty-five of Mist and Fury describe sex in physical detail.
Violence is heavy too. The word blood appears about one hundred twenty-three times in the first book. In my read, the sexual claim is accurate for those chapters. The real question is which shelf an adult novel belongs on, and that is for each library to decide.
The Reasons Matrix
Here is the matrix, built from the A L A data as of October twenty twenty-six. Violence is a stated reason for four of the eight books. Sexual content is a stated reason for four as well, counting the twenty twenty-two Maas entry.
Politics shows up for two, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm. Religion or the occult shows up for Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, and once for Lord of the Flies, over statements about God. Language and age fit each show up twice.
The Hunger Games has the longest list of reasons, and Animal Farm has the most dated entries. Of everything I read, the only dated bans are two for Animal Farm. The A L A’s wording for Harry Potter in twenty nineteen and Mist and Fury in twenty twenty-two also says banned. Everything else is a challenge.
One more number for scale. The A L A says it tracked four thousand two hundred thirty-five unique titles challenged in twenty twenty-five. Eight books on one shelf is a very small corner of that.
What I Read
Here is exactly what I read, so you can judge my opinions. I read all of The Giver, Lord of the Flies, The Hunger Games, Animal Farm and the first Harry Potter book. For Nineteen Eighty-Four, I read the passages that match the challenge. For the two Maas books, I read selected chapters in full.
Every opinion in the video is mine, and it is only one reader’s opinion. The ranks and reasons come from the A L A pages, named in the notes: the Top Ten lists, the decade lists, and the classics page.
If a challenge makes you curious, the cleanest move is to read the book yourself and decide. Which book on this list surprised you most? Tell me in the comments, and every book page is at book explained dot com. Subscribe and tap like if this helped, and thanks for reading along.