This is the most-banned book in America

by Jenna Romaine | Sept. 30, 2021 | Sep. 30, 2021

Story at a glance

This week is Banned Books Week.
The American Library Association compiles an annual list of the 10 most commonly challenged books in the United States.
In 2020, the most-banned book was “George” by Alex Gino.

With Banned Books Week coming to a close, the American Library Association’s (ALA) annual list of the most frequently banned books reveals the 10 most commonly challenged books in the United States.

To compile the list, the ALA tracked and analyzed the challenges brought against libraries, schools, and universities of 273 books for the ones that faced the most challenges and bans.

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In 2020, the most challenged book was “George” by Alex Gino. “George,” a 2015 novel about the life of a transgender fourth grader, has been “challenged, banned, and restricted for LGBTQIA+ content, conflicting with a religious viewpoint, and not reflecting ‘the values of our community,’” according to the ALA.

“When I write a book about someone who is transgender … just simply someone who is transgender — they’re not doing anything, they just are transgender — and that book gets banned?” Gino told Yahoo Life. “That is my existence being so scary and so reprehensible and so monstrous, that I cannot be shown to children.”

The other nine books that made the top 10 list this year are “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You” by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds; “All American Boys” by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely; “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson; “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie; “Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story About Racial Injustice” by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, and Ann Hazzard, illustrated by Jennifer Zivoin; “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee; “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck; “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison; and “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas.