On April 8th, the beginning of National Library Week, the American Library Association released their list of the top eleven banned books in 2018. During the year, over 400 different books were challenged, which is insane to think about, but let’s take a look at the books that get challenged most.

How many of them have you read? I’ve read The Hate U Give and Drama and really enjoyed them both! Also, it is insane how frequently books are challenged solely for containing LGBTQ material, as if that’s a reason kids can’t read it. It’s not like the books are gay porn, geez.

George by Alex Gino

A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss

The Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Drama by Raina Telgemeir

Thirteeen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki

The Skippyjon Jones series by Judy Schachner

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

This Day in June by Gayle Pitman

Two Boys Kissing by David Leviathan

 

How many of these books have you read and enjoyed? Have you ever encountered an attempt to ban? We write a lot in my MSLS program about combatting censorship, but I’ve never had it happen in any of my schools.

I think I might make it my goal this year to read all the books on this list (or at least the first in a series..). I’ve already got This One Summer on hold at the library.