What you’ll learn in this article…
- ALA's 150-title list includes 153 books; Gender Queer ranks first.
- Challenged means removal attempts, not titles ultimately banned.
- Strong reconsideration policy before challenges protects access.
ALA's 150 Most Challenged Books: A Librarian's Guide to the List
What the list shows, why books get challenged, and how to prepare your library
On October 5, 2026, the American Library Association marked its 150th anniversary during Banned Books Week by releasing a cumulative list of the most challenged books, one that runs to 153 titles despite the round number in its name. The anniversary release lands as coordinated book challenges continue to rise, so librarians are not sorting a commemorative artifact; they are weighing how to apply the list to real reconsideration requests.
Understanding how ALA distinguishes a challenge from a ban, why objections cluster around LGBTQIA+ and race content, and what a written reconsideration policy requires now matters for daily collection decisions. Censorship pressure has shifted from occasional complaints to coordinated requests, making policy the librarian's first line of defense.
What ALA's 150 Most Challenged Books List Is (And Isn't)
What exactly is the "150 Most Challenged Books" list, and why does it contain 153 titles? Released by the American Library Association on October 5, 2026 to mark its 150th anniversary during Banned Books Week, the list is a cumulative ranking of book challenges documented from 1990 through 2025. The count ends at 153 because the final five titles are tied with the same number of reported challenges, so the list shows 150 ranking positions but names a few extra books.
How ALA built the list
The list draws on challenge records compiled by ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom. A challenge is a documented request to remove or restrict access to a book in a library, school, or community setting. The office has collected censorship data since 1967. This anniversary list, however, uses only the 1990 to 2025 window to create a modern cumulative ranking based on the number of times each title was challenged.
What the list does not mean
Because it relies on reported challenges, the list undercounts the true scale of book challenges. Many requests never reach ALA through formal reporting channels. It also is not a list of books that were successfully removed. Being ranked means a title drew documented removal or restriction requests, not that it was banned.
The number one most challenged book on the 1990 to 2025 list is Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe. ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom page is the best place to confirm the full list and current ranking details.
Challenged vs. Banned: ALA's Definitions and Why They Matter
ALA's most challenged books list counts attempts to remove or restrict materials, whether or not the title was ultimately banned. Headlines often use "banned" for titles that were only challenged and retained, so the distinction matters when reading the 150 list.
| Term | How ALA defines it | What it can look like in a library |
|---|---|---|
| Challenge | An attempt to have a library resource removed, or access to it restricted, based on the objections of a person or group. | A parent asks a school to remove a novel from a tenth grade reading list. |
| Ban or removal | The removal of materials from a library based on the objections of a person or group. | After a board vote, the library removes the title from open shelves and places it behind the desk. |
| Reconsideration request | A formal, written request that the library remove or restrict access to particular resources, submitted on a form and initiating a standardized review process. | A resident files a form asking the public library to restrict a memoir to adult readers only. |
Notable Titles on the List and Where They Rank
The ALA anniversary list mixes recent titles and classics, and these five confirmed entries show how challenge objections cut across both. Gender Queer holds the No. 1 position, while Of Mice and Men appears farther down the list at No. 39. See the full ALA ranking for all 150 positions and the complete reasons cited.
| Rank | Title | Author | Commonly Cited Reasons |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gender Queer: A Memoir | Maia Kobabe | LGBTQIA+ content and sexual content |
| 3 | The Bluest Eye | Toni Morrison | Sexual content, sexually explicit material, and allegations of offensive language |
| 7 | This Book Is Gay | Juno Dawson | LGBTQIA+ content and sexual content |
| 23 | The Handmaid's Tale | Margaret Atwood | Sexual content, violence, and profanity |
| 39 | Of Mice and Men | John Steinbeck | Racism, offensive language, violence, and profanity |
The 150 most challenged books mix enduring classics with newer titles, a reminder that censorship targets both the canon and the current moment.
Why Books Get Challenged: LGBTQ+ Content, Race, and Classics
Book challenges in the United States do not emerge from a single concern. They cluster around a short list of recurring objections. ALA's 2025 reports identify sexual content, LGBTQIA+ characters and themes, race and racism, violence, and profanity as common stated reasons, along with claims that a book is "age-inappropriate." Some challengers also framed objections as concerns about illegal obscenity for minors, while others cited political or religious views they opposed.
Modern titles vs. classics
Titles published after 2000 on the most challenged list skew toward LGBTQ+ and identity themes. Older classics are more often challenged for language, racial content, and sexual passages. This split matters because it shapes what modern librarians actually do when preparing for reconsideration meetings and how they defend collection development decisions across eras.
Who files challenges and where
ALA's 2025 reporting shows 51% of reported challenges occurred in public libraries, 37% in school libraries, 8% in school curricula, and 3% in higher education.1 On the initiator side, 92% of challenges came from pressure groups, government officials, or decision-makers, up sharply from 72% in 2024.2 Individual parents accounted for fewer than 3%2 and individual library users about 1%. That pattern is especially visible in public libraries: government decision-makers and pressure groups were tied to 156 threats covering 599 of 824 challenged books. Board members or administrators initiated another 71 threats involving 295 books, nearly all multi-title efforts. These are reporting-year counts rather than a complete census, so they understate the total volume.
The gap between stated and underlying reasons
A challenge form's stated reason often differs from the underlying motive. A title flagged for profanity or age appropriateness may actually draw objections to how the book treats gender, race, or sexuality. Librarians should document the cited passages, but read beyond the checkbox.
How the List Connects to Banned Books Week 2026
Banned Books Week 2026 runs October 4 to 10, 2026, with the American Library Association and Banned Books Week Coalition theme "Let Books Be. Protect the Freedom to Read."1 That annual observance, held since 1982, does different work from the new ALA150 list. The annual Top 10 responds to the current year's challenges; the 150 list, drawn from 1990 through 2025, shows long-run patterns in which titles and themes keep reappearing across decades.
Ways libraries connect the week to the list
Libraries can build programs around both lenses: display the 150 titles with the reasons they were challenged, host a read-in or discussion pairing a current bestseller with a challenged classic, and hold a policy workshop where patrons learn how reconsideration requests and library board governance work. October 10 is Let Freedom Read Day, which asks everyone to take at least one action against censorship or in support of library workers, authors, educators, and booksellers.
ALA resources to keep on hand
- Challenge Support: ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom provides confidential support and guidance to library workers, educators, and others facing book challenges or attempts to remove or restrict materials.
- Library Bill of Rights: the profession's statement of principles affirming users' rights to read, view, hear, and access information and ideas without restriction.
- Freedom to Read Statement: supports the public's right to access information and ideas and opposes censorship, including efforts to suppress or restrict materials because of their ideas, viewpoints, or content.
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What Librarians Should Do When a Book Is Challenged
A strong response to a book challenge starts before the challenge ever arrives, with a written selection and reconsideration policy that staff can point to immediately. The policy should cover selection, deselection, and reconsideration, and it should identify who receives and reviews challenges. If a policy exists, follow it exactly, even if it feels outdated, and update it later.
Work the steps in order
- Written policy: Confirm the library has a board-approved policy covering selection, deselection, and reconsideration. The policy should name the person or group responsible for review.
- Request form: Do not start a review from an oral complaint. Give the complainant the standard reconsideration form and explain that only a completed form begins the process. The form should identify the complainant, the specific resource, and the objection.
- Review committee: The designated reviewer or committee must set aside personal beliefs, read the entire work, consider it in context, and evaluate it against the library's collection criteria.
- Documentation and communication: Date and retain notes from every conversation, notify the director or principal, and enforce the user behavior policy. Keep the book available during review unless policy says otherwise.
- Decision and appeal: Issue a written decision. In ALA's model, that happens within 15 business days, with a written appeal window of 10 business days, but the library's approved timeline governs.
Know when to call ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom
The Office for Intellectual Freedom offers confidential consultation and letters of support, answers policy, state law, and ethics questions, and can help administrators handle media contact when a challenge goes public.1 Report a challenge through the online Challenge Reporting Form or by emailing [email protected]. Reports are confidential unless the reporter authorizes otherwise, and the office asks for the final result, not just the initial complaint. For safety threats, notify law enforcement or security first, then the FBI and [email protected].
Practical communication tip: when a challenge becomes public, designate one spokesperson, keep messaging tied to the policy, and avoid arguing the book's content in the press.
Have a written policy and process in place before any challenge arrives. That preparation is what lets librarians respond consistently and protect access.
Where to Find the Full List and What It Means for MLIS Students
ALA's Banned & Challenged Books hub and the Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) archives are the best public starting points for the full 150-title ranking, including any downloadable list or ranked table tied to the ALA150 campaign. The OIF field reports add the reasons and context behind each challenge, which helps librarians see patterns rather than isolated complaints. ALA's OIF also maintains the annual field reports used by researchers and journalists, so returning to the primary source avoids secondhand summaries.
How Intellectual Freedom Appears in MLIS Work
Collection Development & Management and professional ethics courses usually introduce the Library Bill of Rights, the Freedom to Read Statement, and reconsideration procedures. Early-career practice often asks you to balance a patron's objection against a collection policy, not to improvise under pressure. Reading real policies now makes that easier. Many online MLIS programs use current challenge cases as discussion prompts, which shifts the focus from hypotheticals to real collection decisions.
Steps for Students
- Read the Library Bill of Rights: Treat it as a working document, not a ceremonial text.
- Review one real reconsideration policy: Choose a school district or public library and trace how a complaint moves from form to committee to decision.
- Follow OIF updates: The Office for Intellectual Freedom publishes annual challenge data and guidance during Banned Books Week 2026.
mastersinlibraryscience.org's related coverage of Texas SB 13, the Oklahoma waiver, and law librarianship can add state-level and career context. Pairing the full list with those state-level explainers gives you both the national pattern and the local policy mechanics.
