La Jornada: “Book veto in the US is not due to alarmed parents, but to political motivations”

New York. Book bans and censorship attempts remain at record levels, according to the American Library Association (ALA). And efforts to retire titles have never been more coordinated or more politicized.

The ALA yesterday published its annual list of the most challenged books in the country’s libraries, as part of the report State of America’s Libraries Report (State of America’s Libraries Report) of the association. Sold, by Patricia McCormick, a 2006 novel about sex trafficking in India, topped the 2025 list. Other notable titles include the high school-set novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky; the autobiography Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe, and the popular fantasy romance Empire of Storms, by Sarah J. Maas.

The ALA usually includes 10 books, but this year there are 11, with four tied for eighth place: the dystopian classic A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess; the drama about brothers Identical, by Ellen Hopkins; the story in a boarding school Looking for Alaska (Buscando a Alaska), by John Green, and paranormal romance Storm and Fury (Furia y tormenta), by Jennifer L. Armentrout.

Objections include LGBT+ issues (Gender Queer, The Perks of Being a Wallflower), sexual violence (Sold y A Clockwork Orange) and the consumption of alcohol and cigarettes (Looking for Alaska). In total, the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom registered challenges against 4,235 different works, a figure only surpassed by the 4,240 in 2023 since the association began keeping records more than 30 years ago.

The association defines contestation as “an attempt to remove a resource from the library, or restrict access to it, based on the objections of a person or group.” The list is published during National Library Week, which runs through April 25.

“Libraries exist to accommodate every story and every lived experience. As we celebrate National Library Week, we reaffirm that they are places for knowledge, for access and for everyone,” ALA President Sam Helmick said in a statement.

There are no complaints

The ALA prepares its survey based on media reports and contributions sent by libraries. The actual numbers are likely much higher because many incidents are never reported, the association acknowledges.

For decades, challenges to a given book came from a parent or another member of a local community. But in recent years, the ALA has noted, the trend has shifted markedly toward government officials and conservative activists or groups, such as Moms for Liberty, promoting “parental choice” in deciding what schools and libraries should make available.

Florida, Texas and Utah are among the many states that have called for banning books or passed restrictive legislation. In Iowa, an appeals court ruled earlier this month that the state can enforce a law that limits teachers from talking to students about LGBT+ issues in kindergarten through sixth grade and bans some books.

Last year, more than 90 percent of challenges came from activists and government officials, according to the ALA, up from 72 percent in 2024.

“In 2025, book bans were not driven by concerned parents, nor were they the result of local, grassroots efforts.

“They were part of a well-funded and politically motivated campaign,” the executive director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, Sarah Lamdan, detailed in a statement.

Lamdan said activists spread lists of targeted books throughout the country. In line with a report last year by PEN United States that counted multiple bans on Sold, A Clockwork Orange and other books, the ALA found that the effective withdrawals – more than 5,600 – far exceeded the number of challenged books.

“This reflects the reality that these lists are being widely disseminated,” Lamdan said. “You can see video recordings of library board meetings in which the same books are pointed out over and over again.”

I Love My Librarian Award

There are many ways to earn an I Love My Librarian Award.

You could be a fighter against book bans, like Valerie Byrd Fort at the University of South Carolina, or a mentor for graduate students researching biomedicine, like Joanne Doucette at the Massachusetts College of Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences, or transform a dark basement into a gathering space for families, like Mary Anne Russo at the Hubbard Public Library in Ohio.

They are among the 10 recipients of the I Love My Librarian Award, which includes a cash prize of $5,000 and an allocation of $750 to the ALA’s annual convention, which is being held this year in Chicago from June 25 to 29.

Winners were selected from a pool of more than 1,300 applications submitted by library users, who explain how “a librarian made a difference in your life or went above and beyond to serve your community.”

ALA President Sam Helmick said in a statement yesterday: “We recognize the remarkable contributions these 10 librarians make to our communities, to learning, to our health, and to the public good.

“They are people driving possibility in our neighborhoods, schools and higher education centers. Their leadership, creativity and innovation strengthen the communities they serve, and we are proud to honor them.”

Other winners include Tracy Fitzmaurice of Jackson County, North Carolina, praised by the ALA as a “transformative leader for rural libraries”; Deb Sica, of the Alameda County Library in Fremont, California, an advocate for diversity and intellectual freedom; Zachary Stier, who has worked for years on literacy projects at the Ericson Public Library in Boone, Iowa, and Christine Szeluga of Cranford High School in New Jersey, where she secured grants for a podcast studio and historical archive.

Also recognized were Mahasin Ameen, whose initiatives at Indiana University encompass health and information literacy; Mia Gittlen, who transformed the closed library at Milpitas High School in California, and Jenny Cox of Georgetown School in South Carolina, who worked to increase funding for thousands of new books.

The awards, created in 2008, are awarded by the ALA, the New York Public Library and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

ALA List of Most Challenged Books of 2025

1. Sold, by Patricia McCormick

2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, de Stephen Chbosky

3. Gender Queer: A Memoir, by Maia Kobabe

4. Empire of Storms, de Sarah J. Maas

5. (empate) Last Night at the Telegraph Club, de Malinda Lo

5. (empate) Tricks, de Ellen Hopkins

7. A Court of Thorns and Roses, de Sarah J. Maas

8. (tie) A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess

8. (tie) Identical by Ellen Hopkins

8. (empate) Looking for Alaska, de John Green

8. (empate) Storm and Fury, de Jennifer L. Armentrout