Banned Book Week: The Surprising Titles on the List and How to Access Them

The Annual Banned Book Week is among us.

This year, the week dedicated to shining a light on the dangers of intellectual censorship takes place between Oct.1-7. 

The conversation surrounding banned books is nothing new — the week-long event has been celebrated since 1982. However, this year's celebration is crucial as book bans and book “challenges” are expected to reach a record high in 2023. 

There’s been a significant increase in the number of banned books in the last two years. Last year held the record for the most banned and challenged books, according to the American Library Association (ALA). There were 1,269 documented attempts to censor library books and resources in 2022 — the highest number of tried book bans since the association began collecting censorship data over two decades ago. 

From Jan.1 - Aug. 31, 2023, there have been a reported 95 attempts to censor library materials and services and 1,915 challenges to unique titles — a 20% increase from the same period in 2022.

Last year, 90% of filed book challenges demanded that multiple titles be censored. Forty percent of these attempted to remove over 100 books at once.

The ALA also reported that Florida was disproportionately responsible for the most number of books challenged in 2022, as 40% of attempted bans came from the state, or 1,406 instances.

A Washington Post investigation found that 11 individuals were responsible for 60% of book challenges during the 2021-2022 school year. 

Prominent political figures such as GOP presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis and Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin have portrayed themselves as champions of the book-banning community, contending that parents deserve more control over what their children engage with in the classroom. 

On the other side of the aisle, Democrats argue that book bans threaten American’s intellectual freedom and hinder students from learning about integral issues such as diversity. 

Most of the top banned books in the past year have been related to race relations, LGBTQ issues, sexual content, and mental health. 

“Book bans have disproportionately targeted underrepresented groups,” Micah May, the director of Ebooks for the Digital Public Libary of America (DPLA), said. “So black, brown, LGBTQ+ authors and characters are disproportionately represented in the books that have been removed.” 

May said DPLA created a digital library where several banned or challenged books can be accessed for free to counter the attempted restrictions on intellectual freedom. 

“Book banning flies in the face of that basic intellectual freedom,” he said. “They [book bans]  target books that are about historically disenfranchised or underrepresented groups, and so we feel like it's especially important for those groups to have, not only access but to have free access to these books.” 

Here are the top 11 most banned books for the 2022-2023 school year according to Pen America: 

Other Unforeseen Titles That Didn’t Make the Top Ranks: 

How to Access Banned Books For Free: 

There are an array of ways individuals can access banned books for no price. 

Banned Book Club: Through the E-reader Palace app, readers can access banned titles through the Banned Book Club library created by the DPLA.

“These are all books in the DPLA Banned Book Club that libraries had spent their precious collections of own funds on and were forced to take off the shelves,” May said. “So we are putting them back on people's digital shelves.” 

Blinkist: Though the app specializes in providing short summaries of books, the platform is offering free access to 14 banned book titles through October. 

“Our core purpose is to spark understanding to help people understand different ideas,” Holger Seim, COO and founder of Blinkist said. “Banning books is the opposite of our purpose. A lot of books have cool ideas, and they may be controversial… but it’s important to think about other perspectives and understand other perspectives because if we don’t want to even understand other perspectives in the world, the world which is already divided will be even more divided.” 

Users can download the Blinkist app and gain access to several banned book titles without making an account or paying a fee this month, Seim said. 

Com Library: The library is a part of the College of Mainland and has a dedicated page for banned books. Though individuals must be institution members to access the titles, the library includes a list of frequently banned books that can be read for free on Google Books.

Brooklyn Public Library: Through the library’s Books UnBanned portal, readers can access collections of eBooks and learning databases, including several banned book titles. Those aged 13-21 can obtain the library card for free. For teens living outside New York, the fee is normally $50 for the digital library card, but the library is currently waiving this fee.