This week, October 4–10, libraries, bookstores, and readers across the country are celebrating Banned Books Week. This year’s theme is “Let Books Be. Protect the Freedom to Read.” It’s a simple idea, and one we at the Friends of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries believe in wholeheartedly: every reader deserves the freedom to choose their own books, and every story deserves a place on the shelf.
Why Banned Books Week still matters
It can be tempting to think of book banning as something from the history books. The numbers say otherwise. According to the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, 4,235 unique titles were challenged in 2025, the second-highest total ALA has ever recorded, just shy of the 2023 record.
The challenges aren’t coming mostly from individual parents, either. In 2025, 92% of book challenges were initiated by pressure groups, government officials, and other decision makers, up from 72% the year before. Fewer than 3% came from individual parents. And about 40% of the challenged titles told the stories of LGBTQIA+ people and people of color.
When a book is removed from a library, it doesn’t just disappear for the person who objected to it. It disappears for everyone, including the kid who needed to see their own life reflected on the page.
The most challenged books of 2025
Here are the titles ALA tracked as most challenged last year. How many have you read?
- #1 Sold by Patricia McCormick
- #2 The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
- #3 Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
- #4 Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
- #5 (tie) Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
- #5 (tie) Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
- #7 A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
- #8 (tie) A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
- #8 (tie) Identical by Ellen Hopkins
- #8 (tie) Looking for Alaska by John Green
- #8 (tie) Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout
How you can celebrate this week
Check out a banned book from your library. This one matters more than you might think. When challenged books circulate, it shows there’s real community interest in them, and library staff can use that data to keep those books on the shelves and order more like them. Stop by any Santa Cruz Public Libraries branch or browse the catalog online.
Buy a banned book, then pass it on. Book bans affect authors, publishers, and booksellers too. Pick up a challenged title from a local independent bookstore, and when you’re done, consider donating it to the Friends. Donated books fuel our book sales, which raise money for our libraries.
Tune in to a free virtual event. The national Banned Books Week Coalition is hosting free online conversations with this year’s honorary chairs:
- Tonight, Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 3 p.m. Pacific: Spotlight on Tony Weaver, Jr., author of Weirdo. Register at bit.ly/tony-weaver
- Thursday, Oct. 8, at 4 p.m. Pacific: “Whose Stories Belong?” A youth-led conversation on the freedom to read with Youth Honorary Chairs Marshall Romero and Azeemah Sadiq. Register at bit.ly/whose-story
Take action on Let Freedom Read Day, Saturday, Oct. 10. Organizers are asking everyone to take at least one action to defend the freedom to read. A few ideas, from five minutes to an afternoon:
- Make sure your voter registration is current. Censorship is a national problem that plays out locally, so school board and city council races matter. California’s general election is November 3, and the deadline to register online is October 19.
- Call or write to library and school board members, city council members, or other elected officials and tell them you support the right to read.
- Attend a library board, school board, or city council meeting and speak during public comment.
- Volunteer with your library, or with the Friends.
Share what you’re doing with #LetFreedomReadDay and #BannedBooksWeek.
The freedom to read, all year long
Banned Books Week only lasts seven days, but the work of protecting the freedom to read doesn’t stop on October 10. The Friends of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries support our libraries year-round, and we can’t do it without readers like you.
If you believe in libraries that welcome every reader and every story, we hope you’ll join us. Become a Friend.
Let books be. Happy reading!
Learn more at BannedBooksWeek.org. Statistics and the most-challenged list come from the American Library Association’s 2026 State of America’s Libraries Report. Banned Books Week® is a registered trademark of the American Library Association.
Artwork by Hyesu Lee © ALA.
