Top 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books: 2000-2009

ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) receives reports from libraries, schools, and the media on attempts to ban books in communities across the country. We compile lists of challenged books in order to inform the public about censorship efforts that affect libraries and schools. This list includes the 100 most frequently challenged books of the decade 2000-2009.

ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) receives reports from libraries, schools, and the media on attempts to ban books in communities across the country. We compile lists of challenged books in order to inform the public about censorship efforts that affect libraries and schools.

  1. Harry Potter (series) by J.K. Rowling
  2. Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
  3. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
  4. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
  5. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
  6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
  7. Scary Stories (series) by Alvin Schwartz
  8. His Dark Materials (series) by Philip Pullman
  9. ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series) by Lauren Myracle
  10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
  11. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
  12. It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
  13. Captain Underpants (series) by Dav Pilkey
  14. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
  15. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
  16. Forever by Judy Blume
  17. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
  18. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
  19. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
  20. King and King by Linda de Haan
  21. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  22. Gossip Girl (series) by Cecily von Ziegesar
  23. The Giver by Lois Lowry
  24. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
  25. Killing Mr. Griffen by Lois Duncan
  26. Beloved by Toni Morrison
  27. My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier
  28. Bridge To Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
  29. The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney
  30. We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
  31. What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones
  32. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
  33. Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
  34. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things by Carolyn Mackler
  35. Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
  36. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  37. It’s So Amazing by Robie Harris
  38. Arming America by Michael Bellasiles
  39. Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
  40. Life is Funny by E.R. Frank
  41. Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher
  42. The Fighting Ground by Avi
  43. Blubber by Judy Blume
  44. Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
  45. Crazy Lady by Jane Leslie Conly
  46. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
  47. The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby by Dav Pilkey
  48. Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez
  49. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
  50. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
  51. Daughters of Eve by Lois Duncan
  52. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
  53. You Hear Me? by Betsy Franco
  54. The Facts Speak for Themselves by Brock Cole
  55. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Green
  56. When Dad Killed Mom by Julius Lester
  57. Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
  58. Fat Kid Rules the World by K.L. Going
  59. Olive’s Ocean by Kevin Henkes
  60. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
  61. Draw Me A Star by Eric Carle
  62. The Stupids (series) by Harry Allard
  63. The Terrorist by Caroline B. Cooney
  64. Mick Harte Was Here by Barbara Park
  65. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
  66. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
  67. A Time to Kill by John Grisham
  68. Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
  69. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
  70. Harris and Me by Gary Paulsen
  71. Junie B. Jones (series) by Barbara Park
  72. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
  73. What’s Happening to My Body Book by Lynda Madaras
  74. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
  75. Anastasia (series) by Lois Lowry
  76. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
  77. Crazy by Benjamin Lebert
  78. The Joy of Gay Sex by Dr. Charles Silverstein
  79. The Upstairs Room by Johanna Reiss
  80. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
  81. Black Boy by Richard Wright
  82. Deal With It! by Esther Drill
  83. Detour for Emmy by Marilyn Reynolds
  84. So Far From the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Watkins
  85. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher
  86. Cut by Patricia McCormick
  87. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
  88. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
  89. Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissenger
  90. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
  91. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
  92. The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
  93. Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
  94. Goosebumps (series) by R.L. Stine
  95. Shade’s Children by Garth Nix
  96. Grendel by John Gardner
  97. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
  98. I Saw Esau by Iona Opte
  99. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
  100. America by E.R. Frank