'Gender Queer' Tops List of 13 Most Challenged Books of 2022

The American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom released its annual list of most challenged titles Monday. For 2022, the Top 10 has expanded to 13 and Maia Kobabe's graphic novel memoir takes the top spot for the second year in a row.

The American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom (ALA OIF) released its list of most challenged books of 2022. Maia Kobabe's graphic novel memoir Gender Queer is No. 1 for the second year in a row on a list once again heavily populated by titles by and about the LGBTQIA+ community. Seven of the 13 books (including four of the top six) had LGBTQIA+ content listed as a reason for the challenge. Complaints on the other six books called them "sexually explicit."

George M. Johnson's All Boys Aren't Blue was No. 2, and Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye was No. 3.

For 2022, ALA expanded its annual Top 10 list to the Top 13 Most Challenged Books with two books sharing the No. 5 spot and four tied at No. 10. The organization has released the list each year since 2001.

ALA documented 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources in 2022, the highest number since the organization started compiling the data more than 20 years ago. The 2022 number nearly doubles the 729 challenges reported in 2021. There were a record 2,571 unique titles targeted for censorship, which is a 38 percent increase from the year before.

Nearly 60 percent of the complaints come from parents and library patrons, according to ALA. “Political/religious” groups such as the conservative Moms for Liberty account for just 17 percent of complaints, but they object to a disproportionate number of books, ALA OIF director Deborah Caldwell-Stone told the Associated Press. Moms for Liberty objected to more than 1,000 books in 2022 in ALA OIF's tracking data.

The list was released as part of the 2023 State of America's Libraries Report at the start of National Library Week.

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