MAINE, Maine — This year, Banned Books Week is an event happening the first week of October.
The annual week celebrates the freedom to read, and it comes as more and more book titles across the United States and in Maine have been challenged, both at the school library and public library level.
Below are the most Top 13 Most Challenged Books of 2022:
- Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit
- All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson
Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Reasons: depiction of sexual abuse, claimed to be sexually explicit, EDI content
- Flamer by Mike Curato
Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit
- (TIE) Looking for Alaska by John Green
Reasons: Claimed to be sexually explicit, LGBTQIA+ content - (TIE) The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: Claimed to be sexually explicit, LGBTQIA+ content, depiction of sexual abuse, drugs, profanity
- Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison
Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: Claimed to be sexually explicit, profanity
- Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez
Reasons: Claimed to be sexually explicit
- (TIE) A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
Reasons: Claimed to be sexually explicit - (TIE) Crank by Ellen Hopkins
Reasons: Claimed to be sexually explicit, drugs - (TIE) Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
Reasons: Claimed to be sexually explicit, profanity - (TIE) This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson
Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content, sex education, claimed to be sexually explicit