Banned books week was started in the 1980s by the American Library Association (ALA) as a way of celebrating the freedom to read and the value of free and open access to information. While the event draws attention to banned books, the focus is on celebrating community efforts to stand up and speak out for the freedom to read, despite the increase in the number of book bans over the last few years. According to the ALA 2,452 unique titles were challenged in the US (ALA, 2025). While this is a decrease from last year, the number far exceeds the number of challenges seen from 2001-2020, when there were an average of 273 challenges a year recorded (ALA, 2025).
Challenges “are an attempt to have a library resource removed, or access to it restricted, based on the objections of a person or group”, while a book ban is when materials are removed from a library based on the objections of a person or group (ALA, 2025b). Challenges and book bans seek to censor what information an individual can access, and they are an infringement on an individual’s intellectual freedom, which is the “right to access information from all points of view, in all formats, and without restriction” (ALA, 2025b).
So, to celebrate banned books week, let’s read some of these banned books. Check out a physical copy from the library’s display or check out our banned books collection in Emory’s Overdrive.
Here is a small selection of banned and challenged books you can access at Emory:
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
The critically acclaimed debut novel from Stephen Chbosky follows observant “wallflower” Charlie as he charts a course through the strange world between adolescence and adulthood. First dates, family drama, and new friends. Sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Devastating loss, young love, and life on the fringes. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it, Charlie must learn to navigate those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.
All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson 
From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys.
Looking for Alaska by John Green
Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words—and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet François Rabelais called the “Great Perhaps.” Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young, who will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot 
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine: The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.
Sources for further reading and reference:
References:
ALA. (2025a). Censorship by the Numbers | Banned Books. American Library Association. https://www.ala.org/bbooks/censorship-numbers
ALA. (2025b). Intellectual Freedom and Censorship Q & A | ALA. American Library Association. https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/censorship/faq
Images and Book description taken from publishers.