Log In
A hot topic and growing worry for librarians and teachers is the increase in the number of titles being challenged, censored, and banned in our public and school libraries, as well as classrooms and prisons. PEN America cites an “expanded censorship of themes centered on race, history, sexual orientation and gender.” They further state “the 2022-2023 school year has been marked to date by an escalation of book bans and censorship in classrooms and school libraries across the United States.” Texas, Florida, Missouri, Utah, and South Carolina are the states with the most book bans, with new legislation and state-level policies being put in place to allow legislators to make these blanket decisions.
The reasoning behind these bans? As of December 2022, PEN America cites the following statistics:
• 44% include themes or instances of violence & physical abuse. This includes titles that have episodes of violence and/or physical abuse as a component of plot or discussion.
• 38% cover topics on health and wellbeing for students. This includes content on mental health, bullying, suicide, substance abuse, as well as books that discuss sexual wellbeing and puberty.
• 30% are books that include instances or themes of grief and death. This includes books that have a character death or a related death that is impactful to the plot or a character’s emotional arc.
• 30% include characters of color or discuss race and racism.
• 26% present LGBTQ+ characters or themes. Of note, within this category, 68 are books that include transgender characters, which is 8% of all books banned.
• 24% detail sexual experiences between characters.
• 17% of books mention teen pregnancy, abortion, or sexual assault
Note: categories less than 10% are not reported; categories are developed based on researcher assessment of banned books, categories are matched to individual titles using publisher summaries, Amazon Books and Goodreads, and expert opinions of librarians and authors.
So where do graphic novels fit in? Well, that particular category has faced challenges, censorship, and banning for years. Out of the top five most banned books in the first half of the 2022-2023 school year, three are graphic novels, which are:
#1- Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
#2- Flamer by Mike Curato
#4- The Handmaid’s Tale: The Graphic Novel by Margaret Atwood & Renée Nault
If you want to learn more about book bans, check out PEN America’s website. We’ve also provided lists containing some of the currently banned and challenged graphic novels and manga in varying locations of the United States.
Banned & Challenged Adult Graphic Novels
Banned & Challenged Juvenile Graphic Novels
Banned & Challenged Teen Graphic Novels
Linked resources:
Collection Development Librarian
