Children's Literature

PEN America defines a school book ban as

"any action taken against a book based on its content and as a result of parent or community challenges, administrative decisions, or in response to direct or threatened action by lawmakers or other governmental officials, that leads to a previously accessible book being either completely removed from availability to students, or where access to a book is restricted or diminished.

It is important to recognize that books available in schools, whether in a school or classroom library, or as part of a curriculum, were selected by librarians and educators as part of the educational offerings to students. Book bans occur when those choices are overridden by school boards, administrators, teachers, or even politicians, on the basis of a particular book’s content." 

According to a recent PEN America report, the number of public school book bans across the country increased by 33 percent in the 2022-23 school year compared to the 2021-22 school year.  Book challenges are also occurring in other spaces including public libraries.  The American Library Association released preliminary data regarding reports that they have received about book challenges showing a 20 percent increase in attempts to censor books between January 1 and August 31, 2023 as compared to the same period in 2022. 

The goal of this page is to assist University of Michigan students, faculty, staff, and researchers in understanding and researching this book challenging movement.

The following resources include information about both the history of the banned books movement and information about book challenging initiatives in recent history.

• Book Banning in the United States and Beyond:  Harvard Graduate School of Education's Gutman Library Research Guide describing resources that position the current movement within both U.S. History as well as within a global context.
• List of Books Banned by Governments:  A Wikipedia list of common books banned in specific countries including a brief description of why the works have been banned.
• U-M Library Book Banning Catalog Search:  A subject search of University of Michigan Library materials focused on challenged books in the United States, including materials describing the history of the movement.
• American Library Association Data on Book Banning:  Past and present data on censorship information collected by the American Library Association, including information about the 13 most challenged books in 2022.
• Suggested Search Terms from Arizona State University Library:  A list of many different keywords that you could use to find research about book banning.  The search terms on the ASU site are "hyperlinked" to ASU Library materials so consider copying those terms into U-M Library databases and Catalog.
• Researching Banned or Challenged Books:  Sources of information about why a particular title has been challenged with links to lists of challenged or censored titles.

The University of Michigan community can use the ERIC [Proquest] database to search for information about the book banning movement in both scholarly and trade journals.  Try an Advanced Search to search for the Subject Books AND the Subject Censorship.  Once you are taken to the results of your search, you may want to change the Sorted by filter on the left to Most recent first. 

The following resources include current legislative/legal information as well as related archival documentation. 

• University of Connecticut School of Law Library:  A listing of pertinent legislation, lawsuits, and notable court cases from around the country.
• Book Banning Policies in Schools and Libraries:  A University of Michigan Web Archive of proposed bills; past legislation referred to in challenges; school board meeting minutes; school or district-level policies; press releases; and other related documentation from throughout the country but especially within the State of Michigan.  This archive project is currently in progress and is not yet complete.

While this guide is designed to support the University of Michigan's research and educational needs regarding the challenging of children's literature, Book Riot's How To Fight Book Bans and Challenges:  An Anti-Censorship Tool Kit includes an extensive list of methods that members of the public could consider to support the Freedom to Read Movement.