Calls to ban books hit highest level ever recorded in the US

Demands to censor, most often for gender themes or sexual detail, rose 38% year on year in 2022, with Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe being last year’s ‘most challenged’ title

Juno Dawson’s This Book Is Gay was among the books most requested for removal or restriction in libraries in the US in 2022, according to new data on banned books.

The list of books, released by the American Library Association (ALA) to mark the start of National Libraries Week, shows that titles were challenged most often because they contained LGBTQ+ representation or content that the complainants deemed sexually explicit.