Determining quantitatively what the most frequently banned book of all time is is not an easy or even possible task. Because there are no reliable historical data on the frequency of book banning, this report analyzes the list of the most frequently banned books over the last 3 decades.
How we did it: We’ve used ALA’s list of the most banned books for each of the past 3 decades and applied our metrics to rank the most banned books since 1990.
- Alvin Schwartz‘s series Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is the most banned book (or book series) over the last 30 years, remaining on the list of the most frequently banned titles in each of the last 3 decades.
- Phyllis Reynolds Naylor’s series Alice is the second-most banned book during this period.
- John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is in third place among the most banned titles since 1990.
- There have been 18 titles that made it to the list of 100 most banned books in each of the past 3 decades.
- 15 of these books were published prior to the 1990s.
A list of the 25 most banned books since 1990 is presented in the table below:
| Title | Author | Publish year | WordsRated ban score |
| Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (series) | Alvin Schwartz | 1981 | 89 |
| Alice (series) | Phyllis Reynolds Naylor | 1985 | 88 |
| Of Mice and Men | John Steinbeck | 1937 | 87 |
| It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health | Robie Harris | 1994 | 84 |
| Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | Mark Twain | 1884 | 83 |
| The Bluest Eye | Toni Morrison | 1970 | 80 |
| To Kill a Mockingbird | Harper Lee | 1960 | 75 |
| The Catcher in the Rye | J. D. Salinger | 1951 | 74 |
| The Color Purple | Alice Walker | 1982 | 72 |
| I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings | Maya Angelou | 1969 | 68 |
| The Giver | Lois Lowry | 1993 | 67 |
| The Chocolate War | Robert Cormier | 1974 | 64 |
| And Tango Makes Three | Peter Parnell, Justin Richardson | 2005 | 63 |
| Beloved | Toni Morrison | 1987 | 61 |
| Brave New World | Aldous Huxley | 1931 | 61 |
| Captain Underpants (series) | Dav Pilkey | 1997 | 61 |
| Internet Girls (series) | Lauren Myracle | 2004 | 60 |
| Forever… | Judy Blume | 1975 | 59 |
| The Perks of Being a Wallflower | Stephen Chbosky | 1999 | 58 |
| Fallen Angels | Walter Dean Myers | 1988 | 56 |
| Bridge to Terabithia | Katherine Paterson | 1977 | 54 |
| My Brother Sam Is Dead | James Lincoln Collier, Christopher Collier | 1974 | 53 |
| Go Ask Alice | Anonymous | 1971 | 52 |
| In the Night Kitchen | Maurice Sendak | 1970 | 51 |
| Harry Potter (series) | J. K. Rowling | 1997 | 50 |
Most banned books from 2010 to 2019
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is the most frequently banned and challenged book between 2010 and 2019.
- Captain Underpants book series by Dav Pilkey ranks no 2 on the most banned list of the 10s, previously ranking no 13 between 2000 and 20009.
- Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher is on the third stop among the most banned titles of the 10s.
- Looking for Alaska by John Green and George by Alex Gino complete the top 5.
The list of the 10 most frequently challenged titles between 2010 and 2019 is presented in the table below:
| Title | Author | Publish year |
| The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian | Sherman Alexie | 2007 |
| Captain Underpants (series) | Dav Pilkey | 1997 |
| Thirteen Reasons Why | Jay Asher | 2007 |
| Looking for Alaska | John Green | 2005 |
| George | Alex Gino | 2015 |
| And Tango Makes Three | Peter Parnell, Justin Richardson | 2005 |
| Drama | Raina Telgemeier | 2012 |
| Fifty Shades of Grey (series) | E. L. James | 2011 |
| Internet Girls (series) | Lauren Myracle | 2004 |
| The Bluest Eye | Toni Morrison | 1970 |
- Over 40.63% of the most frequently banned titles from 2010 to 2019 were published in a previous decade, between 2000 and 2009.
- An additional 20.83% were published between 2010 and 2019. This means that over 60% of all most banned books during the 10s were published during the 21st century.
- 12.50% of the titles from this list were published between 1990 and 1999.
| Decade published | Share on the 10s most banned list |
| Prior to 1970 | 12.50% |
| 1970s | 2.08% |
| 1980s | 11.46% |
| 1990s | 12.50% |
| 2000s | 40.63% |
| 2010s | 20.83% |
Most banned books of the 00s
- One of the best-selling book series of all time, J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter was the most frequently challenged and banned book during the first decade of the 21st century. The series was among the top 50 most banned titles of the 90s as well.
- Phyllis Reynolds Naylor’s Alice ranks no2 on the list of the most banned titles from 2000 to 2009, and this book series found its way among the most banned books of the 90s and 10s.
- The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier is the third most banned title during the 00s, after ranking no 4 from 1990 to 1999.
The list of the 10 most frequently banned and challenged books from 2000 to 2009 is presented on the table below:
| Title | Author | Publish year |
| Harry Potter (series) | J. K. Rowling | 1997 |
| Alice (series) | Phyllis Reynolds Naylor | 1985 |
| The Chocolate War | Robert Cormier | 1974 |
| And Tango Makes Three | Peter Parnell, Justin Richardson | 2005 |
| Of Mice and Men | John Steinbeck | 1937 |
| I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings | Maya Angelou | 1969 |
| Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (series) | Alvin Schwartz | 1981 |
| His Dark Materials (series) | Philip Pullman | 1995 |
| Internet Girls (series) | Lauren Myracle | 2004 |
| The Perks of Being a Wallflower | Stephen Chbosky | 1999 |
- 28.28% of the titles listed as the most frequently banned during the 00s were published between 1990 and 1999, the most in all decades.
- 24.24% of books from this list were published during the 1970s, and an additional 12.12% were published prior to the 70s.
- 21.21% of the most banned titles of the 00s were published during the decade in question.
| Decade published | Share on the 00s most banned list |
| Prior to 1970 | 12.12% |
| 1970s | 24.24% |
| 1980s | 14.14% |
| 1990s | 28.28% |
| 2000s | 21.21% |
The Word Lists on WordsRated show all the words in the dictionary whether they are banned are not. This includes 5-letter words and all the Wordle answers past and future.
Most banned books of the 90s
- The most frequently banned book of the 90s is Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series by Alvin Schwartz. This title also made its way to the 7th spot on the most banned books of the 00s and the 24th spot on the most banned titles of the 10s.
- Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite is the second most banned book from 1990 to 1999.
- Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the third most banned book in the 90s, while also appearing no6 from 2000 to 2009 and no88 from 2010 to 2019.
List of the 10 most frequently banned books of the 90s is presented in the table below:
| Title | Author | Publish year |
| Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (series) | Alvin Schwartz | 1981 |
| Daddy’s Roommate | Michael Willhoite | 1991 |
| I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings | Maya Angelou | 1969 |
| The Chocolate War | Robert Cormier | 1974 |
| Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | Mark Twain | 1884 |
| Of Mice and Men | John Steinbeck | 1937 |
| Forever… | Judy Blume | 1975 |
| Bridge to Terabithia | Katherine Paterson | 1977 |
| Heather Has Two Mommies | Lesléa Newman | 1989 |
| The Catcher in the Rye | J. D. Salinger | 1951 |
- 22.22% of the most banned books of the 90s were published between 1990 and 1999.
- Most of the books from the 90s banned list were published during the 80s, 32.32% of them.
- An additional 29.29% were first published between 1970 and 1979, while 16.16% were published prior to 1970.
| Decade published | Share on the 90s most banned list |
| Prior to 1970 | 16.16% |
| 1970s | 29.29% |
| 1980s | 32.32% |
| 1990s | 22.22% |
