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John Green’s Looking for Alaska has been banned 147 times in U.S. schools since 2021, making it the most frequently targeted title on PEN America’s newly updated list of the 50 most banned books of the past four years. The list, covering 2021–2025, drops as school districts and lawmakers continue to escalate book challenges across the country.
PEN America, a nonprofit that defends free expression, says book bans hit 6,870 instances in the 2024–2025 school year alone across 23 states and 87 districts, part of what the group calls a “disturbing normalization” of censorship in public schools. The group’s latest report warns that the trend is rapidly reshaping what young readers are allowed to access.
‘Strange and surreal’ for most-banned author John Green
Green told PEN that he finds the backlash to Looking for Alaska “strange” and “surreal,” stressing that the problem isn’t readers disliking a book, but trying to dictate “what other people’s kids can read.” The novel follows Miles Halter, a Florida teen who transfers to an Alabama boarding school and falls for the enigmatic Alaska Young, exploring themes of grief, guilt, love, and coming of age.
Other heavy hitters on the 50-title list include Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower. PEOPLE’s report on the list notes that many of these works are award‑winners and classroom staples.
PEN America’s Freedom to Read program director Kasey Meehan says the real cost is borne by students. “Books that have opened the eyes of millions of young readers… are now lost to them in their schools,” she argues, calling the wave of removals a “chokehold on the futures of students as citizens of a diverse democracy.”
Book bans broaden as targets — and stakes — rise
Since 2021, PEN America has documented nearly 23,000 book bans nationwide, with many targeting stories about LGBTQ+ identities, race, and other marginalized experiences. The organization argues that coordinated political campaigns are driving much of the surge.
The new list also lands in the same season as a separate PEN analysis showing that Stephen King is now the most banned author in U.S. schools, with 87 titles affected and over 200 censorship instances. That report found frequent challenges against books like A Clockwork Orange, Breathless, Sold and Last Night at the Telegraph Club, alongside King’s own work.
Recent coverage has also spotlighted how these fights are reshaping institutions. Librarians have reported firings, harassment, and lawsuits for resisting bans on LGBTQ+ books, with some cases testing the limits of workplace protections and free speech.One recent report highlighted how front‑line library staff are increasingly on the legal and political front lines.
Courts and lawmakers are now deeply entangled. States like Florida and Texas have become epicenters of school book removals, while federal cases challenge how far officials can go in reshaping library shelves.PEN America has already accused Florida of massively undercounting removed titles, warning that “off‑the‑books” censorship may be obscuring the true scale of the crisis.
For readers, the 50 Most Banned list doubles as a recommended reading guide and a warning label. These are books powerful enough to attract political pushback—and, for many students, now that much harder to find.
