Library study finds ‘challenged’ books soared in 2021

NEW YORK (AP) — Accounts of book bannings and attempted book bannings, along with threats against librarians, have soared over the past year.

And the American Library Association has compiled some numbers.

The association found 729 challenges — affecting nearly 1,600 books — at public schools and libraries in 2021, more than double than in 2020 and the highest since the ALA began compiling challenges more than 20 years ago.

The two most challenged books on the ALA’s top 10 list have been in the news often: Maia Kobabe’s graphic memoir about sexual identity “Gender Queer” and Jonathan Evison’s novel “Lawn Boy.”