John Green’s Looking for Alaska was the most banned book in U.S. schools from 2021 to 2025, with 147 removals, according to a report by the literary nonprofit organization PEN America.
Green’s young-adult novel, published in 2005 by Dutton, has long been one of the most challenged books in the country. It has appeared on the American Library Association’s annual lists of the most challenged or banned books six times since its publication, most recently in 2024.
In an interview with PEN America, Green said he was surprised that his book was the most banned one in the country “because these bans disproportionately affect authors of color and queer authors, and so I was a little surprised to see Looking for Alaska at the top of the list. But in another sense, I’m not surprised, because the book’s been banned pretty consistently over the last 20 years, and so it’s something that I’ve had to come to accept about living with that story.”
Taking the No. 2 spot in PEN America’s report was Jodi Picoult’s school-shooting novel Nineteen Minutes, followed by Patricia McCormick’s Sold at No. 3, Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower at No. 4, and Ellen Hopkins’ Crank at No. 5.
Rounding out the top 10 were Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why, Hopkins’ Tricks, Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, and Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Mist and Fury. Maas and Hopkins each had seven books in the top 52 most banned books.
Kasey Meehan, director of PEN America’s Freedom to Read program, said in a statement, “Books that have opened the eyes of millions of young readers to new perspectives, made them look at others with greater empathy and understanding or guided them through difficult experiences are now lost to them in their schools because conservative activists believe their extremist agenda should take precedence over the freedom to read….We need to fix our sight on the enormous cost to students when books that have gained wide critical recognition and readership are being removed from schools.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
