The 10 Most Controversial Books of 2015

2 minute read
By Olivia B. Waxman

The American Library Association (ALA) released its 2015 list of the 10 “most challenged” books on Monday.

The ranking is based on 275 challenges, meaning “a formal, written complaint filed with a library or school requesting that a book or other material be restricted or removed because of its content or appropriateness,” the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) said in a statement, as part of an annual report on the “State of America’s Libraries.” A challenge doesn’t necessarily mean the book was censored, with outcomes varying per school.

Below is the full list, including complaints about each title:

  • Looking for Alaska, by John Green
    Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group.
  • Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James
    Reasons: Sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and other (“poorly written,” “concerns that a group of teenagers will want to try it”).
  • I Am Jazz, by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings
    Reasons: Inaccurate, homosexuality, sex education, religious viewpoint, and unsuited for age group.
  • Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out, by Susan Kuklin
    Reasons: Anti-family, offensive language, homosexuality, sex education, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group, and other (“wants to remove from collection to ward off complaints”).
  • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon
    Reasons: Offensive language, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group, and other (“profanity and atheism”).
  • The Holy Bible
    Reasons: Religious viewpoint.
  • Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel
    Reasons: Violence and other (“graphic images”).
  • Habibi, by Craig Thompson
    Reasons: Nudity, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group.
  • Nasreen’s Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan, by Jeanette Winter
    Reasons: Religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group, and violence.
  • Two Boys Kissing, by David Levithan
    Reasons: Homosexuality and other (“condones public displays of affection”).

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    Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com