Book bans

Introduction
Pros
- Pro 1: Parents have the right to decide what material their children are exposed to and when.
- Pro 2: Children should not be exposed to sex, violence, drug use, or other inappropriate topics in school or public libraries.
- Pro 3: Keeping books with inappropriate content out of libraries protects kids but doesn’t stop people from reading those books or prevent authors from writing them.
Cons
- Con 1: Parents don’t have a right to restrict what books are available to other kids.
- Con 2: Many frequently challenged books help people get a better idea of the world and their place in it.
- Con 3: Books are portals to different life experiences, encouraging empathy and social-emotional development.
Timeline: Key court cases
- January 24, 1924 - Evans v. Selma Union High School District
- 1949 - Rosenberg v. New York City Board of Education
- June 12, 1972 - Todd v. Rochester Community Schools
- August 30, 1976 - Minarcini v. Strongsville (Ohio) City School District
- June 25, 1982 - Board of Education, Island Trees (New York) Union Free School District No. 26 v. Pico by Pico
- August 24, 1987 - Mozert v. Hawkins County Board of Education
- November 29, 1995 - Case v. Unified School District No. 233
- September 20, 2000 - Sund v. City of Wichita Falls, Texas
- April 22, 2003 - Counts v. Cedarville School District
- June 27, 2025 - Mahmoud v. Taylor
Top 11 most challenged books in 2025
100 most challenged books by decade
Assessment quiz
1-minute survey
Discussion questions
Sources

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images

Blonde girl closely reading a copy of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald in a school classroom.

Stacks of banned books, including The Hate U Give and The Kite Runner, displayed on a table with U.S. flags in the background.

Book bans: Media

Should parents or other adults be able to ban books from schools and libraries?

Images

Blonde girl closely reading a copy of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald in a school classroom.

Should parents or other adults be able to ban books from schools and libraries?

© Chris Pearsall/Alamy

Stacks of banned books, including The Hate U Give and The Kite Runner, displayed on a table with U.S. flags in the background.

Banned books

Copies of banned books from various U.S. states, displayed during a press conference...

© Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

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