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This list contains chapter books that have been challenged. It is not a comprehensive list; please refer to sources such as NCTE’s Intellectual Freedom Center or ALA’s Banned & Challenged Books for more information. The main page of this guide also includes resources for further research.
The Adventures of Captain Underpants (series) –- Dav Pilkey, 1997-2015
The series revolves around two fourth-graders, George Beard and Harold Hutchins, and Captain Underpants, a superhero from the boys’ homemade comic books, who accidentally comes to life when George and Harold hypnotize their ill-tempered principal, Mr. Krupp.
Among the Hidden — Margaret Peterson Haddix, 1998
A government decree allows each family only two children. For Luke, a third child, this has meant a lifetime of hiding. But could a stray glimpse of a child hiding in the house across the way lead to freedom?
Among the Imposters — Margaret Peterson Haddix, 2001
In a future where the law limits a family to only two children, third-born Luke has been in hiding for the entire twelve years of his life, until he enters boarding school under an assumed name and is forced to face his fears.
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret — Judy Blume, 1970
Faced with the difficulties of growing up and choosing a religion, an eleven-year-old girl talks over her problems with her own private God.
Bloomability — Sharon Creech, 1998
When her aunt and uncle take her from New Mexico to Lugano, Switzerland, to attend an international school, thirteen-year-old Dinnie discovers her world expanding.
Bridge to Terabithia — Katherine Paterson, 1977
Ten-year-old Jesse Aarons, who has lived all his life on a farm in Virginia, becomes friends with Leslie Burke, a “city girl” who has moved into a farmhouse down the road and opens doors to culture and imaginative play. But then tragedy strikes.
Drama — Raina Telgemeier, 2012
Callie rides an emotional roller coaster while serving on the stage crew for a middle school production of Moon over Mississippi as various relations start and end, and others never quite get going.
George — Alex Gino, 2015
Knowing herself to be a girl despite her outwardly male appearance, George is denied a female role in the class play before teaming up with a friend to reveal her true self.
The Giver — Lois Lowry, 1993
Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.
Goosebumps (series) — R.L.Stine, 1992-
Scary stories with mild gore.
Harry Potter (series) — J.K. Rowling, 1997-2007
Not your average school, the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is where Harry Potter finds himself in and out of trouble with his friends as well as in and out of danger from darker powers.
Holes — Louis Sachar, 1998
As further evidence of his family’s bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.
It’s Perfectly Normal: a Book about Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health— Robie Harris, 1994
Introduces human sexuality, describes the changes brought about by puberty, and discusses sexual abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS, and pregnancy.
James and the Giant Peach — Roald Dahl, 1961
A contemporary fairy tale starring the heroic little James, a group of overgrown garden insects who become his friends, and a peach the size of a house.
Little House on the Prairie — Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1935
A family travels from the big woods of Wisconsin to a new home on the prairie, where they build a house, meet neighboring Indians, build a well, and fight a prairie fire.
Skeleton Man — Joseph Bruchac, 2001
After her parents disappear and she is turned over to the care of a strange “great-uncle,” Molly must rely on her dreams about an old Mohawk story for her safety and maybe even for her life.
The View from Saturday — E.L. Konigsburg, 1996
Four students, with their own individual stories, develop a special bond and attract the attention of their teacher, a paraplegic, who chooses them to represent their sixth-grade class in the Academic Bowl competition.
The Witch of Blackbird Pond — Elizabeth George Speare, 1958
A young woman brought up in Barbados comes to live with her uncle in Connecticut, and finds their Puritan way of life difficult after her unconventional upbringing.
The Witches — Roald Dahl, 1983
A young boy and his Norwegian grandmother, who is an expert on witches, together foil a witches’ plot to destroy the world’s children by turning them into mice.
Wringer — Jerry Spinelli, 1996
As Palmer comes of age he must either accept the violence of being a wringer at his Pennsylvania town’s annual Pigeon day or find the courage to oppose it.
A Wrinkle in Time — Madeleine L’Engle, 1962
Meg and Charles Wallace set out with their friend Calvin in a search for their father. His top secret job as a physicist for the government has taken him away and the children search through time and space to find him.
