4,235 Books Were Challenged in 2025 and Less Than 3 Percent of the Complaints Came From Parents

The American Library Association published its State of America’s Libraries 2026 report on April 20, and the headline number is the one everyone is repeating: 4,235 unique titles challenged in 2025, the second-highest figure ever recorded, just five books shy of the 2023 peak. That is the number you will see in every wire story. <p