Yesterday, I posted some of my favorite books that have been removed from Virginia schools since 2020. (Tagged here.)

As much as I love titles like 1984, Fahrenheit 451, and Lord of the Flies (and as important as I think it is for people to read them), is anyone else sick to death of seeing them on "Banned Books" displays when they aren't being challenged nearly as often anymore? In fact, the ONLY usual suspect I could find on PEN America's round-up of most banned titles was The Handmaid's Tale. (Yes, I've been told more than once I look like June from the TV show.)

I hate to say it, but the easiest titles to think of as "banned" are no longer the reality. My high school was particularly progressive, yes, but we did Brave New World as our senior play over 17 years ago (showing my age). Most of the books I see on the average "banned" table have been part of public school curriculum for, umm... a WHILE?

We need to be more informed than this. We need to look at what titles are really being pulled from shelves. In 2025, it's books like Wicked and All Boys Aren't Blue and Perks of Being a Wallflower. In a few places, it's books like The Human Body Encyclopedia!

Virginia remains among the top ten states for book bans, which (I'm sorry to say) is the fault of less than a half dozen counties. Hanover Country, north of Richmond, leads with over 100 removals. Gross, right? Even worse is that the practice of removing books from school libraries was a lot less common prior to 2020...

“The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, the oversight agency of the Virginia General Assembly, surveyed the book removal policies of Virginia’s public school divisions and found that a majority of the book removals stemmed from the incorrect application of a bill that Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed into law three years ago.” - The Virginia Independent

The full report was published earlier this year and details which districts have removed books and what titles are most commonly removed. I am fortunate enough to live in a school district where no books have been banned, and my high school's district didn't even bother replying to the survey at all (as if to say, "Who, us? Hilarious."), but the wave of book bans continues.

We should know what we're talking about when we acknowledge Banned Books Week.

What do you think? Comment below with some of your favorites off the list of current bans.