Manga Series Are Being Pulled From School Shelves Whole, PEN America Says, as ALA Lists 150 Most-Challenged Books

What happens when a school challenge hits a manga series? Often, PEN America says, the whole series goes. On October 8, 2026, PEN America published an article by Eileen AJ Connelly on manga removed from U.S. schools. The same week, the American Library Association opened Banned Books Week with a list of the 150 most challenged books it has documented from 1990 through 2025.

Removed as a set

PEN America says manga artists Atsushi Ohkubo (Fire Force and Soul Eater), Hajime Isayama (Attack on Titan), Rumiko Takahashi (Inuyasha, Inuyasha Ani-Manga, and Ranma 1/2) and Yusei Matsui (Assassination Classroom) are on its list of most commonly banned authors for the 2025-2026 school year. It says their works are often removed as entire series, in some cases more than 30 unique titles at once. One Piece, Naruto, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Dragon Ball Z are on the list too.

PEN says more than 34,000 books have been targeted since it began tracking school book bans in 2021.

Ohkubo was the fifth most commonly banned author in 2025-26, PEN reports, with at least 106 instances in four districts banning 57 titles. His 26 unique titles, PEN says, are second only to Stephen King, whom PEN calls the most banned author in the country, in unique titles removed.

What librarians told PEN

Jillian Rudes, a librarian and teacher in the New York City school system, founded Manga in Libraries. PEN quotes her line, "We can't keep it on the shelves," and says she means student demand. The article then says many schools cannot keep the books because they have been banned.

"Kids are reading it for a variety of reasons," Rudes told PEN America. "They enjoy reading the stories, they connect deeply with the characters, in a way they might not with traditional books." "They speak more to the teen's lives," she said.

School Library Journal survey data cited by PEN says manga made up 43 percent of high school graphic novel purchases by 2023, and that 90 percent of public librarians and 83 percent of school librarians suggest graphic books to students who struggle with reading. PEN says the four-book Learn to Draw Manga series by Richard Jones has been banned in some districts.

"It is grimly ironic that, in a historic crisis of literacy and reading among young people, the books bringing kids into the library are being banned," said Philomena Polefrone, senior manager of freedom to read at PEN America. "Banning the books kids most want to read, simply out of fear or unfamiliarity, is the last thing we need."

More than manga

PEN says graphic books banned in at least one district include adaptations of Homer's The Odyssey, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth, and Hamlet: The Manga Edition, a graphic adaptation of Anne Frank's Diary, and Art Spiegelman's Maus, which PEN calls the first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize. Also listed: Alice Oseman's Heartstopper and Ta-Nehisi Coates' Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet.

PEN writes that bans of nonfiction doubled last year, and names graphic nonfiction that was targeted, including Ichi-F: A Worker's Graphic Memoir of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant by Kazuto Tatsuta and The Pilgrims and the First Thanksgiving by Mary Englar.

ALA's 150-title list

ALA's October 5, 2026 release says Banned Books Week runs October 4-10 under the theme "Let Books Be. Protect the Freedom to Read." ALA's official 150th anniversary is October 6. The list of 150 most challenged books from 1990 through 2025 is at ala150.org/150books.

The Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 4,235 unique titles challenged in 2025, which the release calls "the second-highest total on record." The release names Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe and classics including To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.

"Every book on this list is a reminder that readers have the right to explore ideas and decide for themselves what to read," said ALA President Maria McCauley. "For 150 years, ALA has worked alongside library workers to keep that choice open to everyone. We ask for support for our libraries so the next generation has that same freedom."

Honorary chairs are Bess Kalb, of the Buffalo Fluffalo series, and Tony Weaver, Jr., author of Weirdo. Youth honorary chairs are Texas student advocates Marshall Romero and Azeemah Sadiq. The week ends Saturday, October 10, with Let Freedom Read Day.

The list page opens with Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe, All Boys Aren't Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto by George M. Johnson, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, Looking for Alaska by John Green, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson, Flamer by Mike Curato, SOLD by Patricia McCormick, and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews. It does not print a rank number next to each title. A note on the page says the list includes 153 titles because the final five are tied.

Sarah J. Maas appears more than once, including A Court of Mist and Fury, Empire of Storms, A Court of Thorns and Roses, A Court of Wings and Ruin, A Court of Frost and Starlight, and Kingdom of Ash. Ellen Hopkins does too, including Tricks, Crank, Identical, Tilt, and Perfect.

Why it matters for authors

A series challenge can clear a backlist. PEN says these manga are often removed as entire series, sometimes more than 30 unique titles at once. That can take a translator's or licensor's whole set, not one volume.

Graphic adaptations are in the same tallies. Books banned in at least one district, PEN says, include graphic versions of classics, Anne Frank's Diary, and Maus, plus Heartstopper and Black Panther.

Keep the two counts separate. ALA says 4,235 unique titles were challenged in 2025, "the second-highest total on record." PEN says more than 34,000 books have been targeted since it began tracking school bans in 2021. The ALA page opens with Gender Queer and includes several books by Sarah J. Maas and Ellen Hopkins, without a printed rank on each line.

See PEN America's 2025-26 ban count and Utah's statewide removal list.

Sources

• PEN America: Manga targeted in U.S. school book bans (October 8, 2026)
• American Library Association: 150 most challenged books, for Banned Books Week and ALA's 150th anniversary (October 5, 2026)
• ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom: 150 most challenged books, 1990-2025 (October 5, 2026)