All posts tagged: challenged

These Are the Most Challenged Books of 2025

These Are the Most Challenged Books of 2025

Published by José Betancourt

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. Here are the biggest headlines from last week. The Most Challenged Books in the US in 2025 Sold was published in 2006, and it is about a 13-year-old girl who is sold into sex slavery in India. In 2023, Patricia McCormick wrote an article in The New York Times titled “My Book Is Horrifying. My Book Is a Lifeline. My Book Is Banned.” In it, she describes how the book is based on interviews she had with girls in India and Nepal who were sold into slavery. Sold includes a description of a 13-year-old being sexually assaulted by an older man—which book banners erroneously claimed was “pornography.” Independent Bookstores Make Quiet Comeback as Big Chains Dominate Retail The past couple of years have felt like Big Business is winning, so I’m pleasantly surprised to see that indie stores are the ones actually having a moment. The American Booksellers Association reported that 422 new indie bookstores …

The Most Banned and Challenged Books in the US in 2025

The Most Banned and Challenged Books in the US in 2025

Published by Jenni Sidey

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. The Most Challenged Books in the US in 2025 The American Library Association has released its list of the most challenged books in U.S. libraries in 2025. Here are the top ten (okay, eleven): 1. Sold by Patricia McCormick 2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky 3. Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe 4. Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas 5. (tie) Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo 5. (tie) Tricks by Ellen Hopkins 7. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas 8. (tie) A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess 8. (tie) Identical by Ellen Hopkins 8. (tie) Looking for Alaska by John Green 8. (tie) Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout My colleague Kelly Jensen has already written about this list in more depth, so I’m going to zero in on the book in the …

American Library Association most challenged books of 2025 : NPR

American Library Association most challenged books of 2025 : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

The American Library Association’s list of the most frequently challenged books of 2025 includes Sold by Patricia McCormick, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer: A Memoir. American Library Association hide caption toggle caption American Library Association The American Library Association has released its annual list of the most commonly challenged books at libraries across the United States. According to the ALA, the 11 most frequently targeted books include several tied titles. They are: 1. Sold by Patricia McCormick2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky3. Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe4. Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas5. (tie) Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo5. (tie) Tricks by Ellen Hopkins7. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas8. (tie) A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess8. (tie) Identical by Ellen Hopkins8. (tie) Looking for Alaska by John Green8. (tie) Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout Many of these individual titles also appear on a 2024-25 report issued last October …

These Were The Most Challenged Books in the US Last Year, According to the American Library Association

These Were The Most Challenged Books in the US Last Year, According to the American Library Association

Published by Jenni Sidey

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Since 1990, the American Library Association (ALA) has tracked the books being challenged across the United States. These are documented and recorded challenges, either cataloged by staff or shared with staff by library workers. Challenges, as opposed to book bans, are complaints about materials; challenges can result in a book being banned, but they can as easily result in books being relocated, redacted, or restricted. They can also result in no action being taken at all. Every year, the ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom (OIF) shares the top 10 most challenged books across the country during National Library Week. Here’s what topped the list for 2025. 8. (tie) A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess  8. (tie) Identical by Ellen Hopkins  8. (tie) Looking for Alaska by John Green  8. (tie) Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout The most challenged books list isn’t the only information ALA releases annually. Their new report highlights several other key elements of …

Number of exam grades challenged declines by 18 per cent

Number of exam grades challenged declines by 18 per cent

Published by skeptic

But the number of overall appeals increases, as does their success rate But the number of overall appeals increases, as does their success rate More from this theme Recent articles The number of exam grades that were challenged at appeal has dropped by more than 18 per cent in a year, despite the number of appeals going up. New figures released by Ofqual show 2,170 GCSE, AS and A Level grades were challenged at appeal in 2024-25, up 18.3 per cent from 2,655 the previous year. Over the same period, there was a 0.1 per cent decrease in the total number of results issues, meaning the drop in grades challenged is not explained by changes to entry patterns. The number of appeals submitted also increased marginally by 7.5 per cent, from 1,795 to 1,930. An individual appeal can cover more than one grade, for example if a school or college submits an appeal against its results for a qualification that more than one of its students has taken. At the same time, one grade might …

Israel’s defence network challenged by Iranian cluster ballistic missiles

Israel’s defence network challenged by Iranian cluster ballistic missiles

Published by Sam Flores

As the regional conflict between Israel and Iran enters a volatile new phase, a banned weapon of war is reappearing over civilian centres. While Israel’s defence systems remain robust, a new threat – the cluster ballistic missile – is testing the limits of safety. Unlike a single warhead, these missiles release hundreds of “bomblets,” turning neighbourhoods into active minefields long after the sirens stop. Keywords for this article Source link

Women of the Rosenstrasse protest challenged the Nazi regime for their detained Jewish husbands’ freedom – and won

Women of the Rosenstrasse protest challenged the Nazi regime for their detained Jewish husbands’ freedom – and won

Published by Sam Flores

(The Conversation) — On the cold evening of Feb. 27, 1943, Charlotte Israel gathered with a small crowd of women on the Rosenstrasse, a narrow street in central Berlin. They were not Jewish, but their husbands were, and the men had just been arrested in a sweeping roundup of more than 9,000 Berlin Jews. Heinrich Himmler, leader of the SS and an architect of the Holocaust’s murder of 6 million Jews, called this arrest a “de-judaization of the Reich.” Nearly 2,000 of those arrested had non-Jewish wives and were crammed together in a building on the Rosenstrasse. Israel and the other women who had gathered outside resolved to return the next day. Early the next morning, as she approached Rosenstrasse in search of her husband, Annie Radlauer heard a chorus of voices growing louder as she drew nearer: “Give us our husbands back!” The vigil, which sometimes grew into collective protests, continued off and on until March 6. This protest still raises questions about how Hitler ruled and about attempts to rescue German Jews. Families …

Andrew Mountbatten Windsor challenged his removal from the Royal Lodge by saying ‘I’m the Queen’s son’, insider claims

Andrew Mountbatten Windsor challenged his removal from the Royal Lodge by saying ‘I’m the Queen’s son’, insider claims

Published by Sam Flores

Andrew Mountbatten Windsor reportedly challenged his removal from the Royal Lodge by saying “I’m the Queen’s son, you can’t do this to me”, a royal insider has claimed. The former prince was ordered to leave his 30-room Windsor mansion last October by King Charles, with the eviction carried out earlier this month, amid renewed scrutiny of Andrew’s links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He moved to Wood Farm on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, in what The Sun previously described as a “sudden” relocation that took place in the middle of the night. A royal insider has now claimed that Andrew “refused to leave or take any responsibility” for his eviction and allegedly used “I’m the Queen’s son” as his defence. A royal insider told The Sun on Sunday: “He refused to leave or take any responsibility. “When he was told to get out he was so arrogant and deluded he repeatedly shouted, ‘But I’m the Queen’s second son, you can’t do this to me’. “It is extraordinary he chose to use the Queen’s …

Autism rates between girls and boys challenged by new study | Science, Climate & Tech News

Autism rates between girls and boys challenged by new study | Science, Climate & Tech News

Published by skeptic

Autism rates are ‘more or less equal for men and women’, according to a study which challenges previous assumptions about its prevalence. While the neurological and developmental ⁠condition is known to be more common in young boys, Swedish researchers found there was a big rise in diagnoses among adolescent girls. And by the age of 20, the male-to-female ratio had evened out at nearly one-to-one, experts at the Karolinska Institutet reported. Researchers said the study, published in ​the BMJ, highlights a need to investigate why girls and women receive diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) later than boys and men. Previous work on gender and autism suggested that for every four men or boys diagnosed with autism, there would be one woman or girl. A study in 2017 suggested this figure may be closer to three men to one woman. But in the latest research from Sweden, academics examined diagnosis rates of autism for all people born in the country between 1985 and 2000 – more than 2.7 million people – and tracked them until …

How Trump has challenged a constitutional foundation : NPR

How Trump has challenged a constitutional foundation : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

Here’s how Trump has reshaped the country and eroded democratic norms In his first year back in the White House, President Trump has presided over a sweeping expansion of executive power while eroding democratic norms. Many scholars of democracy say that these moves are unprecedented in U.S. history and that Trump has pushed the United States toward authoritarianism. The president and his supporters counter that the Constitution provides for precisely the type of muscular presidency he is exercising and that voters gave him a mandate to enact far-reaching changes to government. Trump remains popular with his base, but most Americans disapprove of his job performance. The president’s critics hope that waning popularity — as well as this year’s midterm elections — will provide a stronger check on Trump. So what has happened so far? From firing inspectors general, to sidelining Congress, to attacking the media to control information, Trump and his administration have moved at warp speed from the moment he was sworn in. As Year 2 of his second term begins, we wanted to …