When I became Young People’s Poet Laureate in 2024, book bans were proliferating in red states, often targeting BIPOC and LGBTQ+ subject matter. In response to the wave of censorship, I conducted readings in states where efforts to ban books and to erase African American history are on the rise.

Now, as my tenure as Young People’s Poet Laureate nears its end, I have asked poets who write for young people to report titles that have been targeted by bans, challenges or so-called “soft bans.” I did further research myself and consulted data collected by Evalena Lakin, librarian assistant for the Poetry Foundation.

The resulting list, BANNED POETS SOCIETY, cites works by leading poets for young people, including several of my fellow Young People’s Poets Laureate: Margarita Engle, Elizabeth Acevedo, Jacqueline Woodson, Naomi Shahib Nye, Nikki Grimes–my successor–and myself. Through my research, I found that ten of my own books have been targeted.

This list below shines a light poets whose work is bold and brave and on books that young people deserve the freedom to read. These diverse books enlighten, enrich, empower, and, most importantly, cultivate empathy among a most important audience.

If you identify other banned or challenged books of poetry for children and young adults, please contact me, so that I can update the list.

POETS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE	BANNED OR CHALLENGED CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULT BOOKS
Elizabeth Acevedo	The Poet X
Maria Dolores Aguila	A Sea of Lemon Trees: The Corrido of Roberto Alvarez
Kwame Alexander	The Undefeated
Laurie Halse Anderson	Shout: A Poetry Memoir
Andrea Beatriz Arango	Iveliz Explains It All
Dean Atta	The Black Flamingo
Mahogany L. Browne, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Olivia Gatwood, editors	Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice
Lesa Cline-Ransome	Before She Was Harriet
Matt de la Pena	Last Stop on Market Street
Safia Elhillo	Home Is Not a Country
Zetta Elliott	A Place Inside of Me Say Her Name
Margarita Engle	Drum Dream Girl A Dog Named Haiku
Reem Faruqi	Lailah’s Lunchbox
Betsy Franco	You Hear Me? Poems and Writings by Teenage Boys
Kate Fussner	The Song of Us
Amanda Gorman	Change Sings Girls on the Rise
Robin Gow	Dear Mothman A Million Quiet Revolutions
Meg Grehan	The Deepest Breath
Nikki Grimes	Ordinary Hazards
Joanna Ho	Eyes that Kiss in the Corners
Ellen Hopkins	Tilt Crank
Cheryl Hudson and Wade Hudson, editors	We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices
Candace Iloh	Every Body Looking
Bee Johnson	What Can a Mess Make
Supriya Kelkar	Brown Is Beautiful: A Poem of Self-Love
Meg Eden Kuyatt	Good Different
Thanhha Lai	Inside Out and Back Again
Rajani LaRocca	Red, White, and Whole
Irene Latham and Charles Waters	Can I Touch Your Hair: Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship
Grace Lin	A Big Mooncake for Little Star
Carole Lindstrom	We Are the Water Protectors
Jessica Love	Julian Is a Mermaid Julian at the Wedding
Amber McBride	We Are All So Good at Smiling
Alice McGinty	Bathe the Cat
Jasminne Mendez	The Story of My Anger
Eve Merriam	Halloween ABC Inner City Mother Goose
Lindsay Metcalf, editor	No Voice Too Small
Yuyi Morales	Dreamers
Marilyn Nelson	A Wreath for Emmett Till
Lesléa Newman	October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard
Naomi Shahib Nye, editor	The Flag of Childhood: Poems from the Middle East
Gayle Pitman	This Day in June My Maddy
Jason Reynolds	Long Way Down
Christian Robinson	You Matter
Shifa Saltagi Safadi	Kareem Between
Yusuf Salam and Ibi Zoboi	Punching the Air
Aida Salazar	The Moon Within Land of the Cranes
Erika Sanchez	I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
Hannah V. Sawyerr	All the Fighting Parts
John Schu	Louder than Hunger
Dr. Seuss	The Lorax Hop on Pop
Shel Silverstein	A Light in the Attic
Nikkolas Smith	The Artivist
Traci Sorell	At the Mountain’s Base
Jamila Thompkins-Bigelow	Your Name Is a Song
Padma Venkatraman	Safe Harbor A Time to Dance
Jasmine Warga	Other Words for Home
Renée Watson	Black Girl You are Atlas The 1619 Project: Born on the Water Maya’s Song
Carole Boston Weatherford	Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane Freedom in Congo Square Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-ins Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America How Do You Spell Unfair: Macnolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom Remember the Bridge: Poems of a People Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre
Ashley Woodfolk	Nothing Burns as Bright as You
Jacqueline Woodson	Brown Girl Dreaming The Day You Begin