It’s long been said the best way to expand your worldview is to immerse yourself in a good book, which is getting harder and harder to do in some states as school districts and legislators across the country seek to restrict more books.
World Book Day is April 23. In celebration, BetKansas took a break from Kansas sports betting and discovered the favorite banned or challenged books of state residents. Using a list of the top 13 most banned and challenged books according to the American Library Association, we used Google Trends to see how often those books were searched. The search period was between March 9 and April 9, 2024.
Kansas’ Most Popular Banned Books
Which Banned Books are Most Popular?
In Kansas, the top banned book is Sarah J. Maas’ seminal novel, “A Court of Mist and Fury,” which was released in 2016 as part of her five-book “A Court of Thorns and Roses” series. The series delves into romance from a fantasy angle.
Maas’ novel beat out Stephen Chbosky’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” which redefined the young adult literary genre in 1999 by chronicling the thinking of an adolescent boy named Charlie who navigates his own sexuality, in addition to drug use, sexual assault and topics surrounding mental health. Maas’ book scored a 33 on the search interest charts, while Wallflower finished at 24.
Ashley Hope Perez’s “Out of Darkness” (10 search interest score) finished third in Kansas, while Sherman Alexie’s “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” was fourth in the state with a score of 9.
Reading is also fundamental when it comes to sports betting, so be sure to check out BetKansas.com for the best Kansas sportsbook promos.
Author
Christopher Boan is a lead writer at BetKansas.com specializing in covering state issues. He covered sports and sports betting in Arizona for more than seven years.
