11 Banned Books That Were Adapted for TV
It’s not hyperbole when PEN America says that the freedom to read “is under assault in the United States.” In a recent report, the freedom-of-expression advocacy organization found 3,362 instances of book bans in the 2022–2023 school year, with 40 percent of those bans happening in Florida alone.
“Overwhelmingly, book bans target books on race or racism or featuring characters of color, as well as books with LGBTQ+ characters,” PEN America noted.
Last year, the organization joined forces with Penguin Random House, a group of authors, and parents and students to sue the school district in Escambia County, Florida, over a widespread book ban, and this January, a U.S. district judge allowed the case to proceed.
Meanwhile, book bans have become so pervasive that TV fans might not even be able to find their favorite shows’ source material at their local libraries. Here are 11 banned books that inspired TV shows.
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
This graphic novel — a modern-day fable tying together the stories of a Chinese-American student, a powerful Monkey King, and the personification of a racist stereotype — inspired a one-season Disney+ TV show of the same name featuring Ke Huy Quan and Michelle Yeoh. The book was banned in Clay County, Florida, and restricted in Madison County, Mississippi.
Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar
This book series about privileged Upper East Side teenagers ranked in the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom’s list of the 10 most challenged books in 2006, 2008, and 2011, due to complaints over same-sex or sexually explicit content, offensive language, and drug use. One TV adaptation ran on The CW for six seasons; another ran on Max for two.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Ranking 22nd on PEN America’s list of the most banned books of the 2021–2022 school year was this dystopian tale about a future in which fertile women are enslaved and bound to produce children. Hulu’s television adaptation of same — starring Elisabeth Moss as Offred a.k.a. June Osborne — was nominated for 76 Emmy Awards and racked up 15 wins.
Heartstopper by Alice Oseman
Before Heartstopper was a coming-of-age Netflix dramedy starring Joe Locke and Kit Connor, it was an Alice Oseman graphic novel series that got pulled from shelves in Clay County, Florida, and Canby, Oregon. “Racism, homophobia, and transphobia are thriving under the guise of ‘concern for children,’” Oseman wrote on Instagram after Clay County’s book bans were publicized.
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
This trilogy of fantasy novels about two children navigating parallel universes ranked second on the Office for Intellectual Freedom’s challenged-book list in 2008, with one school in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, banning the series because of an alleged “anti-Christian message.” A star-studded adaptation aired on BBC One and HBO between 2019 and 2022, with Ruth Wilson, James McAvoy, and Lin-Manuel Miranda in the cast.
Looking for Alaska by John Green
PEN America’s list shows that this YA novel about a teen whose fixation on a classmate pulls him into the “Great Perhaps” ranked as the 15th most banned book in the country during the 2021–2022 school year, after parents complained about profanity and sexually explicit scenes. In 2019, Hulu released a miniseries adaption with Charlie Plummer and Kristine Froseth.
Normal People by Sally Rooney
This novel about two Irish classmates-turned-friends-turned-lovers was one of nearly 700 books banned from classrooms in Orange County, Florida, in 2023 due to fears about “sexual content” in literature. A 2020 Hulu miniseries based on the book — starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal — earned Emmy nominations in writing, casting, directing, and acting categories.
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Also in 2013, more than 1,600 books were banned pending investigation at schools in Escambia County, Florida, including this novel about a young soldier who trains with her country’s magical elite in a war against an unnatural darkness called the Shadow Fold. A television adaptation — starring Jesse Mei Li, Archie Renaux, and Freddy Carter — ran for two seasons on Netflix.
A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin
The epic fantasy saga that became HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones was banned by the Frisco, Texas, school district for being “not age appropriate.” The books were also banned by the Kansas Department of Corrections. Noting that prisons often reject books with maps — even maps of fictional places — the Human Rights Defense Center’s Michelle Dillon quipped that ASOIAF was banned “because, you know, somehow it could lead to a prisoner escaping to Westeros.”
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
The ninth most-banned book on PEN America’s list was this book, due to complaints over depictions of teen suicide, sexual assault, and drug and alcohol use. Both the book and its Netflix TV adaptation follow the fallout of a student’s suicide and the dissemination of cassette tapes in which she details the reasons she chose to end her life.
The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman
Within three months in 2022, school districts in Missouri banned nearly 300 books — including this graphic novel series about survivors of a zombie apocalypse — in response to a state law that criminalized providing “explicit sexual material” to students. AMC’s The Walking Dead aired 11 seasons and has so far spawned six TV spinoffs.
