Over 10,000 books were banned in public schools last year, report says

Over 10,000 books were banned in public schools during the most recent school year, according to research from the nonprofit organization PEN America .

The amount of books banned in the 2023-2024 school year was nearly triple the amount banned during the year before, according to the findings.

PEN America said the number is still rising, but it may be hard to find a definitive total since book bans often go unreported.

“These numbers also do not account for the many reports of soft censorship, including increased hesitancy in book selection, ideologically-driven restrictions of school book purchases, the removal of classroom collections, and the cancellations of author visits and book fairs,” the group stated.

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The movement to ban more and more books each year is centered around “the influence of groups that espouse “parental rights” rhetoric to advance pro-censorship advocacy goals” and state legislation, PEN American stated.

Florida and Iowa have led the nation in banned books, with about 8,000 between the two following newly passed laws that center around prohibiting sexual content or conduct, according to the findings. Many have interpreted sexual content to include content related to gender and sexuality.

In the most recent school year, Utah, South Carolina and Tennessee have all added or expanded their own book bans.

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Some of the new titles banned in various schools this year include “Roots: The Saga of An American Family” by Alex Haley, “Death on the Nile” by Agatha Christie, “How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents” by Julia Alvarez and “Go Tell It On the Mountain” by James Baldwin.