New Report From PEN America Looks at an “Unprecedented Surge in School Books Bans, Number of Individual Books Banned by Schools is Soaring to a Record Level”

From PEN America:

The number of individual books banned by schools is soaring to a record level, according to a new PEN America report Banned in the USA: Narrating the Crisis. The report documents over 4,000 instances of book banning during the first half of the current school year – more than in the entire previous 2022-2023 school year.The report, which examines book bans from July to December 2023, details book bans in 52 public school districts across 23 states. Bans took place in both red and blue districts.

PEN America has documented over 10,000 bans over the last two and a half years (July 2021 to December 2023).

While censors continue to use the concept of “obscenity” to justify widespread books bans, the report examines a wave of intense scrutiny over books that discuss women, sexual violence, and rape. This concerted focus comes amid an epidemic of sexual violence in the United States. The report also finds that books discussing race and racism, LGBTQ+ and especially transgender identities continue to be targeted at consistently high rates.

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By the numbers, Florida continues to boast the highest number of bans with 3,135 bans across 11 school districts, but the report documents how book bans are increasing in other states:

• Wisconsin experienced 481 bans across three school districts – with one sole school district banning 444 books following a single parents’ challenge;
• Iowa experienced 142 bans in three school districts;
• Texas experienced 141 bans across four school districts;
• Kentucky and Virginia experienced at least 100 bans each; in Kentucky, Boyle County Schools alone removed 106 books; and in Virginia, bans occurred across three school districts.

At the same time that bans are increasing, formalized resistance to censorship is growing. Across the country, students are staging protests and read-ins, founding after-school banned book clubs; working with teachers to distribute books under the radar; creating funds to purchase new books for districts impacted by bans; and installing free community bookshelves throughout their towns.

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This report expands on PEN America’s work on the spread of educational censorship in America’s schools, showing the rapid evolution and intensification of book-banning across the country since the 2022-2023 Banned in the USA report.

PEN America defines a school book ban as any action taken against a book based on its content and as a result of parent or community challenges, administrative decisions, or in response to direct or threatened action by lawmakers or other governmental officials, that leads to a previously accessible book being either completely removed from availability to students, or where access to a book is restricted or diminished.

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From the Report:

• The bans are speeding up. There were over 4,000 instances of book bans in the first half of this school year—more than all of last school year as a whole. This is a marked increase in comparison to the last spring semester, in which PEN America recorded 1,841 book bans.
• It’s a nationwide campaign: over the last two and half academic years, PEN America has recorded banning activity in 42 states, across red and blue districts.
• Those who want to ban books are attempting to use obscenity law and hyperbolic rhetoric about “porn in schools” to justify banning books about sexual violence and LGBTQ+ topics (and in particular, trans identities). In doing so, they have also disproportionately targeted books by women and nonbinary authors.
• The movement to ban books also continues to focus on themes of race and racism by advancing rhetoric disparaging “critical race theory,” “woke ideology,” and efforts to ensure library collections are diverse and inclusive.
• Even so, resistance is rising, and the very students whose right to read is being challenged and the authors whose works are being censored are fighting back in creative and powerful ways.

Direct to Full Text Report: Banned in the USA: Narrating the Crisis

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