PEN America: Nearly 12,000 school book bans in a year, a record high

NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly 12,000 bans took place in public schools over the past year, according to a new study from PEN America , the highest total since the free expression organization began tracking removals five years ago. For the second straight year, Stephen King was the author most likely to have his work withdrawn.

Many of the bans took place in Florida and Texas, where restrictive laws have been passed and both politicians and conservative activists have pushed for removals. PEN has also found that school district administrators rely increasingly on AI to determine which books should be pulled.

Themes of race, racism, sexuality and gender identity remain the most common reasons books are challenged.

“School libraries make knowledge and ideas available, ensure books remain available for all regardless of personal or political ideologies, and open gateways to stories that inform, challenge, and reflect the realities of the world back to readers,” the PEN report, titled “Banned in the USA,” reads in part. “Book bans impede the freedom to read, cutting students’ access to a diversity of views, voices, perspectives, and literature they deserve to encounter.”

In all, PEN found 11,982 cases of bans, affecting 7,370 individual works. Over 4,500 were on the list for the first time, ranging from the 19th century classic “Jane Eyre” to Sui Ishida's “Tokyo Ghoul” manga series. Monday's report arrives during “Banned Books Week,” during which events at schools and libraries and other locations nationwide call attention to censorship efforts.

King's books were pulled 312 times, with “The Shining” and “The Green Mile” among those impacted. Meanwhile, the most banned individual title was Patrick McCormick's novel about a girl sold into sexual slavery in India, “Sold,” for which PEN found 25 removals. Other books commonly targeted include Margaret Atwood's dystopian “The Handmaid's Tale”; Laurie Halse Anderson's “Speak,” her prize-winning novel about a teenager who falls silent after being raped; and Ellen Hopkins' novel about drug addiction, “Crank.”

PEN America and the American Library Association have both reported historic surges in bans since the early 2020s, although their methodologies differ. PEN counts books removed even for a short time as a ban, while the ALA only includes books that have been permanently pulled. According to the library association's most recent report , published in April, some 5,600 instances of bans took place during the previous year.