Over 10,000 Books Banned in U.S. Schools Amid Censorship

Over 10,000 books were banned in U.S. schools during the 2023-2024 year, driven by censorship efforts targeting diverse and sensitive content.

on Sep 27, 2024

A report reveals that U.S. public schools and libraries are experiencing a significant rise in book challenges, with over 10,000 books banned during the 2023-2024 academic year. This surge is attributed to recent local and state policies aimed at censoring specific materials, primarily driven by conservative organizations advocating for nationwide book bans.

Two separate reports released by PEN America and the American Library Association (ALA) during Banned Books Week highlight contrasting data on book bans. PEN America, a free speech advocacy group, found that book bans nearly tripled during the 2023-2024 academic year, with over 10,000 banned books compared to 3,362 instances documented in the previous year.

Sabrina Baeta, a researcher and advocate on the PEN America team, stated, "With 10,000 school book bans and counting in the 2023-2024 school year, we have to take stock of the harm censorship imposes on those most affected—the students." She urged that this Banned Book Week demands a collective stand against censorship, saying, "No more."

Meanwhile, the ALA reported a slowdown in book challenge reports, noting 414 attempts to censor library materials and services during the first eight months of 2024, down from 695 attempts in the same period last year. Despite this reduction, both organizations emphasized that the number of documented attempts to censor books continues to far exceed the numbers prior to 2020.

The definitions of "ban" and "challenge" differ between PEN America and the ALA. According to PEN America, "A book challenge is any attempt to restrict or remove a book based on objections to its content. A book ban is the removal or restriction of those materials." The ALA defines a challenge as "an attempt to remove or restrict access to materials or services based upon the objections of a person or group," with a book banned when it is "entirely removed from a collection in response to a formal or informal challenge."

PEN America’s preliminary findings indicate that targeted bans predominantly affect books written by or about people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, or women, and those containing depictions of rape or sexual abuse. The organization noted that two key pressures behind the school book ban movement are state legislation and the influence of groups promoting "parental rights" rhetoric.

The dramatic increase in book bans is largely due to state laws that have made it "easier to remove books from schools without due process, or in some cases, without any formal process whatsoever," according to PEN America. Of the more than 10,000 banned books, about 8,000 were documented in Florida and Iowa, with Iowa's Republican-dominated Legislature passing a sweeping education law that requires schools to remove books depicting or describing sex acts.

The ALA attributed the decline in reported challenges to community pushback against censorship, stating, "We’re realizing that censorship is a very real threat to everyone's liberties and that we don’t want the government getting in the business of telling people what to read or believe." Caldwell-Stone highlighted the role of youth advocating for their freedom to read, emphasizing their efforts at library board meetings and school board meetings.