Nearly 12,000 book bans recorded across U.S. schools in 2025–26 |
PEN America recorded nearly 12,000 instances of book banning involving 7,370 unique titles across 114 U.S. school districts during the 2025–26 academic year, the highest level since the organization began tracking school book censorship in 2021. Texas accounted for more than 8,100 removals, overtaking Florida as the state with the most bans, with PEN attributing much of the increase to legislation targeting allegedly obscene material in school libraries. The number of districts implementing bans also rose to 114 from 87 in the previous academic year. PEN said AI tools have increasingly been used by school administrators to identify books containing potentially indecent or profane material, sometimes relying on keywords, existing lists of banned books, or references to subjects such as violence and racism without considering broader context. More than 4,500 titles added to PEN’s index during the year had not previously been recorded, including Jane Eyre and Lessons in Chemistry. The organization also identified growing scrutiny of manga series as another factor behind the increase, with entire series sometimes removed at once. Young adult fiction dealing with race and racism, LGBTQ+ experiences, and sex continued to be among the most frequently targeted material. Patricia McCormick’s Sold was banned in 25 districts, followed by Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak in 23 and Ellen Hopkins’s Crank in 22. PEN has now documented 34,000 instances of school book bans over five years and said its figures likely represent an undercount because removals can go unreported or only become public through information requests.
