Nearly 12,000 book removals 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 them five years ago.
For the second straight year, Stephen King was the author most likely to have his work withdrawn, according to the study.
Many of the removals took place in Texas and Florida, which conservative politicians and activists have pushed for removals of books. Themes of race, racism, sexuality and gender identity remain the most common reasons books are challenged.
ALSO READ: Education commissioner tells districts to remove sexually explicit books before parents complain
Current Florida law says a school district can review and remove a book after a complaint has been made that a book is pornographic, obscene or isn’t age appropriate.
Last month, new Education Commissioner Henry Mack instructed superintendents and charter school leaders to continuously audit books, review their collections and remove instructional materials that contain sexually explicit material, even if a parent or county resident has not submitted a complaint in that district.
If a district does not comply, it risks losing state funds, grants, Florida Lottery money or any other funds appropriated by the Legislature.
The PEN report, titled “Banned in the USA,” reads in part: "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. Book bans impede the freedom to read, cutting students’ access to a diversity of views, voices, perspectives, and literature they deserve to encounter.”
ALSO READ: More than 600 books were removed or discontinued from Florida schools last year
PEN's report also said district administrators rely increasingly on AI to determine which books should be pulled.
In all, PEN found 11,982 cases 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,” started by the nonprofit American Library Association during the 1980s. Organizers are using the related events at schools and libraries and other locations nationwide focus attention on what it calls "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,” a prize-winning novel about a teenager who falls silent after being raped; and Ellen Hopkins' novel about drug addiction, “Crank.”
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PEN America and the American Library Association have reported historic surges in book removals since the early 2020s, although their methodologies differ. PEN counts books pulled even for a short time as a ban, while the ALA only includes books that have been permanently yanked. According to the ALA's most recent report, published in April, some 5,600 instances of "bans" took place during the previous year.
