US book bans in public schools reach record annual high of 12,000

The US saw almost 12,000 Book Bans in public schools during the 2025-2026 school year, the highest number in a single year, according to the free-expression non-profit PEN America.In a report released on Monday, PEN America said that there had been 34,000 instances of Book Bans since the organization started tallying the increasing “book censorship crisis” across US schools in 2021.PEN said that new state-level censorship laws fueled much of this increase, in conjunction with the implementation of Artificial Intelligence tools that removes an expansive number of titles. Texas saw the greatest number of Book Bans in the 2025-2026 school year – more than 8,100.PEN America’s report said this surge in Texas stemmed from the Texas law SB13, which bars extensive categories of books in schools. Florida had previously ranked No 1 in school Book Bans for the three previous years.The bans involved a “record number of unique titles” – exceeding 7,000 – involving more than 4,000 authors, illustrators and translators. Analysts found 114 school districts which banned books during the school year, “the highest number ever for a single year”.The most frequently banned title for the 2025-2026 school year was Sold by the journalist Patricia McCormick. This young adult novel involves a teen from Nepal who is sold into sexual servitude. Stephen King was the most banned author for the second year running, PEN America said.“Mostly I feel angry on behalf of the women that I interviewed for the story: young women who’ve been sold into sexual slavery, who told their stories so the world could know what was going on. To hear people, or book banners, say that their accounts are pornographic is so disrespectful to them,” McCormick said in a statement issued by PEN America.“It’s also really disrespectful to the students who seek out that book. There are kids who need a book like that because they have some kind of sexual exploitation experience in their own life, and there’s something about reading a story about someone who’s six degrees away from you – a girl in Nepal – that inspires a certain amount of empathy and understanding that you might not have for yourself.”The bans also revealed worrisome prohibitions on books youth seek out, such as fiction and manga. Fiction comprised more than 90% of young adult titles subject to bans, per PEN America.Kasey Meehan, director of PEN America’s Freedom to Read program, said: “When reading for pleasure is in decline across all ages, bans on popular and engaging titles are exceptionally tragic.“Schools should be doing everything possible to connect kids with reading by introducing them to engaging stories and formats,” Meehan also said in the statement released by PEN America. “Instead, many are doing the opposite, banning books that help kids see themselves in literature, deepen their understanding and empathy of others, and develop their imaginations.”While Book Bans are increasingly pervasive, parents, students and educators are fighting the conservative turn seen in many US school districts – including Book Bans. Progressive school board candidates bested many rightwing candidates in many Florida elections this year.