This story was originally published by The 19th.
The number of books banned in public schools over the past year skyrocketed to more than 10,000, with two states â Iowa and Florida â responsible for most of them, according to preliminary findings released by PEN America on Monday.
The report comes during Banned Books Week, which first began in 1982 to raise awareness about the importance of free and openly accessible information.
The rise in banned books during the 2023-24 school year â nearly tripling from 3,362 bans PEN recorded the previous year â can be attributed partly to the singling out of books about romance and womenâs sexual experiences and those about rape or sexual abuse, according to PEN America, a nonprofit advocating for the protection of free expression. Books with LGBTQ+ or racial themes or characters from marginalized groups also continue to be targeted.
PEN Americaâs report does not reflect the banning of unique titles, so if a dozen school districts all banned the same book, it would count as 12 bans, a PEN representative explained.
A number of books, many of which are works by women of color, showed up on PEN Americaâs Index of School Book Bans for the first time over the past year. They include Julia Alvarezâs 1991 novel, âHow the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents,â about four immigrant sisters from the Dominican Republic â a popular pick for readers during Latinx Heritage Month. Other recent entries to the index include Amy Tanâs novel about the Chinese-American daughter of an immigrant mother, âThe Kitchen Godâs Wifeâ (1991); Terry McMillanâs romance novel âHow Stella Got Her Groove Backâ (1996); and Ellen Ohâs novel inspired by her motherâs experiences during the Korean War, âFinding Junie Kimâ (2021).
Agatha Christieâs âDeath on the Nileâ (1937), Betty Smithâs âA Tree Grows in Brooklynâ (1943), Olive Ann Burnsâ âCold Sassy Treeâ(1984), Barbara Kingsolverâs âProdigal Summerâ (2000) and Julie Murphyâs âPuddinââ (2018) also debuted on the index.
The 1953 novel âGo Tell It On the Mountainâ by James Baldwin, a champion of civil and gay rights, appeared on the index for the first time, as did books related to slavery such as Alex Haleyâs âRoots: The Saga of An American Familyâ (1976) and W.E.B. DuBoisâ âBlack Reconstruction in America, 1860-1880â (1935). Philip K. Dickâs 1968 dystopian novel âBlade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep)â debuted on the index, too.
More than a dozen new state and local policies contributed to the escalation of book bans over the past year. They include Iowaâs SF 496, which took effect last year and has been interpreted to mean that books with sexual or gender themes should be barred. According to PEN America, the law prompted thousands of book bans during the 2023-â24 school year, compared with just 14 bans in the state during the previous school year.
Floridaâs HB 1069, which also took effect last year, mandates that books challenged for âsexual conductâ must be removed as they undergo review. PEN America said the statutory process the law created for book banning and âthe state guidance building on itâ has led to a spike in statewide book bans. In Florida and Iowa combined, roughly 8,000 book bans were recorded.
In Wisconsin, the Elkhorn Area School District banned more than 300 books for months on end, PEN America found. The books were removed after a single parent challenged them, but after the district reviewed the titles, they were eventually returned to the shelves, albeit with restrictions such as parental permission to check out certain titles. The organization expects newly enacted laws such as Utahâs HB 29, South Carolinaâs Regulation 43-170 and Tennesseeâs HB 843 to cause more book bans this school year.
The Utah law requires all schools in the state to ban a book once three school districts have found it objectionable. South Carolinaâs regulation bans books with sexual subject matter and gives the state Board of Education the ability to censor works statewide. The Tennessee law requires schools to remove books with gratuitous violence or sexual content.
To mark Banned Books Week, the American Library Association (ALA) has also released preliminary data related to censorship, focusing on book bans in public, school and academic libraries between January 1 and August 31. ALAâs Office for Intellectual Freedom said it identified 414 attempts to censor works and that there were documented challenges to 1,128 unique book titles.
The number of attempts to censor books actually fell this year compared with last yearâs 695 cases, the ALA found. The organization attributes this to widespread efforts to stop censorship. Librarians, students and concerned community members have organized against book banning in recent years, and book banning disputes have gone to court. This includes a federal courtâs preliminary injunction on Arkansasâ Act 372, which would open librarians and bookstore owners in the state to criminal prosecution if they failed to remove âunsuitableâ works from their shelves.
Censorship is an issue that has drawn attention from the 2024 presidential candidates. Former President Donald Trumpâs campaign platform accuses President Joe Bidenâs administration of âusing the public school system to push their perverse sexual, racial and political material on our youth.â In July, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, criticized book bans while speaking to the American Federation of Teachers union in Texas.
âWhile you teach students about our nationâs past, these extremists attack the freedom to learn and acknowledge our nationâs true and full history,â she said. âWe want to ban assault weapons, and they want to ban books. Can you imagine?â
The theme of this yearâs Banned Books Week is âFreed Between the Linesâ to draw attention to how liberating reading can be. The week ends Saturday with Let Freedom Read Day to urge communities to fight censorship. Film director Ava DuVernay is the 2024 honorary chair of the day, while activist Julia Garnett, who fought book bans in Tennessee, is the youth honorary chair.
