More books are being banned across the country. Over 10,000 books were banned in public schools throughout the 2023-24 school year, according to preliminary data by PEN America, an organization championing literature.
The number of book bans has tripled compared to the previous year when 3,362 bans were recorded. The organization is set to publish its full annual report this fall, in which it will give an analysis of the content of banned books, as well as a public Index of School Book Bans.
“School libraries serve the educational process by making knowledge and ideas available, and ensuring books remain available for all regardless of personal or political ideologies and ideas,” PEN America wrote in its memo. “Book bans impede the freedom to read, limiting students’ access to a diversity of views and stories.”
Recently banned book titles
Newly banned titles include Black Reconstruction in America, 1860-1880 by W.E.B. DuBois, Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie and Blade Runner (do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep) by Philip K. Dick.
Bans have remained in place for books like Alice Walker’s The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Jodi Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes, as well as Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Beloved.
Most banned books are targeted for featuring sexual content involving women (including themes of rape or abuse), as well as LGBTQ+ characters and themes of racism. In several instances, bans were put in place after some parents pushed for the bans and advocated for their parental rights over the school’s.
States such as Florida are leading book bans
Over 8,000 book bans were recorded in Florida and Iowa alone, according to PEN America. As of July 2023, Florida’s HB 1069 law requires books featuring “sexual conduct” to be removed, though it is undergoing review. Iowa’s SF 496 law, which also took effect July 2023, requires “age-appropriate” books and includes the same provisions as its “Don’t Say Gay” law. This means any content that discusses sex, gender and LGBTQ+ identities is banned.
Some states have passed laws that are expected to lead to an additional increase in book bans. This summer, for instance, South Carolina passed Regulations 43-170, which bans sex-related content in books across the state, while Tennessee’s HB 843 law that went into effect in July, requires schools to remove books containing nudity, violence or mentions of sex.
Utah is considered to have the most restrictive book banning bill in place, with its HB 29 law that went into effect in July. Once three districts find a book to contain “objectively sensitive material,” it gets banned across all schools.
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