Responding to the recent surge in book bans in public schools, the New York-headquartered PEN America has collated an Index of School Book Bans.
According to PEN America’s website, this index reflects the decisions to ban books in classrooms and school libraries across the country from July 1, 2021, through March 31, 2022.
In an accompanying report titled “Banned in the USA: Rising School Book Bans Threaten Free Expression and Students’ First Amendment Rights,” PEN America wrote the following in a section called Alarming Trends:
- In total, for the nine-month period represented, the Index lists 1,586 instances of individual books being banned, affecting 1,145 unique book titles.
- The Index lists book bans that have occurred in 86 school districts in 26 states. These districts represent 2,899 schools with a combined enrollment of over 2 million students.
- Of all bans listed in the Index, 41% (644 individual bans) are tied to directives from state officials or elected lawmakers to investigate or remove books in schools.
Texas leads all states with 713 bans in 16 districts, followed by Pennsylvania (456 in nine districts) and Florida (204 in seven districts), according to PEN America.
“The book banning documented here raises an alarming concern not only that the rising generation might have reduced opportunities to explore the world of literature,” the report’s writers state in their conclusion, “but that this campaign could have deleterious effects on freedom of expression, which must be the bedrock of public schools in an open, inclusive, and democratic society.”
