In The Normalization of Book Banning, a new report documenting public school book bans over the 2024-2025 school year, PEN America cited alarming censorship pressures on school districts, including new federal efforts to restrict education that amplify rhetoric from state and local efforts to ban books; persistent attacks conflating LGBTQ+ identities as "sexually explicit"; and state-mandated bans or "no read" lists which prohibit specific titles statewide.
"Censorship pressures have expanded and escalated, taking on different forms--laws, directives, guidance that sow confusion, lists of books mislabeled as 'explicit' materials, and 'do not buy' lists," said Kasey Meehan, director of PEN America's Freedom to Read program. "A disturbing 'everyday banning' and normalization of censorship has worsened and spread over the last four years. The result is unprecedented."
Noting that the unfettered book banning is reminiscent of the Red Scare of the 1950s, PEN America wrote in the report: "Never before in the life of any living American have so many books been systematically removed from school libraries across the country."
Between July 2024 and June 2025, the fourth school year of the book ban crisis nationwide, PEN America counted 6,870 instances of book bans across 23 states and 87 public school districts. For the third straight year, Florida was the number one state for book bans, with 2,304 instances of bans, followed by Texas with 1,781 bans and Tennessee with 1,622. Together, PEN America reports nearly 23,000 cases of book bans across 45 states and 451 public school districts since 2021.
"No book shelf will be left untouched if local and state book bans continue wreaking havoc on the freedom to read in public schools," said Sabrina Baêta, senior manager of PEN America's Freedom to Read program. "With the Trump White House now also driving a clear culture of censorship, our core principles of free speech, open inquiry, and access to diverse and inclusive books are severely at risk. Book bans stand in the way of a more just, informed and equitable world. They chill the freedom to read and restrict the rights of students to access information and read freely."