U.S. Book Banning Trends
Between the 2021-22 and 2022-23 academic years, public and school libraries have seen an increased rate in book banning attempts by 57% according to The American Library Association (ALA) . The ALA began tracking the number of book ban attempts 20 years ago. Since then, 2022 saw 2,571 unique titles put forward to be banned and 2023 saw 4,240. That’s an increase of 65 percent from year to year. The ALA published their 2023 findings here in March 2024.
The following visualizations show an examination of book banning trends in United States school classrooms and school libraries across two academic years: 2021-22 and 2022-23. Read the instructions at the top of each interactive tool. They’re designed to allow you to explore the data collected by PEN America to make your own conclusions about the trends we’re seeing today. Note: Bans that have occurred at public libraries are not included in the data presented here. Navigate to this project’s dedicated Methodology page to learn more.
In the graphics on this page and throughout this site, the phrases “book ban attempt” and “book ban challenge” are used interchangeably. The phrases and their definition indicate that the book was brought forward with the intent to remove its access entirely. A “book removal” or “successful ban” indicates that the book went through its school or library’s evaluation process and was ultimately removed from the shelves for public access. Learn more about this project’s methodology here.
In order to learn where these bans are happening across the United States, zoom in/out on the following maps. Each marker represents a state that has had a successful book ban, meaning the book was removed from the public shelves either at a school or public library. The darker the color, the higher the volume. Hover over each marker to learn the state’s total number of book bans for that year.
Note: The totals for each marker represent the total amount of titles that were removed during that school or academic year. Once a title is removed from access, it is no longer subject to new ban attempts unless the previous ban is rescinded. For details around the challenges of keeping this data up to date, visit the Methodology page.
Do you notice any patterns across states and regions? Do you notice any trends from year to year? Are there any states in particular that are seeing an increase or decrease in their numbers across the two academic years?
2021-22 Academic Year
2022-23 Academic Year
Count of Book Ban Attempts by State 2021-22 and 2022-23
Press the play icon or drag the dot to the right and left to watch how the number of book ban attempts in states change from year to year. Do you notice anything about the states that are seeing an increase or decrease in counts? Can you list what states saw attempts in 2022-23 that didn’t in 2021-22?
Top Banned Books Across the U.S. 2021-22 and 2022-23
Click either the green dot (2021-22) or the orange dot (2022-23) to see how the top banned books across the U.S. have changed year to year. Notice that some titles saw a sharp increase in the count while a few titles saw a decrease in fewer new attempts at being banned.
Full List: 2022-23 U.S. School Book Bans
The following table shows the comprehensive list of titles that were subject to book ban attempts in the 2022-23 academic year across U.S. schools. The data reflected here has been compiled by PEN America, which tracks bans in schools across the country. To learn about bans in libraries, including school libraries, visit the American Library Association (ALA) website. PEN America provides an FAQ and methodology to learn more about how their data is compiled. For example, they define that if a book was challenged but never removed from the school’s shelves, then it is not counted here because access never changed. If a book was challenged and removed from shelves while a committee was determining whether or not to keep it in the school, that book is counted here because its access was revoked. This is true even if the book was ultimately kept in the school because again, that book was removed from the school at least temporarily, and therefore its access was affected.
Use the search box to sort by state, author, book title, status, or month and year. Example: Type “September 2022” to see all the books challenged within that month across the United States.
PEN America has its own definitions, including for what a book ban is. To help provide context as you interact with the data in this specific table, I’m providing the following definitions for these terms or phrases. For a full glossary of terms, visit the About page.
Origin of Challenge: This represents the individual or group that put forward the book for consideration for a removal from the school.
Informal Challenge: This is when someone(s) submitted a challenge either verbally or over email/text message/social media.
Formal Challenge: This is when someone(s) submitted a challenge in writing to the school principal or administrative staff.
Administration: This is when a school staff member or multiple staff members brought forward a book for banning to the school principal or district.
Legislative Action: This indicates that the challenge came from the district, county, state, or school board and should apply across all schools within its purview.
Unclear: PEN America is not sure where the challenge came from.
Reasons Behind the Book Ban Attempts
In most cases, books are banned because the challenging body is concerned that the book’s content is inappropriate or difficult for the young people that would be exposed to it. PEN America (the source for the data presented on this page) does not publish the specific reason for why the challenger wants to ban each book. The American Library Association (ALA) does not publish its dataset with each specific instance of book banning attempt at public libraries across the U.S. However, they state that the top 3 reasons for book challenges are:
Sexually explicit content
Offensive language
Content that is unsuited to any age group