Book bans jumped by 33 percent last year: report

There were 3,362 book ban attempts in K-12 schools across the country last school year — 33 percent more than the year before, according to a new report from free expression group PEN America.  

And those book ban attempts resulted in the removal of 1,557 individual titles.  

Since 2020, there has been a surge in book challenges as classrooms have become a new ideological battleground.  

Book ban attempts have reached record highs each year since the start of the pandemic, according to data from the American Library Association.  

“The toll of the book banning movement is getting worse. More kids are losing access to books, more libraries are taking authors off the shelves, and opponents of free expression are pushing harder than ever to exert their power over students as a whole,” said Suzanne Nossel, chief executive officer of PEN America.