What Types of Book Bans Are Taking Place in Schools?

Between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022, PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans recorded 2,532 decisions to ban books in schools.

These bans affected 1,648 unique book titles.

The bans can apply to libraries, classrooms, or both within a school district.

There were 333 books banned in both libraries and classrooms, 337 banned only in libraries, and 487 banned solely in classrooms.

Additionally, 1,375 books were temporarily restricted pending investigations.

These bans occurred in 70 districts for libraries and classrooms, 40 districts for libraries only, 22 districts for classrooms only, and 57 districts for books pending investigation.

Of the 1,648 titles on the banned book list in the 2021-2022 school year:

• 41 percent explicitly address LGBTQ+ themes or have protagonists or prominent secondary characters who are LGBTQ+ (this includes a specific subset of titles for transgender characters or stories—145 titles, or 9 percent);
• 40 percent contain protagonists or prominent secondary characters of color;
• 21 percent directly address issues of race and racism;
• 22 percent contain sexual content of varying kinds, including novels with some level of description of the sexual experiences of teenagers, stories about teen pregnancy, sexual assault, and abortion as well as informational books about puberty, sex, or relationships.