Book Bans Surge 65% As Activists Target Public Libraries And Schools

ACROSS AMERICA — Readers in many U.S. cities and states may not find some of the books they want to check out of their school and public libraries because of what the American Library Association characterized as a surge in censorship.

Some 4,240 book titles were targeted for censorship in 2023. That’s up 65 percent from the previous all-time high of 2,571 titles targeted for removal from libraries in 2022, according to a report Thursday from the group’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.

A separate report from PEN America said the most often banned books in school libraries in the 2022-23 school year were “Tricks,” “The Bluest Eye,” “Looking for Alaska,” “A Court of Mist and Fury,” “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” “Thirteen Reasons Why,” “Sold,” “Crank,” “Identical” and “Empire of Storms.”

Some form of book banning exists in 33 states, according to the PEN America report.

Overall, the American Library Association documented 1,247 demands last year to censor library books, materials and resources as culture warriors targeted public as well as school libraries in their campaign for more parental say in what children read.

Last year, the number of titles targeted for censorship at public libraries increased 92 percent from the previous year. Challenges at public schools were up 11 percent from 2022.

Almost half (47 percent) of the challenged titles dealt with LGBTQ+ or BIPOC (Black, indigenous and other people of color) individuals and themes.

The surge was driven by groups and individuals who sometimes demanded that dozens or even hundreds of titles be removed from library shelves in a single request, the report said.

In 17 states, activists sought to censor books more than 100 times in 2023. They were Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Organized campaigns to ban books are far from over and require an equal effort by those who oppose them, according to Deborah Caldwell-Stone, the director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom.

“We must all stand together to preserve our right to choose what we read,” Caldwell-Stone said in a news release.

“Each demand to ban a book is a demand to deny each person’s constitutionally protected right to choose and read books that raise important issues and lift up the voices of those who are often silenced,” she continued. “By joining initiatives like Unite Against Book Bans and other organizations that support libraries and schools, we can end this attack on essential community institutions and our civil liberties.”