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+For the last three school years, PEN America has recorded instances of book bans in public schools nationwide.
+In that time, efforts to erase certain stories and identities from school libraries have not only intensified; book bans have become a bellwether of the chilling of public education writ large.
+As this report on the 2023-24 school year documents, the last school year was no different, as censorial trends have continued to ripple beyond the shelves.
+During the 2023-2024 school year, PEN America recorded 10,046 instances of book bans.
+The 2023-2024 school year recorded the highest instances of book bans and highest number of unique titles banned – over 4,000 unique titles were removed in over 10,000 instances of book bans.
+In this school year, a greater percentage of books faced more severe bans in 2023-2024 than in previous school years, completely removed from district library collections.   
+Florida and Iowa recorded the highest number of book bans during the 2023-2024 school year with over 4,500 book bans in Florida and over 3,600 in Iowa.
+Disproportionate to publishing rates and like prior school years, books in this prominent subset overwhelmingly include books with people and characters of color (44%) and books with LGBTQ+ people and characters (39%). 
+Over half (57%) of the banned titles in this subset include sex-related themes or depictions, due to ramped up attacks on “sexual content.” 
+Nearly 60% of these banned titles are written for young adult audiences, and depict topics young people confront in the real world, including grief and death, experiences with substance abuse, suicide, depression and mental health concerns, and sexual violence.
+PEN America defines a school book ban as any action taken against a book based on its content and as a result of parent or community challenges, administrative decisions, or in response to direct or threatened action by lawmakers or other governmental officials, that leads to a previously accessible book being either completely removed from availability to students, or where access to a book is restricted or diminished, either temporarily or permanently.
+It is important to recognize that books available in schools, whether in a school or classroom library or as part of a curriculum, were selected by librarians and educators as part of the educational offerings to students.
+Book bans occur when those choices are overridden by school boards, administrators, or even politicians on the basis of a particular book’s content. 
+Our definition for a book ban has been consistent since we first recorded a public Index of School Book Bans and is intentionally comprehensive, as our guiding principle is access for students and protecting the freedom to read for young people.
+When access is diminished and the freedom to read is restricted, even for a short period of time, that is a ban on a book.
+The passage of time when you’re in 6th grade or 11th grade is unique; it goes by fast.
+Restrictions on access, as well as the message banning books sends, have long-term implications for students’ learning, wellbeing, and empathy. 
+As with books, a subset of authors were overwhelmingly targeted and banned across several districts last school year.
+In fact, the works of nine authors accounted for 20% of all instances of book bans in the 2023-2024 school year as a whole.
+These are often authors whose books grapple with race and racism or explore gender identity and sexuality or depict sexual violence.
+Several of these authors have penned multiple titles and are thus branded with a “Scarlet Letter” – a phenomenon dubbed by PEN America where a ban on one title from a specific author is followed by efforts to ban their entire collection.
+Book bans in Iowa are also linked to state legislation.
+Iowa’s SF 496, which took effect in July 2023, requires all materials to be “age-appropriate;” however, the state’s definition of “age-appropriate” prohibits materials from having any description or depiction of a “sex act.”
+The law also contains “Don’t Say Gay” copycat provisions that prohibit discussions of LGBTQ+ identities in the classroom.
+Following the law’s implementation, districts across the state reviewed their libraries, removing books en masse that could be deemed as violating the state’s definition of “age-appropriate.”
+After passage of this legislation in Iowa, journalists from the Des Moines Register administered a survey to each of the state’s public schools and compiled a dataset documenting thousands of books removed from school shelves since the law went into effect.     
+In addition to Florida and Iowa, several states recorded 100 book bans or more – 538 in Texas, 408 in Wisconsin, 121 in Virginia, and 100 instances of book bans in Kentucky. 
+Across the country, public school districts have varied in their interest or willingness to ban books.
+For instance, in Florida and Iowa, a high proportion of school districts within each state banned books, likely due to chilling state laws.
+In Florida, 33 out of approximately 70 school districts banned books – nearly 50% of all school districts — and in Iowa, 117 of out over 300 school districts banned books – or approximately 40% of all school districts. 
+In contrast, several states like Texas, Wisconsin, Kentucky, and Georgia have only had a few school districts responsible for banning most, or all, of the books within their state.
+In Kentucky and Missouri, just one school district in each state accounted for all the book bans recorded during the 2023-2024 school year.
+Over the last three school years, book bans occurred in 43 states and 415 public school districts.
+As noted in our methodology, our snapshot of the total number of book bans and the distribution of book bans across states and districts are likely an undercount.
+Book bans from schools and districts often go under-reported or unreported.  
+As consistently reported since our first report in 2021, book bans continue to deliberately target specific themes, content areas, and representations.
+Disproportionate to publishing rates, book bans overwhelmingly affect books about race and racism, LGBTQ+ people and characters, people and characters of color, and books with sex-related content.