Sept. 22-28 is Banned Books Week for schools and libraries nationwide. Started in 1982, the yearly observance was created in response to a sudden nationwide surge of challenges to books in libraries, schools and bookstores.
In recent years, book banning has once again become a hot topic in the U.S., with more than 10,000 books banned in public schools in the 2023-24 school year alone, according to a new survey from PEN America. That’s almost triple the number of books that were banned in the 2022-23 school year.
PEN America says about 8,000 of the books banned last school year were in Florida and Iowa, two states that recently put in place laws targeting classroom material, in particular.
According to the American Library Association (ALA), so far in 2024, it’s seen a significant drop in the number of complaints about books stocked in public, school and academic libraries.
During the first eight months of this year, the ALA recorded 414 challenges, with 1,128 titles called into question. During the same time last year, it recorded 695 cases involving 1,915 books.
Both the ALA and PEN America say most of the books targeted have racial and/or LGBTQIA+ themes.
