UNITED STATES / RankWire.AI / – U.S. public schools logged 11,982 book bans during the 2025-26 school year, according to PEN America. The total marked the highest annual figure since the organization began tracking school restrictions in 2021. The bans affected 7,370 unique titles across 114 school districts. More than 4,000 authors, illustrators and translators appeared in the data. Canadian writers Margaret Atwood and Ryan North were among those whose books faced restrictions.
Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale remained among the titles affected by school book bans. North’s Romeo and/or Juliet: A Chooseable Path Adventure entered PEN America’s index for the first time. Young-adult books represented more than half of the titles restricted during the year. Fiction accounted for more than 80% of recorded bans. More than 4,500 titles also appeared in the index for the first time, broadening the range of books caught in disputes over school collections.
Texas and Florida produced the vast majority of the recorded bans. Texas accounted for more than 8,100 cases, while Florida recorded more than 3,200. PEN America said state legislation influenced bans in 72% of the districts it monitored. Texas Senate Bill 13 expanded parental oversight of school library materials during the 2025-26 academic year. The law also established statewide rules covering content deemed harmful, indecent, profane or unsuitable for minors.
Conservative activism shapes book challenges
Conservative organizations have played a visible role in campaigns seeking book removals from public schools. Moms for Liberty, Citizens Defending Freedom and Parents’ Rights in Education have supported challenges to school materials. PEN America has previously described those groups as part of a broader conservative movement focused on education and parental authority. National library data for 2025 showed that pressure groups, government officials and institutional decision-makers generated 92% of reported book challenges. Individual parents accounted for fewer than 3%.
The subjects targeted in many challenges also follow clear patterns. PEN America says restrictions frequently involve books about race, racism, LGBTQ+ people, sexuality and sexual violence. Works featuring people of color also appear often in its records. Educators and librarians had selected many of these books for school collections before challenges arose. Legislative action, public hearings and organized campaigns now play a larger role in determining which titles students can access.
Free-expression groups warn over rising restrictions
The scale of U.S. book restrictions has grown sharply since national tracking expanded. PEN America has documented more than 34,000 school book bans since 2021. The American Library Association separately counted 4,235 unique titles challenged during 2025. It also recorded 5,668 books banned from libraries and another 920 subject to access limits. The two organizations use different methods, but both report widespread pressure on books and educational materials across the country.
The inclusion of Atwood and North gives the latest figures an international dimension, while the core dispute remains centered on U.S. education policy. Republican-backed laws and conservative advocacy groups now influence many decisions over school library collections. Free-expression organizations say broad removals restrict student access to literature covering identity, race, sexuality and other contested subjects. Supporters of tighter controls argue that schools must screen materials for age suitability. The latest totals show that the conflict now reaches thousands of titles across U.S. public schools.