Schools banned a record 12,000 books in a year, according to annual report

Nearly 12,000 bans took place in public schools over the past year, according to a new study from PEN America, the highest total since the free expression organization began tracking removals five years ago. For the second straight year, Stephen King was the author most likely to have his work withdrawn.

Many of the bans took place in Florida and Texas, where restrictive laws have been passed and both politicians and conservative activists have pushed for removals. PEN has also found that school district administrators rely increasingly on AI to determine which books should be pulled.

Themes of race, racism, sexuality and gender identity remain the most common reasons books are challenged.

“School libraries make knowledge and ideas available, ensure books remain available for all regardless of personal or political ideologies, and open gateways to stories that inform, challenge, and reflect the realities of the world back to readers,” the PEN report, titled “Banned in the USA,” reads in part. “Book bans impede the freedom to read, cutting students’ access to a diversity of views, voices, perspectives, and literature they deserve to encounter.”

In all, PEN found 11,982 cases of bans, affecting 7,370 individual works. Over 4,500 were on the…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/health