UNITED STATES / RankWire.AI / – During the 2025-26 academic year, PEN America documented a total of 11,982 book bans within U.S. public schools. This number marks the highest annual total since the organization started tracking such restrictions in 2021. The bans encompassed 7,370 distinct titles across 114 school districts, with over 4,000 authors, illustrators, and translators appearing in the records. Among the affected writers were Canadian authors Margaret Atwood and Ryan North, as the wave of removals continued to grow.
The novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Atwood remained one of the titles involved in school censorship debates, while North’s Romeo and/or Juliet: A Chooseable Path Adventure was added to PEN America’s index for the first time. Over half of the banned works were young-adult titles, with fiction making up more than 80% of the total. The index also included more than 4,500 titles for the first time, illustrating the extensive reach of these restrictions.
Texas and Florida were the leading states in the national totals. Texas accounted for over 8,100 bans, whereas Florida had more than 3,200. PEN America highlighted that in 72% of the districts it monitored, bans were influenced by state legislation. During the 2025-26 school year, Texas Senate Bill 13 increased parental authority regarding school library materials and established statewide regulations on content deemed harmful, indecent, profane, or inappropriate for minors.
Conservative groups intensify efforts to influence school content
Organizations aligned with conservative ideologies, such as Moms for Liberty, Citizens Defending Freedom, and Parents’ Rights in Education, have played a major role in spearheading efforts to remove certain books from schools across multiple states. PEN America has connected these groups to organized conservative activism concerning education. Data from 2025 reveals that pressure groups, government officials, and institutional decision-makers accounted for 92% of reported book challenges, with individual parents contributing less than 3%, challenging claims that the recent surge stems mainly from isolated family grievances.
The types of books most frequently challenged follow identifiable patterns. PEN America reports that many restrictions target titles related to race, racism, LGBTQ+ issues, sexuality, and sexual violence. Books featuring people of color are also commonly affected. Many of these books had already been selected by educators and librarians for school collections, but now conservative political campaigns, legislation, and public pressures are exerting increased influence over what students are permitted to read.
Restrictions on books raise ongoing concerns over free expression
The scope of these restrictions extends well beyond isolated local conflicts. Since 2021, PEN America has recorded over 34,000 school book bans nationwide. The American Library Association separately reported 4,235 unique titles challenged during 2025, along with 5,668 books banned from libraries and another 920 facing limited access. While their methodologies differ, both organizations highlight a persistent trend of escalating pressure on access to books and educational resources across the country.
The involvement of Canadian authors like Atwood and North underscores how a dispute primarily driven by U.S. state politics now encompasses international figures. Republican-supported laws and conservative advocacy networks have significantly shaped decisions about school library collections. Free-expression groups warn that broad removals restrict access to literature covering race, identity, sexuality, and other sensitive topics. Supporters of more restrictive policies argue that schools need to vet materials for age appropriateness. The latest figures show that politically motivated book restrictions are now impacting thousands of titles across American public schools.