October 1, 2025
Book bans surge; A Clockwork Orange tops list
6,870 books banned in 2024-25, Florida leads with 2,304
✊Civil Rights📰Media Literacy🎓Education
PEN America counted 6,870 instances of books removed from K‑12 school shelves in 2024–2025.
Those removals covered 3,752 unique book titles reported across 23 states and 87 public school districts.
Since 2021 PEN has recorded roughly 22,810 instances across 45 states and 451 public school districts.
Florida recorded 2,304 removals in 2024–2025. Texas recorded 1,781. Tennessee recorded 1,622.
PEN documents that many removals were made preemptively 'to avoid controversy' rather than as direct enforcement of a single, specific statute.
On Jan. 24, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights announced it had closed 11 complaints related to book removals and that OCR would end the book‑ban coordinator role.
✊Civil Rights📰Media Literacy🎓Education
Test Your Knowledge
10
Q1
Since PEN America began tracking in 2021, how many total book ban instances have occurred across the U.S.?
Q2
How many book bans did PEN America document during the 2024-2025 school year?
Q3
Which book topped PEN America''s most-banned list for 2024-2025?
Q4
Eighty percent of all book bans in 2024-2025 occurred in just three states: Florida, Texas, and Tennessee.
Q5
Stephen King became the most-banned author in U.S. schools during 2024-2025. How many of his titles were banned?
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Start QuizPeople, bills, and sources
Kasey Meehan
Director, Freedom to Read, PEN America
Sabrina Baêta
Senior Program Manager, Freedom to Read, PEN America
Ron DeSantis
Governor of Florida
Donald Trump
President of the United States
Moms for Liberty (Tiffany Justice, Tina Descovich)
National parental‑rights advocacy group