The Explosion of Book Banning And Its Fallout

I
n past decades, book challenges were overwhelmingly levied by individual parents. A mom who didn’t like the salty language in Slaughterhouse Five, for example. Or thought The Wizard of Oz promoted occultism. Or simply felt Of Mice and Men wasn’t a page-turner.

In 1988-89 there were only 172 recorded challenges to ban or restrict educational materials, a number in line with the individual nature of book banning during this period.[1]

And even from 2010 to 2019 – after the advent of the internet – the average number of challenges only hovered around 300 per year.[2] Though there’s an obvious uptick, these numbers are still consistent with the fact that book challenges were being brought by individual parents seeking to remove or restrict access to material their child was reading.

But that’s no longer the case. In 2025, 4,235 unique titles were challenged. With 92% of those challenges initiated by politically motivated pressure groups and the decision makers influenced by them. Not a grassroots parents’ movement, but a system of well-coordinated, well-funded (we’re talking in the millions) conservative think tanks and national organizations. [3]

This network includes groups like the Manhattan Institute and Moms for Liberty. Not to mention MassResistance, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has classified as an anti-LGBTQ+ “hate group,” a characterization this organization refutes.[4]

So much for the local control of schools so often touted by conservative politicians. As indicated in the table below, that’s an 86% increase since 2005. But more significantly, take a look at the skyrocketing numbers after the year 2020. [5]

Number Of Titles Targeted

Between 2001 and 2020 attempts were made to remove an average of 46 titles per year. From 2021 to 2025, these groups targeted an average of 5,238 total titles annually.[6] Over this five-year period, that’s well over 20,000 instances of books banned.[7]

Consistent with such an organized movement, 94% of all books targeted were part of multi-title challenges often numbering in the hundreds.[8] Like the 850 title list compiled by Texas lawmaker Matt Krause.[9] And to top things off, organizers frequently admitted they hadn’t even read the books for themselves.[10]

What Titles Are Being Targeted

Sad to say, a whopping forty-four percent of the unique titles challenged in 2025 are by or about people of color. Books about the lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ people came in a close second at 39%. And books about neurodivergent or disabled characters are being targeted too. Go figure.

Non-Fiction Titles
Are Also Being Targeted

As disconcerting as it is to see the blatant effort to erase the stories of these communities, the significant rise in challenges of nonfiction titles (double to be precise) is even more disturbing. Yes, books about general knowledge, history and health, including memoirs and biographies are being banned. [11]

Targeting non-fiction titles reveals a frightening contempt for intellectual thought and those who represent it within the book-banning movement. A belief that critical thinking and educated individuals are out of touch with everyday life. An outlook paired with a penchant for minimizing their value.[12]

We see evidence of this mindset in legislation like Florida’s Stop WOKE Act, which restricts how issues revolving around race can be taught in K-20 education systems (if they can be taught at all).[13] Note that this legislation isn’t limited to the K-12 education of children. It extends to higher education, and therefore adult learners as well. Despite the rhetoric surrounding it, this bill is clearly about something other than protecting the feelings of children.

Such disdain for critical thinking not only undermines public knowledge, it sabotages the education of the children book banners claim to be defending.[14] It’s easy to think book banning is just about a few books, but it isn’t. These things are intertwined.

Book Banning Is Like
A Game Of Jenga

Banning books in our public-school classrooms and libraries is like a game of Jenga. Pull out enough pieces and the whole structure collapses. When we vilify books and restrict them from classrooms and school libraries, teachers don’t feel safe – especially given that fines and even jail time for educators are frequently attached to these bans.

This climate of stress and fear has resulted in a significant number of seasoned educators leaving the profession. And it’s happening across the country.[15] It’s a situation that not only leaves public school systems with fewer teachers, it leaves them with those who have less experience.

To say nothing of the fact that these fledgling educators’ ability to deliver a well-rounded education to our students is further hampered by a curriculum that is full of holes.

Needless to say, this scenario impacts where parents decide to send their students. And that matters because public-school funding is typically based on enrollment. Lower enrollment leads to less funding, which results in fewer classes and programs…   Well, you get the picture.

And this sequence of events is not hypothetical. It’s happening in places like the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District in Texas. Where according to Kimberly Phoenix, a parent in that district, they have lost “a massive number of teachers,” and have announced the closure of two schools this year.[16]

In Conclusion

As Rachel Wall, another Grapevine-Colleyville parent who successfully worked to vote out the book banning members of their school board admonishes us:

Don’t give up. And don’t stop paying attention. Keep advocating for your school because the message will get through.[17]

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It will take to undo the damage done by all the book banning that has taken place and all its fallout. But this statement is a keen reminder that change doesn’t only move in one direction. Find tools to help make a positive change and reverse the book banning trend here.

Let’s make it happen!

Download The American Library Association’s
The State of America’s Libraries

#Banned Books          #On Censorship           #State-sponsored Censorship

Endnotes:

[1] Bertram, Cara S. “Censorship throughout the Centuries.” American Libraries Magazine. September 3, 2024. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2024/09/03/censorship-throughout-the-centuries/

[2]Curic, Dimitrije. “Banned Books Statistics.” Wordsrated.com  May 10, 2023.  https://wordsrated.com/banned-books-statistics/

[3] “Censorship by the Numbers: Banned Books Data.” American Library Association. https://www.ala.org/bbooks/book-ban-data

[4] Madison Markham, and Tasslyn Magnusson. “The State of Book Bans: Wisconsin’s Battle with; Parental Rights.’” PEN America. July 18, 2024. https://pen.org/the-state-of-book-bans-wisconsins-battle-with-parental-rights/

Pendharkar, Eesha. “Who’s Behind the Escalating Push to Ban Books? A New Report Has Answers.” EducationWeek. September 19, 2022. https://www.edweek.org/leadership/whos-behind-the-escalating-push-to-ban-books-a-new-report-has-answers/2022/09

[5] “Censorship by the Numbers: Banned Books Data.” American Library Association. https://www.ala.org/bbooks/book-ban-data

[6] “Censorship by the Numbers: Banned Books Data.” American Library Association. https://www.ala.org/bbooks/book-ban-data

[7] Sabrina Baêta and Tasslym Magnusson, PhD, Madison, Markham, and Yuliana Tamayo Latorre. “The Normalization of Book Banning.” PEN America. October 1, 2025. https://pen.org/report/the-normalization-of-book-banning/

[8] Censorship by the Numbers: Banned Books Data.” American Library Association. https://www.ala.org/bbooks/book-ban-data

[9] Chappell, Bill. “A Texas lawmaker is targeting 850 books that he says could make students feel uneasy.” NPR.org October 28, 2021. https://www.npr.org/2021/10/28/1050013664/texas-lawmaker-matt-krause-launches-inquiry-into-850-books

[10] “Censorship by the Numbers: Banned Books Data.” American Library Association. https://www.ala.org/bbooks/book-ban-data

[11] “Banned Nonfiction Books Double in Public Schools, Erasing Authentic Stories & Histories.” PEN America May 7, 2026. https://pen.org/press-release/banned-nonfiction-books-double-in-public-schools-erasing-authentic-stories-histories/

[12] Rohland, Lindsay. “Anti-intellectualism.” EBSCO. 2025. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/social-sciences-and-humanities/anti-intellectualism

[13] Russell-Brown, Katheryn. “’The Stop OIKE Act’: HB7, Race, and Florida’s 21^st Century Anti-literacy Campaign.” UF Law Faculty Publications.

[14] “Banned Nonfiction Books Double in Public Schools, Erasing Authentic Stories & Histories.” PEN America. May 7, 2026. https://pen.org/press-release/banned-nonfiction-books-double-in-public-schools-erasing-authentic-stories-histories/

[15] Tolin, Lisa. “Teachers and Librarians Describe a Climate of Fear Stoked by New Laws.” PEN America. August 23, 2023. https://pen.org/teachers-librarians-intimidation/

[16] Velshi. MSNow. May 10, 2026. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/tx-moms-on-defeating-right-wing-book-bans-our-kids-are-worth-it-our-public-schools-are-worth-it/vi-AA22QtMW

[17] Velshi. MSNow. May 10, 2026. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/tx-moms-on-defeating-right-wing-book-bans-our-kids-are-worth-it-our-public-schools-are-worth-it/vi-AA22QtMW

Images:

Explosion of Book Banning and its Fallout:  Photo by Dewang Gupta on Unsplash

92% pressure groups: American Library Association

Titles Targeted By Organized Campaigns: American Library Association

What Titles Are Being Targeted: PEN America

Genres of Banned Titles: PEN America

Book Banning Is Like A Jenga Game: Photo by Naveen Kumar on Unsplash

In Conclusion: Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash