22,810 Bans in 451 Districts
PEN America has documented 22,810 book bans in public schools across 45 states and 451 school districts since 2021. The ALA recorded the second highest level of censorship attempts in its history in 2025. The numbers are not slowing down.
22,810 book bans across 45 states since 2021. 92% of challenges in 2025 came from pressure groups. Less than 3% from individual parents.
This is not parents reading a book and objecting. In 2025, 92% of all book challenges were initiated by organized pressure groups, government officials, or institutional decision-makers. Less than 3% originated from individual parents. The shift from 72% in 2024 to 92% in 2025 shows an accelerating campaign.
What Gets Banned
The majority of banned books are by or about people of color, LGBTQ individuals, or topics related to race, history, and reproductive health. PEN America calls this “the normalization of book banning” and warns that the pattern represents systematic suppression of specific voices and ideas.
The books being removed are not obscure. They include works by Toni Morrison, Jesmyn Ward, and Angie Thomas. They include memoirs by Holocaust survivors, civil rights histories, and sex education materials recommended by medical organizations. The bans target the books that help students understand the world they live in.
How the Campaign Works
Pressure groups like Moms for Liberty provide pre-made lists of books to challenge and template language for submitting formal complaints. A single individual using one of these lists can generate hundreds of challenges at once. School boards that lack clear policies for handling challenges often remove books preemptively rather than fight.
10 states account for 80% of all bans. The concentration suggests that the campaign is most effective where state legislatures have passed laws that enable or require removal of challenged materials, or where school boards are sympathetic to the pressure.
Educators Fighting Back
The NEA reports that educators and parents are pushing back. Librarians are documenting every challenge. Parents are attending school board meetings. Students are reading banned books publicly. The resistance is real, but it is fighting a campaign with organizational infrastructure, legal support, and political backing.
Read more on the Education hub and the teacher shortage brief.