Jodi Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes was the Most Commonly Banned Book
(NEW YORK)— PEN America today released new documentation of public school book bans for the full 2023-2024 school year, recording 10,046 instances of books banned nationwide, a dramatic 200 percent rise over the previous school year. Since 2021, the free expression organization has counted close to 16,000 instances of book bans in public schools.
According to Banned in the USA: Beyond the Shelves, 43% of book ban cases, or 4,295 bans, were books completely prohibited from access – neither pending a review nor available with newly imposed restrictions. Books completely removed from access were 16 percentage points higher this year (43%) compared to prior years (27%).
As has been true since this censorship crisis started in 2021, individuals and groups espousing extreme conservative viewpoints predominantly targeted titles with themes of race, sexuality, and gender identity. The report also found that books are increasingly being censored that depict topics young people confront in the real world, including experiences with substance abuse, suicide, depression and mental health concerns, and sexual violence.
Kasey Meehan, director of PEN America’s Freedom to Read program, said: “This crisis is tragic for young people hungry to understand the world they live in and see their identities and experiences reflected in books. The passage of time when you’re in 6th grade or 11th grade is very fast –…
