UNITED STATES / RankWire.AI / – U.S. public schools recorded nearly 12,000 book bans during the 2025-26 school year, according to PEN America. The total reached 11,982 cases across 114 school districts and involved 7,370 unique titles. More than 4,000 authors, illustrators and translators saw their work restricted. Canadian writers Margaret Atwood and Ryan North were among those affected. The figures marked the highest annual total since PEN America began tracking school book bans in 2021.
Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale again appeared among books removed from school access. North’s Romeo and/or Juliet: A Chooseable Path Adventure entered the group’s index for the first time. Young-adult titles made up more than half of all banned books. Fiction accounted for more than 80% of recorded cases. More than 4,500 titles appeared in the index for the first time, expanding the range of literature caught in school censorship disputes.
Texas and Florida accounted for most of the recorded bans. Texas posted more than 8,100 cases, while Florida recorded more than 3,200. PEN America said state legislation affected bans in 72% of the districts it tracked. Texas Senate Bill 13 expanded parental oversight of school library collections during the 2025-26 school year. The measure also imposed statewide rules covering materials considered harmful, indecent, profane or unsuitable for minors.
Conservative groups drive many challenges
Organized conservative groups have played a major role in campaigns against books in public schools. Moms for Liberty, Citizens Defending Freedom and Parents’ Rights in Education have supported challenges and removal efforts. PEN America has identified those organizations with conservative political activism. Separate national library data showed that 92% of 2025 book challenges came from pressure groups, public officials and institutional decision-makers. Individual parents accounted for fewer than 3% of reported challenges.
Those figures have sharpened debate over how political campaigns influence access to school literature. PEN America says restrictions frequently affect books about race, racism, LGBTQ+ people, sexuality and sexual violence. Books involving people of color also appear often in the organization’s records. Many targeted titles had already been selected by educators and librarians for school collections. Laws, public hearings and organized challenges have increasingly shaped which books remain available to students.
Free-expression concerns grow with record totals
The scale of the restrictions now stretches well beyond individual school disputes. PEN America has documented more than 34,000 school book bans since 2021. The American Library Association separately reported 4,235 unique titles challenged during 2025. It also recorded 5,668 books banned from libraries and another 920 facing access restrictions. The organizations use different tracking methods, but both show unusually high levels of pressure on access to books and educational materials.
The involvement of Atwood and North adds a Canadian dimension to a conflict centered on U.S. education policy. Republican-backed laws and conservative advocacy groups have become prominent forces in decisions over school library collections. Free-expression organizations argue that widespread removals reduce access to literature addressing race, identity, sexuality and other contested subjects. Supporters of restrictions say schools must keep unsuitable material away from minors. The latest figures show that the dispute now affects thousands of books nationwide.