US book bans in public schools reach record annual high of 12,000

A display of banned books behind metal bars with informational plaques on wall of a building, San Francisco, California, on 14 May 2026. Photograph: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

The US saw almost 12,000 book bans in public schools during the 2025-2026 school year, the highest number in a single year, according to the free-expression non-profit PEN America.

In a report released on Monday, PEN America said that there had been 34,000 instances of book bans since the organization started tallying the increasing “book censorship crisis” across US schools in 2021.