UNITED STATES / RankWire.AI / – During a year marked by unprecedented removals, U.S. school book bans impacted Canadian authors Margaret Atwood and Ryan North. According to PEN America, 11,982 bans were recorded in the 2025-26 academic year, the highest annual total since the organization began tracking in 2021. The data encompassed 7,370 unique titles across 114 districts. Over 4,000 authors, illustrators, and translators had their work restricted, illustrating the growing scope of school censorship efforts.
The latest index kept Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale among the most frequently challenged books. Meanwhile, North’s Romeo and/or Juliet: A Chooseable Path Adventure appeared for the first time. More than half of the banned titles were young-adult books, with fiction making up over 80% of the total bans. An additional 4,500 titles were listed for the first time, expanding the range of literature removed from student access.
States led by Republicans, Texas and Florida, accounted for the vast majority of bans. Texas registered over 8,100, while Florida noted more than 3,200. PEN America linked bans in 72% of the districts tracked to legislative action. For the 2025-26 school year, Texas Senate Bill 13 took effect, increasing parental oversight of school library collections. The law also mandated statewide standards to restrict materials deemed harmful, indecent, profane, or age-inappropriate by authorities. Proponents describe such measures as parental-control and child-protection policies.
Conservative politics drive the censorship movement
The broader trend indicates that this ban movement is strongly linked to conservative political organizing rather than isolated parental complaints. Organizations like Moms for Liberty, Citizens Defending Freedom, and Parents’ Rights in Education have actively campaigned for removal efforts. Earlier research by PEN America characterized these groups as promoting staunchly conservative values. The American Library Association reported that 92% of book challenges in 2025 originated from pressure groups, government officials, and decision-makers, with fewer than 3% coming directly from individual parents.
This imbalance has intensified criticism that right-wing campaigns are narrowing the range of reading material available to students in public schools. PEN America highlights that bans often target books addressing race, racism, LGBTQ+ issues, people of color, sexuality, and sexual violence. Many of these titles had been selected by educators and librarians for school collections before facing challenges. The organization also documented political influence through legislation, official hearings, and removal demands, which can turn ideological disputes over individual books into restrictions affecting entire school systems.
Unprecedented removal levels raise free-expression concerns
The scope of censorship now extends well beyond isolated local conflicts, reaching a national scale. Since 2021, PEN America has documented over 34,000 school book bans. The American Library Association separately tracked 4,235 unique titles challenged in 2025, along with 5,668 books banned from libraries and 920 facing access restrictions. While their methodologies differ, both organizations reveal historically high levels of censorship, with coordinated groups and government actions playing central roles in many removals.
The latest figures from Atwood and North add a Canadian dimension to the ongoing debate, but the core issue remains rooted in U.S. education policy. Legislative measures supported by Republicans and advocacy networks aligned with conservatism have reshaped decision-making processes that once fell to local educators and librarians. Free-expression advocates argue that these restrictions limit access to literature, particularly works addressing identity, race, and sexuality. Meanwhile, supporters insist that schools should evaluate materials for age appropriateness. The record-breaking numbers demonstrate that these political conflicts now influence access to thousands of books throughout public schools across the U.S.
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