New PEN America Report Finds 33% Jump in School Book Bans (publishersweekly.com)

In a new report released this week, PEN America found 3,362 instances of books banned in public schools in the 2022-23 school year, marking a 33% increase over last year. And in an eyeopening finding, PEN officials found more than 40% percent of all book bans tracked by PEN America occurred in school districts in Florida—1,406 across 33 school districts across the state—with Texas a distant second (625), followed by Missouri (333), Utah (281), and Pennsylvania (186).

“Amid a growing climate of censorship, school book bans continue to spread through coordinated campaigns by a vocal minority of groups and individual actors and, increasingly, as a result of pressure from state legislation,” the report, Banned in the USA: The Mounting Pressure to Censor, finds.
more at: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/libraries/article/93225-new-pen-america-report-finds-33-jump-in-school-book-bans.html?oly_enc_id=4135H6798501E1Y

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