Stephen King is the most banned author in US schools, according to report

"tracks more than 6,800 instances of books being temporarily or permanently pulled for the 2024-2025 school year. The new number is down from more than 10,000 in 2023-24, but still far above the levels of a few years ago, when PEN didn't even see the need to compile a report. Some 80% of those bans originated in just three states that have enacted or attempted to enact laws calling for removal of books deemed objectionable Florida, Texas and Tennessee."

"It is increasingly a story of two countries, says Kasey Meehan, director of PEN's Freedom to Read program and an author of Wednesday's report. And it's not just a story of red states and blue states. In Florida, not all of the school districts responded to the calls for banning books. You can find differences from county to county. King's books were censored 206 times, according to PEN, with Carrie and The Stand among the 87 of his works affected."

"The most banned work of any author was Anthony Burgess' Dystopian classic from the 1960s, A Clockwork Orange, for which PEN found 23 removals. Other books and authors facing extensive restrictions included Patricia McCormick's Sold, Judy Blume's Forever and Jennifer Niven's Breathless, and numerous works by Sarah J Maas and Jodi Picoult. Reasons often cited for pulling a book include LGBTQ+ themes, depictions of race and passages with violence and sexual violence."

More than 6,800 instances of books were temporarily or permanently removed from US schools during the 2024–2025 school year, down from over 10,000 the previous year but still far higher than a few years ago. Roughly 80% of removals originated in Florida, Texas and Tennessee, where laws have been enacted or proposed to remove objectionable books. Several states, including Illinois, Maryland and New Jersey, showed few or no removals and have laws limiting library removal authority. A wide range of titles and authors were affected, with cited reasons including LGBTQ+ themes, depictions of race, and violence.

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