Overview

• PEN America’s new report tallies 6,870 instances of books being removed or restricted in the 2024–25 school year, down from more than 10,000 in 2023–24 but still far above pre‑2021 levels.
• Roughly 80% of removals were in Florida, Texas and Tennessee, with Texas logging 1,781 bans and a trio of Houston‑area districts accounting for nearly half of that total.
• PEN says many removals occurred preemptively due to laws such as Texas’s HB 900, with districts “over‑complying” despite only a small share of actions being directly mandated by statute.
• Stephen King was the most‑banned author, while the most frequently removed titles included A Clockwork Orange, Sold, Breathless, Last Night at the Telegraph Club and A Court of Mist and Fury.
• Counts remain contested and incomplete, with Florida’s Department of Education listing 444 removed titles versus PEN’s 2,304 for the state, and differing methodologies capturing temporary as well as permanent restrictions.