Overview

• Florida accounted for about 2,304 removals and Texas 1,781, with roughly 80% of all cases concentrated in Florida, Texas and Tennessee.
• A trio of Houston-area districts made up nearly half of Texas’s total, including Katy ISD (513), Lamar CISD (286) and Fort Bend ISD (78), according to the report.
• Stephen King was the most-banned author with 206 removals, while frequently cited reasons included LGBTQ+ themes, depictions of race and sexual or sexual-violence content.
• PEN reports most actions were precautionary responses to vague state laws such as Texas’s HB 900, with only about 3% directly triggered by statutory requirements.
• The report’s broader count includes temporary or pending restrictions and differs from state tallies such as Florida’s 444, as a federal judge recently ruled part of Florida’s library ban law overbroad and unconstitutional.