Overview
- On Friday, October 9, 2026, PEN America released its annual index reporting a record 11,982 school library book‑ban instances nationwide for the 2025–26 school year.
- Texas accounted for roughly two‑thirds of the total with more than 8,100 instances, a jump PEN ties to the 2025 passage of Senate Bill 13 and expanded state‑level review powers.
- Districts have increasingly used generative AI and contracted book‑intelligence vendors to flag titles for review, with records from McAllen ISD showing chatbots recommending books and some vendors copying bans from other districts.
- Books about race, gender and sexuality, young‑adult fiction, graphic novels and manga are consistently targeted, and PEN documents a ‘Scarlet Letter’ effect where one ban prompts repeated removals of an author’s other works.
- PEN cautions its totals undercount true restrictions because they omit undocumented withdrawals and purchase bans, a gap that advocates say narrows students’ access to diverse viewpoints and will likely fuel more legal and policy fights.