Maps of Book Challenges
Both the American Library Association and PEN America track book bans and challenges in the US.
The first map below is from PEN America. The second set of maps is from the American Library Association.
PEN America map (2022-2023 school year)
- Banned in the USA: The Mounting Pressure to Censor (September 2023)"The freedom to read is under assault in the United States—particularly in public schools—curtailing students’ freedom to explore words, ideas, and books. In the 2022–23 school year, from July 1, 2022, to June 31, 2023, PEN America recorded 3,362 instances of book bans in US public school classrooms and libraries. These bans removed student access to 1,557 unique book titles, the works of over 1,480 authors, illustrators, and translators. Authors whose books are targeted are most frequently female, people of color, and/or LGBTQ+ individuals. 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."
American Library Association maps (2013-2022)
- Challenges to the Freedom to Read, 2013-2022Scroll through maps to see where bans and challenges have happened in previous years.
