(NEW YORK)— In its latest report on book bans in public schools, PEN America today documents a doubling of censorship of nonfiction on subjects from history and health to general knowledge, including biographies and memoirs. The targeting of titles about real events or people underscores “an embrace of anti-intellectualism” within the book banning movement, according to the new report Facts & Fiction: Stories Stripped Away By Book Bans.
The report offers detailed analysis of the content of the 3,743 unique titles that were removed from school libraries and classrooms from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025. Over this same period, PEN America tracked 6,780 total instances of bans across 23 states.
Twenty-nine percent of the unique titles banned last school year were nonfiction. In addition, approximately 13% of all unique titles fell into the educational/informational genre – texts primarily written for students for reference or learning purposes and covering a range of subjects. Overall, the rise of banned nonfiction and educational titles exposed a new casualty in the campaign to suppress and restrict learning, which goes hand in hand with efforts to undermine public education and librarianship itself, the report states.
“This latest trend shows an embrace of anti-intellectualism, undermining public knowledge by devaluing education and expertise,” said Kasey Meehan, director of PEN America’s Freedom to Read program. “It is another example of how censorship sweeps broadly, leading to removals of all kinds of books, in its efforts to sow fear and distrust in our public education system.”
As book bans in public schools have exploded since 2021, PEN America, the writers and free expression organization, has documented the crisis nationwide, counting more than 23,000 bans over the period.
The increase in nonfiction bans over 2024-2025 is especially troubling as reading scores and literacy rates decline while the report notes that nonfiction “is the gateway to literacy” and essential for young people to make sense of the world and form their own opinions. Books in this category often deal with personal, artistic, historical, and educational topics – just this month, Utah added the memoir of Jaycee Dugard, who was abducted from the street at age 11 and held for 18 years, to its list of books banned statewide.
Nonfiction books banned included titles for young adult and middle grade readers: Night by Elie Wiesel, biographies such as RuPaul by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara, alongside historical and educational or informational books such as Aztec, Inca, and Maya by Elizabeth Baquedano, and Challenges for LGBTQ Teens by Martha Lundin.
Notably, activism was the most commonly banned topic within nonfiction titles. Of the 1,102 nonfiction titles banned, 52% were titles with themes of activism and social movements. Relatedly, out of all unique titles, 39% of the books had a theme related to empowerment/self esteem. Banned titles among these include Flor Fights Back: A Stonewall Riots Survival Story by Joy Michale Ellison and illustrated by Francesca Ficorilli, The Moon Within by Aida Salazar, and Intersection Allies: We Make Room For All by Chelsea Johnson, LaToya Council, Charolyn Choi and illustrated by Ashley Seil Smith.
McKenna Samson, a co-author of the report and Freedom to Read program manager, noted the harms of removing books on empowerment and social movements at a time when school boards, state legislators, and the federal government are restricting speech. She said: “These titles help students learn about their rights and the stories of those who confronted injustice and participated in social movements to change the world around them.”
Another co-author, Yuliana Tamayo Latorre, Freedom to Read program assistant, said removing books on these topics “silences the voices of marginalized communities and erode their ability to take action amid rising authoritarian tactics by our government and attacks on free speech.”
PEN America’s analysis showed literature featuring people and characters with marginalized identities and communities continued to be the predominant target of book bans; These titles focus on LGBTQ+ (39 % of banned books) and transgender (19%) characters or people, Black and other characters or people of color (44%), and disabled and neurodivergent characters or people (10%).
The report notes that book bans that target people of color have deeply harmful impacts on the mental health of students of color – and consequently the educational outcomes of students of color. As stated in the report, representation in literature provides a mirror to identity and offers a “sliding glass door” to explore unknown worlds.
The bans on books about disabilities and neurodivergence – making up 10% of all banned titles — not only erases the potential validation of the experience of students receiving accommodations or special education but the titles also help their able-bodied and neurotypical peers to better understand them. Banned titles in this category include a range of classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and and “modern classics” like Push by Sapphire and A Boy Called Bat by Elana K. Arnold.
The report also debunks myths about books with sexual content, also a key target in the spread of book bans since 2021 with groups and individuals wrongly labelling books “pornography.” During the 2024-2025 school year, more than one third (34%) of all unique titles or 1,270 books feature consensual sexual experiences, a decrease proportion from the prior school year in which 40% or 1,680 of all banned titles included consensual sexual experiences. While over a third of the books removed contained some sexual content, claims that the books contain “explicit” or “obscene” content grossly mischaracterize the book titles.
Sex education books were also banned from every intended age group including titles like You Know, Sex: Bodies, Gender, Puberty and Other Things by Cory Silverberg and illustrated by Fiona Smyth and The Little Black Book for Girlz: A Book on Healthy Sexuality by St. Stephen’s Community House.
Books with sexual references are often swept up in bans as the result of new laws that target the topic; these sweeps scoop up books with any nudity as well. Books about art and historical books about ancient civilizations such as Greece, Egypt and more have been banned for containing nudity. Though the exposure of a naked human is not inherently sexual, nudity is cited as justification for censorship.
Books about sexual violence have been caught up in the removals, also falsely labeled as “porn,” which invalidates the experiences of survivors. In 2024-2025, 724 or 19% of all banned titles contained sexual violence, which impacts 443,000 young people 12 and older every year, according to RAINN. Using rhetoric of “sexual explicitness” to attack literature ignores the distinction between sex and violence, harmfully equating sexual violence with sexual content.
Tasslyn Magnusson, co-author and Freedom to Read senior advisor, said: “Young people who have had sexually violent experiences deserve information that helps them understand the harm caused to them and stories that show survival from violent sexual trauma. Removing knowledge about sexual violence creates a silence — and that silence only serves abusers. Books aren’t harmful – censorship is.”
The rampant spread of book bans continues to be alarming, and the stories ripped from shelves point to ongoing efforts to erase LGBTQ+ identities & people of color, repress sexuality and openness around sex, and dismiss expertise and devalue education.
This ongoing assault has taken a new path with recent bills introduced in the U.S. Congress that would withhold federal funds from school districts over books vaguely described as having “sexually-oriented material,” which likely would target books with LGBTQ+ themes or characters. The normalization of book bans echoes conditions long associated with the rise of authoritarianism. As censorship sweeps books from library shelves, the rippling consequences ultimately impact all of us.
About PEN America
PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible. Learn more at pen.org.
Contact: Suzanne Trimel, [email protected], 201-247-5057