PEN America’s annual report on school book bans has nearly tripled from last year.
The 2022-2023 school year recorded 3,362 book bans nationwide, while this year has recorded over 10,000, according to a memo released this morning.
Eight thousand of those bans were recorded in Florida and Iowa alone. Senate Bill 496 in Iowa and HB 1467 in Florida have allowed parents to appeal for book bans in schools on books they find objectionable. Both laws claim to ban explicit material from schools when not age-appropriate. The more recent SF 496 sets provisions against text that depicts sex acts, “gender identity” or other “sexually explicit material,” according the the Des Moines Register.
The laws also contain explicit “Don’t Say Gay” provisions prohibiting education on gender identity or sexual orientation until after sixth grade.
The Iowa law has been criticized for casting such a wide ban on gender education that teachers could not explain “boys and girls bathrooms, a teacher going by Mr. or Mrs., or a math problem where a girl is referred to as she.” This has led to bans on books featuring “romance,” “women’s sexual experiences,” and stories about sexual assault, as well as increased power to ban any book with LGBTQ+ characters or themes, according to PEN America’s memo.
In recent years, there have been two main powers promoting book bans, “state legislation,” and “’parental rights’” groups. The modern parental right’s movement has roots in Anita Bryant’s “Save Our Children” campaign, claiming that homosexuals used school curriculums to “recruit.” Notably, today’s “parents right’s” campaign has also risen up in opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement and the push for anti-racist curriculum in the classroom. Upon the signing of HB 1467, the “Parental Rights Education Act,” Lt Governor Jeanette Nuñez claims they are ending “corporate wokeness,” “critical race theory,” and “Marxist-inspired curriculum” in their schools.
PEN America notes that the bans disproportionately impact books with characters of color and LGBTQ+ people. Many earlier bans were upheld or copied across state lines, such as on The Color Purple by Alice Walker, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, and Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. However, some new bans include Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley, Black Reconstruction in America, 1860-1880 by W.E.B. DuBois, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, all of which, perhaps with the exception of Roots, predate the development of Critical Race Theory.
Many book bans occur at the district or school level, but PEN America notes several other states with statewide book bans that will likely go into effect during the 2024-2025 school year. South Carolina’s Regulation 43-170 prohibits books with “sex-related content” and gives the board of education statewide banning ability; Tennessee expanded the “Age-Appropriate Materials Act of 2022” and now requires schools to remove books that contain “nudity, ‘excess violence’ or sex-related content.” Finally, Utah has passed the “most extreme state book banning bill” which adds books to a “No Read List” once three school districts have found it objectionable.
The ”Big Six” publishers have sued Florida on the grounds that HB 1069 is unconstitutional and Iowa law SF 469 was also initially held up in court with a preliminary injunction. Large organizations such as PEN America and the ACLU support legislation to prevent book bans and censorship in schools. PEN America also contains resources to fight book bans at local levels.
PEN America will release its final analysis and count of banned books later this fall.
This post was originally published on here
