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By Billal Rahman
Immigration Reporter
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Book bans in schools across the United States is on the rise with conservative states more likely to restrict access to literature.
More than 3,000 books have been banned across various states, with Florida leading the charge, primarily driven by debates over race, gender identity, and LGBTQ+ rights.
PEN America recorded 3,362 instances of books being banned in the 2022-23 academic year, an increase of 33 percent from the previous year.
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Drawing on data from the World Population Review, Newsweek has created this map to show U.S. states with the most banned books.
Florida and Texas top the list of states with the most banned books, as the growing movement to censor books in the U.S. intensifies.
In 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation in the state banning books in schools that included any kind of sexually explicit material.
Under the law, teachers are required to remove books that do not appear on a state-approved reading list until they are reviewed by a certified media specialist.
Julia Friedland, a spokesperson for DeSantis, told Newsweek that the book ban is a "hoax."
"There are no books banned in Florida," Friedland said in a comment over email.
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DeSantis has repeatedly said that Florida does not ban books and has argued the legislation is designed solely to remove inappropriate material from the classroom.
"Over the past year, parents have used their rights to object to pornographic and sexually explicit material they found in school libraries," DeSantis said previously.
"Exposing the 'book ban' hoax is important because it reveals that some are attempting to use our schools for indoctrination. In Florida, pornographic and inappropriate materials that have been sneaked into our classrooms and libraries to sexualize our students and violate our state education standards.
"Florida is the education state and that means providing students with a quality education free from sexualization and harmful materials that are not age appropriate," DeSantis added.
Florida banned 1,406 books during the 2022-23 school year, followed by Texas with 625 bans. Of the books Florida banned from school libraries, 23 are by critically acclaimed horror author Stephen King.
Titles banned in Texas schools include Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner.
In August, several major book publishers sued Florida over state legislation that allows schools to ban certain books from their student libraries.
Rounding out the top five, Missouri, Utah, and Pennsylvania also report significant bans.
A report from the American Library Association said book banning is on the rise in the U.S. with a 65 percent year-over-year increase in attempts to ban books in 2023.
On the other end of the spectrum, California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New Hampshire have all banned just one, with two banned in Oklahoma.
Several states don't have any books banned, but legislators made attempts to remove various titles.
Between January and August 2023, the American Library Association recorded 14 attempts to restrict access to books in Delaware, with 109 titles being challenged during this period.
The movement has sparked fierce opposition from free-speech advocates, who argue it limits students' access to diverse perspectives and rich literature.
Democratic State Senator Lori Berman accused Florida Republicans of "suppressing" information and described the policy as "authoritarian."
"I stand firmly against book bans. These efforts to restrict children's access to literature and educational material are an attack on free speech, intellectual freedom, and the diversity of ideas that should thrive in our public schools and their libraries.
"Luckily, in Palm Beach County, not a single book has been banned," Berman told Newsweek.
"The Republican-led legislature in Florida is using book bans as a tool to suppress information and rewrite a version of history that they are comfortable with.
"It's no coincidence that the majority of these bans target materials that promote diversity, inclusion, and critical thinking. This is about control—control over what our children learn and what beliefs they are allowed to hold."
Bermann added that the ban is a "direct threat" to American values.
"These policies are more than dangerous—they're authoritarian. Censorship has no place in our state, and these actions are a direct threat to our values as Americans," the senator said.
She added: "By limiting access to diverse perspectives, the state is fostering an environment of fear and ignorance, where students are deprived of the opportunity to engage with complex and challenging ideas in the classroom."
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