Attempts to censor books in US public schools and libraries have spiked since 2021

From 2015 through 2019, there were 228 attempts per year on average to remove books from U.S. public schools and libraries. After pandemic shutdowns in 2020, book challenges sharply increased, averaging 848 attempts yearly through 2024. The average number of unique titles challenged yearly rose tenfold, from 231 in 2015-2019 to 2,780 in 2021-2024.

Line chart showing the number of yearly attempts to censor books in US public schools and libraries, the number of unique titles challenged yearly and the total number of titles challenged yearly from 2015-2024.

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'Total titles challenged' counts every book targeted for removal, including bans targeting the same title in many different locations. 'Unique titles challenged' denotes the number of books challenged, not counting multiple efforts to censor some titles.

Chart: The Conversation, CC BY-NDSource: American Library AssociationGet the dataDownload imageCreated with Datawrapper