NEW YORK CITY, New York: A new PEN America report paints a stark picture of the ongoing book censorship battle in U.S. schools, revealing Stephen King as the most frequently banned author and underscoring a widening divide between states that aggressively restrict access to books and those that are moving to safeguard them.

Released this week, Banned in the USA documented more than 6,800 bans in the 2024–2025 school year. While lower than the 10,000 removals recorded in 2023–2024, the figure remains dramatically higher than just a few years ago, when PEN saw little need to track bans at all.

The data shows a nation split. Roughly 80 percent of bans came from Florida, Texas, and Tennessee—states where lawmakers have introduced or passed sweeping laws to remove books labeled "objectionable." By contrast, states such as Illinois, Maryland, and New Jersey have passed legislation curbing the power of schools or libraries to pull books.

"It is increasingly a story of two countries," said Kasey Meehan, director of PEN's Freedom to Read program and a co-author of the report. "And it's not just red states versus blue states. In Florida, responses vary from county to county."

King, Burgess, and Beyond

King's novels were censored 206 times, with Carrie and The Stand among the 87 of his titles affected. Anthony Burgess' 1960s dystopian classic A Clockwork Orange was the single most-banned work, removed 23 times. Other frequently targeted titles included Patricia McCormick's Sold, Judy Blume's Forever, Jennifer Niven's Breathless, and numerous works by Sarah J. Maas and Jodi Picoult.

The most common reasons cited were LGBTQ+ themes, racial content, depictions of violence, and sexual violence. But PEN found many bans happened "in anticipation" of backlash, with schools pulling books pre-emptively to avoid political or legal conflict. The report described this as "obeying in advance," rooted in fear of punishment.

Book challenges are not only coming from conservative activists and statehouses. PEN noted that the Department of Defense removed hundreds of titles from K-12 libraries on military bases, as part of a broader campaign against diversity and inclusion initiatives. Meanwhile, the Department of Education recently ended a Biden administration effort to investigate the legality of bans, dismissing the issue as a "hoax."

PEN's methodology differs from that of the American Library Association (ALA). PEN counts any removal, even temporary, while the ALA only tallies permanent bans. Both acknowledge that their figures are incomplete, as many removals never make it into public records. In states such as Ohio, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, PEN could not gather reliable data at all.

Stephana Ferrell, director of the Florida Freedom to Read Project, said accurate numbers are "likely much higher" than PEN's snapshot. Meehan echoed this uncertainty: "It's become harder and harder to quantify the scope of the book-banning crisis."

Even so, the report leaves little doubt about the trend. As Meehan noted, "In some districts, in being overly cautious, they sweep so wide they end up removing Stephen King, too."