Banned and challenged books in US schools

Titles reported as banned, removed, or formally challenged by at least one US school district in each listed state. “Banned” here is shorthand for “challenged or removed in at least one district”; no state has a universal ban on any of these titles. Scope and status vary by district and by year.

Sources: PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans and the American Library Association’s most-challenged list.

New to how book challenges work in US schools? Our editorial guide on how challenges and removals actually work walks through the formal reconsideration process, the 1982 Board of Education v. Pico legal frame, and what parents on either side of a challenge can do.