PEN America Reports Record 11,982 School Book Bans in 2025-2026

PEN America's Index of School Book Bans recorded 11,982 bans during the 2025-2026 school year, the highest annual total since the organization began tracking in 2021, according to cbr.com. The bans affected 7,370 unique titles and the works of more than 4,000 authors, illustrators and translators.

Texas led with 8,193 recorded bans, followed by Florida with 3,212. Some school districts removed entire manga series rather than individual volumes, resulting in more than 20 or 50 volumes removed at once.

Manga series identified in the report include Attack on Titan, Tokyo Ghoul, Soul Eater, Inuyasha, Assassination Classroom and Dragon Ball Z. Other affected works include Atsushi Ohkubo's Fire Force and Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma 1/2.

Atsushi Ohkubo received 106 bans for Soul Eater and Fire Force, Hajime Isayama 89 bans for Attack on Titan, and Rumiko Takahashi 63 bans for Inuyasha and Ranma 1/2. Attack on Titan Volume 34 and Tokyo Ghoul appeared in the index for the first time during the 2025-2026 school year.

State Restrictions and AI Tools

Texas Senate Bill 13, passed in 2025, introduced new restrictions on school library materials deemed indecent or profane. Some districts used AI tools to evaluate books for removal.