Florida leads the U.S. in school book bans in the most recent school year, marking the third straight year the state topped an annual list compiled by free speech group PEN America.

The Sunshine State saw 2,304 “instances of book banning” across 33 counties in 2024-25, according to the report, titled “The Normalization of Book Banning,” published Wednesday. That figure is down from 4,561 last year, but still by far the most with Texas and Tennessee just behind at about 1,700 instances each.

“For many students, families, educators, librarians, and school districts, book banning is a new normal,” the report read. PEN America’s report refers to the number of actions taken against books, not the number of individual books banned, but notes that the most widely banned book nationwide is “A Cl

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