Many book bans in the US could be judging titles mainly by their covers

Over the past decade, a growing movement to restrict access to books in public schools and libraries has spread across the country. Every year, there are hundreds of attempts to challenge or ban books , targeting thousands of titles.

According to the nonprofit free speech advocacy group PEN America , there have been nearly 16,000 book bans in US public schools and libraries since 2021, a number not seen since the 1950s under McCarthyism . The actual number of bans likely is much higher, since not every book ban gets officially reported.

During the 2020s, book banning has become a viral phenomenon. Small, conservative nonprofits such as Moms for Liberty , founded in 2021, have developed and expanded their advocacy for book bans at the local, state and national levels. Thes