NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Attempted at school and public libraries continue to surge, setting a record in 2022, according to a new report from the American Library Association released Thursday.
More than 1,200 challenges were compiled by the association in 2022, nearly double the then-record total from 2021 and by far the most since the ALA began keeping data 20 years ago.
鈥淚've never seen anything like this,鈥� says Deborah Caldwell-Stone, who directs the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom. 鈥淭he last two years have been exhausting, frightening, outrage inducing.鈥�
Thursday's report not only documents , but also their changing nature. A few years ago, complaints usually arose with parents and other community members and referred to an individual book. Now, the requests are often for multiple removals, and organized by national groups such as the conservative Moms for Liberty, which has a mission of 鈥渦nifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.鈥�
Last year, more than 2,500 different books were objected to, compared to 1,858 in 2021 and just 566 in 2019. In numerous cases, hundreds of books were challenged in a single complaint. The ALA bases its findings on media accounts and voluntary reporting from libraries and acknowledges that the numbers might be far higher.
have told of being harassed and threatened with violence or legal action.
鈥淓very day professional librarians sit down with parents to thoughtfully determine what reading material is best suited for their child鈥檚 needs,鈥� ALA President Lessa Kanani鈥檕pua Pelayo-Lozada said in a statement. 鈥淣ow, many library workers face threats to their employment, their personal safety, and in some cases, threats of prosecution for providing books to youth they and their parents want to read.鈥�
Caldwell-Stone says that some books have been targeted by liberals because of racist language 鈥� notably Mark Twain's 鈥淭he Adventures of Huckleberry Finn鈥� 鈥� but the vast majority of complaints come from conservatives, directed at works with LGBTQIA+ or racial themes. They include Maia Kobabe's 鈥淕ender Queer,鈥� Jonathan Evison's 鈥淟awn Boy,鈥� Angie Thomas' 鈥淭he Hate U Give鈥� and a book-length edition of the 鈥�1619 Project,鈥� the Pulitzer Prize-winning report from The New York Times on the legacy of slavery in the U.S.
Bills facilitating the restriction of books have been proposed or passed in Arizona, Iowa, Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma, among other states. In Florida, where to review reading materials and limit classroom discussion of gender identity and race books pulled indefinitely or temporarily include John Green's 鈥淟ooking for Alaska,鈥� Colleen Hoover's 鈥淗opeless,鈥� Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel 鈥淭he Handmaid's Tale鈥� and Grace Lin's picture story 鈥淒im Sum for Everyone!鈥�
More recently, Florida's Martin County school district removed dozens of books from its middle schools and high schools, including numerous works by novelist Jodi Picoult, Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning 鈥淏eloved鈥� and James Patterson's 鈥淢aximum Ride鈥� thrillers, a decision which the bestselling author has criticized on Twitter as 鈥渁rbitrary and borderline absurd.鈥�
DeSantis has called reports of mass bannings a 鈥渉oax," saying in a statement released earlier this month that the allegations reveal 鈥渟ome are attempting to use our schools for indoctrination.鈥�
Some books do come back. Officials at Florida's Duval County Public Schools were widely criticized after they removed 鈥淩oberto Clemente: The Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates,鈥� a children's biography of . In February, they announced the book would again be on shelves, explaining that they needed to review it and make sure it didn't violate any state laws.
Hillel Italie, The Associated Press
