, a literary and free expression advocacy organization that compiled data on such bans from July 2021 to March.
PEN America counted actions that led to the removal or restriction of previously accessible books for at least a day, and found that Florida, Pennsylvania and Texas lead the country in bans. The three states have had more than 1,300 instances of book bans, or 87 percent of the country’s roughly 1,500 banning incidents.“The Handmaid’s Tale,”
a book by Margaret Atwood where a totalitarian society subjugates women; and “Under My Hijab,” an illustrated children’s book by Hena Khan about women wearing traditional headscarves. Bans also included titles from long-established authors like Toni Morrison, whose books “Beloved” and “The Bluest Eye” were pulled from shelves in Florida, Georgia and Kansas.
According to PEN America, 41 percent of the bans are tied to directives from state officials or elected lawmakers to investigate or remove books. This includes some bannings that resulted from