A study from free speech group PEN America has found the number of books being banned from high school libraries across the US is rising dramatically.
They claim that over 10,000 books have been removed from school libraries after they were deemed inappropriate for minors. By comparison over 2,500 books were listed two years ago.
The huge rise in the number of books being banned is attributed to state-based laws in Florida and Iowa that have been introduced under Republican administrations.
PEN America says the stark increase includes books featuring romance, books about women’s sexual experiences, and books about rape or sexual abuse as well as continued attacks on books with LGBTQ+ characters or themes, or books about race or racism and featuring characters of color.
Among the works deemed unsuitable for children are A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie, Blade Runner (do Androids Dreamof Electric Sheep) by Philip K. Dick and Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley.
Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin, How Stella Got Her Groove Back by Terry McMillan, and Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingslover as also regularly removed from libraries.
Of the 10,000 books that the group has identified as being taken out of libraries, 37% of the banned books had characters of color or themes of race and racism. 36% had LGBTQ+ characters or themes.
Many of the books on the list are religious based books which some parents argue should not be included in school rooms.
