by Larry Sand
The “banned books” lie is still being spread.
The headlines tell the story. Huffington Post maintains that “Red States Are Leading The Effort to Ban Books—And Now The Government Is Joining In.” At the same time, Newsweek reports that they have a map that “shows states that have banned most school books.” USA Today asks, “What are the top 10 most banned books in the US?”
The mainstream media are all referring to a recent report from PEN America, which declares that schools nationwide banned 6,870 books between July 2024 and June 2025. The group also maintains that the 2023-24 academic year saw a 200% increase in book bans in the nation’s schools.
“Never before in the life of any living American have so many books been systematically removed from school libraries across the country,” Kasey Meehan, the director of PEN America’s Freedom to Read program, said in a press release. “A disturbing ‘everyday banning’ and normalization of censorship has worsened and spread over the last four years. The result is unprecedented.”
The stories above have been brought to light by Banned Books Week, which was established by the American Library Association in 1982 due to “a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in libraries, bookstores, and schools.” This year, the event took place from October 5 to 11.
Blue states consistently support the banning hysteria. California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, Vermont, and Washington have all enacted laws to defend the “freedom to read and prevent book bans.”
What are the books that are at the center of controversy?
The American Library Association recently listed last year’s “Top Ten challenged book titles.” All of them contained “LGBTQIA+ content” and/or “claimed to be sexually explicit”: Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe, All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, Flamer by Mike Curato, Tricks by Ellen Hopkins, Looking for Alaska by John Green, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews, Sold by Patricia McCormick, and Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan.
In Gender Queer, the protagonist says, “I can’t wait to have your c**k in my mouth—I’m going to give you the bl*w j*b of your life. Then I want you inside me.” Crank details meth addiction and rape. Tricks tells the interwoven stories of five teenagers who become involved in prostitution in Las Vegas as a means of survival. There are graphic depictions of child sexual abuse, drug use, violence, and sexual content.
What are the so-called book bans really about?
In reality, they usually involve schools deciding which library books are appropriate for different age groups. No one is genuinely calling to ban these books. No one is trying to prevent the sale of controversial books in stores or online. No one is attempting to imprison writers. Clearly, this would be a cause for concern. “Banning” simply means removing books from libraries or restricting minors’ access within those libraries. It is not the same as a prohibition.
No matter. PEN America claims that many essential books unrelated to sex have been targeted by censors, but this claim is suspect. In 2023, Jay Greene, Senior Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, found that among the books PEN America alleges have been banned are “classic works, such as Anne Frank’s Diary, Brave New World, Lord of the Flies, Of Mice and Men, The Color Purple, and To Kill a Mockingbird. In every school district in which PEN America alleges those books were banned, we found copies listed as available in the online card catalogue.”
Greene adds, “We were unable to find 26% of the books that PEN America claimed were banned in school district card catalogues, but that doesn’t necessarily mean those books were banned. Given how sloppy and error-prone the PEN America report is, it’s unclear whether the books we were unable to find in school district card catalogues had ever been listed and then removed.”
Greene supports his claims with screenshots on X showing that the “banned” books are easily accessible in school libraries.
To be sure, it’s possible that a few school districts may have overstepped in restricting what children can read, but invariably, they are merely trying to protect kids from exposure to inappropriate material.
Looking at the big picture, whatever righteousness Banned Books Week may have once held—it started in 1982—it is now the domain of progressives who, in large part, are trying to legitimize the field once known as “obscenity.”
It’s also worth noting that if you’re demanding an end to book banning and other forms of censorship, conservatives are guiltless compared to the scolds on the left. For example, “cancel culture” is solely a left-wing phenomenon. Parents Defending Education launched a speech code tracker for public school districts, highlighting the anonymous “snitch systems that stifle free speech” at the K-12 level. The group asserts that the tracker has found speech codes in 115 districts operating in 4,565 schools across the country, affecting just under 2.5 million students in 22 states and Washington, D.C.
Ultimately, the anti-banning zealots are enabling the spread of child pornography. If a child wandered into a park and encountered a sweaty man in a trench coat handing her some dirty book, the accusation of banning would be absurd. Why should schools get a pass?
Additionally, your 10-year-old cannot go into a theater to see Deep Throat or buy Hustler at your local newsstand. Why should school libraries be any different?
Parents must see through the false banning hysteria and respond appropriately. The current situation is unacceptable, so they need to take action. They cannot rely solely on schools and the media for the truth.
***
Larry Sand, a retired 28-year classroom teacher, is the president of the non-profit California Teachers Empowerment Network—a
non-partisan, non-political group dedicated to providing teachers and
the general public with reliable and balanced information about
professional affiliations and positions on educational issues. The views
expressed here are entirely his own.
Source: https://amgreatness.com/2025/10/15/book-ban-baloney-lives-on/
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