Texas leads nation in books banned from schools, free speech group's analysis finds

Texas has banned 801 books, spanning 22 school districts, in the past year — more than any other state, according to an analysis released by PEN America, a 100-year-old organization focused on the protection of literary expression and human rights.

Among the group's key findings:

• From July 2021 to June 2022, PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans lists 2,532 instances of individual books being banned, affecting 1,648 unique book titles by 1,261 different authors.

• Bans occurred in 138 school districts in 32 states. The districts represent nearly 4 million students.

• Among the 1,648 book titles, 674 (41%) explicitly address LGBTQ+ themes or have protagonists or prominent secondary characters who are LGBTQ+ and 659 titles (40%) contain protagonists or prominent secondary characters of color.

• Texas has 801 banned titles in 22 districts. PEN America defines a school book ban as "any action taken against a book based on its content and as a result of parent or community challenges, administrative decisions, or in response to direct or threatened action by lawmakers or other governmental officials, that leads to a previously accessible book being either completely removed from availability to students, or where access to a book is restricted or diminished."

PEN America's database as of Monday shows that the Leander school district, which straddles Williamson and Travis counties, has a total of 11 titles banned, some of which include: “Brave Face: A Memoir” by Shaun David Hutchinson, a book about 19-year-old Hutchinson growing up gay and suffering with depression; and “In the Dream House,” a memoir by Carmen Maria Machado that follows her years in an abusive same-sex marriage.

Last year, the district undertook a community review process that led to the removal of the 11 books from book club lists and classrooms. Some of the books that were initially paused were reinstated. Review committees were made up of district staffers, community members and students.

The only other Austin-area school district in the database, the Lake Travis district in western Travis County, has one banned book: “Out of Darkness” by Ashley Hope Pérez. The district said it received complaints about explicit depictions of sex in the historical novel, which follows an interracial teenage love affair in East Texas in the 1930s.

PEN’s report shows trends of banned books with LGBTQ+ themes, main characters who are people of color, sexual content and issues of racism.

“There's a lot of different groups, I think, who are being targeted beyond race,” director of PEN America William Johnson said. “If you block access to opinions and knowledge, you block access to education. That's why organizations like PEN are important, particularly right now, when you see all kinds of censors and threats popping up all over the country.”

The organization is collaborating with the Austin Public Library Foundation to hold a free community reading from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Spider House Ballroom, 2908 Fruth St. in Central Austin, to recognize literary rights during Banned Books Week 2022. The event will feature local leaders reading banned material aloud.

More:In Leander, efforts to offer more inclusive school reading lists run into headwinds

Tim Staley, the executive director of the foundation and the president of Austin’s chapter of PEN, said the best way for people to encounter enhanced reading experiences is by being able to read what they want.

“The goal is to heighten the public’s awareness of the issue of book censorship, which is to say that there are people out there who are telling students and others what they should and should not read,” Staley said. Book censorship “is happening, and people should be aware of it, because if people are aware, we may be more likely to resist these efforts of censorship.”

Students have begun to combat bans in their own ways. The American-Statesman recently reported on a group of students at Vandegrift High School who created a Banned Book Club last school year amid the growing reality of censorship in district libraries.

“Literary culture cannot thrive if people can't read freely, express their opinions or share ideas,” PEN America's Johnson said. “On one hand, we celebrate literature, but we also try to create an environment where literature can thrive. If it can’t thrive, freedom of expression doesn’t exist.”

More:ACLU online hub serves young activists fighting book censorship in Texas schools

Outside of school libraries and classrooms, book bans have started to become prominent in public libraries too, according to Staley.

It is “particularly alarming,” he said. “There’s always been a school board here or there that has identified certain titles they feel a kid shouldn’t have access to, but this is proliferating much beyond an isolated incident here and there. This is becoming what seems to be a broader effort to restrict people’s freedom to read.”

According to PEN’s report, pressure from politicians and other organizations, such as County Citizens Defending Freedom, are felt by districts in Texas and directly affect the books leaving shelves.

State Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth, and Gov. Greg Abbott asked districts earlier this year to examine books that might contain pornographic content, and Krause sent a list of 850 books to districts in a letter. According to the report, Abbott has not given any specific examples of what might be considered “pornographic.”

Banned Books Week is here.Here's how to read or listen to your favorite challenged books

The Texas Education Agency modeled a new policy that several districts are now following, though the policy changes mentioned in the model are not required for all districts. According to the report, the TEA’s policy calls for librarians to host biannual reviews for parents to voice objections and concerns, and define harmful material based on the Texas Penal Code.

In other cases, Houston-area school districts such as Katy, Cypress-Fairbanks and Clear Creek took action toward book bans based on what neighboring districts were doing, according to the report.

PEN encourages authors whose titles are being banned to reach out to the organization or become involved in a plan to address the issues. For Johnson, PEN’s biggest focus is providing information for communities to better understand these efforts.

“We have extensive reporting around these threats that are happening so the community is made aware,” Johnson said. “By providing that information, they can make decisions on how they want to move forward. But first, people need to know these threats exist in their communities.”

Book bans are on the rise. What are the most banned books and why?

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas leads US in books banned from schools, free speech group finds