‘Jane Eyre’ and Manga Join List of 11,000 Banned Books in America
PEN America's new report found 11,982 books removed from US public schools in the 2025-26 year, including 7,370 unique titles, the highest tally since the group started counting in 2021. Texas led with more than 8,000 bans and Florida followed with over 3,000, prompting PEN to call the two states ‘blueprints for educational censorship.’
Titles swept up include Charlotte Brontë's ‘Jane Eyre,’ Bonnie Garmus's ‘Lessons in Chemistry,’ and manga like ‘Tokyo Ghoul,’ with PEN noting 114 school districts imposed bans, also a record. Supporters counter that this is about age-appropriateness, not censorship, and that parents deserve more say over classroom material.
PEN also flagged a newer wrinkle: some districts are using AI tools that recommend banning books simply because they were already banned elsewhere, creating what the group calls a snowball effect untethered from any legal obscenity standard.
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