PEN America Says Florida Book Ban Tally Hides Thousands of Removals

Florida officials say 414 school books were removed last year. PEN America says the real number is more than five times higher—and that the gap is no accident.

In a new analysis, PEN America argues that the Florida Department of Education’s latest report on “removed or discontinued” materials paints a misleadingly modest picture of censorship in the state. Working with the Florida Freedom to Read Project, the group tracked more than 2,300 bans in Florida during the 2024–25 school year alone, compared with the state’s 414.(PEN America)

How Hundreds of Bans Vanish on Paper

The discrepancy, PEN America says, comes down to definitions and process. The state only logs titles that go through a full challenge and receive a final removal decision. PEN, by contrast, counts any government action that restricts or diminishes access to a book based on its content—whether a title is pulled permanently, sidelined by grade level, or quietly taken off shelves while a review drags on.

The result: entire waves of removals disappear from the official record. In Hillsborough County, state-level pressure from the Attorney General and State Board of Education triggered the temporary or permanent removal of more than 600 titles, according to PEN and the Florida Freedom to Read Project.(PEN America) Yet the Florida Department of Education report lists zero book bans in the district.

William Johnson, director of PEN America Florida, calls Hillsborough “the playbook, not the exception,” arguing that districts are pressured to preemptively pull or quarantine books without ever triggering the formal process that would show up in state data.

Florida at the Center of a National Censorship Fight

The undercount lands as Florida cements its status as the U.S. epicenter of school book removals. One recent analysis found 4,561 titles pulled statewide this year under a mix of local challenges and state-driven crackdowns.(The Guardian) Nationwide, the American Library Association reports that 72 percent of censorship attempts in 2024 were launched by organized political groups rather than individual parents.(ALA)

Florida’s laws are also facing increasing legal scrutiny. Federal judges have already struck down or allowed challenges to key provisions of a 2023 school library statute for overreach and vague standards that invite mass removals.(AP) Those rulings echo fights in other states, from Missouri to Tennessee, where courts and civil rights groups are pushing back on broad book restrictions.

Escape Into Books has been tracking similar clashes, from a Missouri judge overturning a school library law in a major free speech win to Florida’s earlier wave of removals in nearly 400 school book pulls across the 2024–25 year.

What’s at Stake for Readers

Behind the numbers are books many readers know well. LGBTQ+ titles like “Gender Queer” and literary staples including “The Bluest Eye” and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” remain among the most frequently challenged in the U.S., with bans falling hardest on LGBTQ+ and BIPOC authors.(The Guardian)

With Banned Books Week 2025 rallying under the theme “Censorship Is So 1984,” PEN America’s warning suggests Florida’s fight is far from over. If districts can keep pulling books without appearing in the state’s own tallies, the real battle may be less about counting bans—and more about making sure students, teachers, and librarians can still access the stories that shaped generations of readers.