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Book banning, also called book censorship, is the removal, suppression, or restricted access to books in public and school libraries on the grounds that it contains content that is objectionable to the person or entity banning it. This can take several forms:

• Removing a book from a collection and discarding or destroying it
• Moving the book to a closed section and restricting access to adults only
• Altering the content of a book
• Preventing the acquisition of a book

Book bans have occurred throughout the history of the United States, going back to the earliest days of the colonial era. The first book to be banned in what is now the United States was a 1637 publication by Thomas Morton called New English Canaan, which contained harsh critiques of Puritan practices (Source: Atlas Obscura.)

From the late 19th to early 20th century, Boston itself was known for banning large amounts of books, movies, and plays deemed unacceptable by the New England Watch & Ward Society. The reasons at that time were primarily due to sexual content, and occasionally due to differing political viewpoints. The phrase "Banned in Boston" became widely used for material that was considered controversial at the time.

Book bans have greatly increased in the past few years, with the numbers of unique titles challenged nearly quadrupling from 2021 to 2023 according to the American Library Association. This marked a 92% increase of challenges at public libraries and an 11% increase at school libraries (Source: ALA Book Ban Data.)

Modern book bans are often related to queer perspectives as well as racial and religious minority perspectives. Various laws have been passed or proposed in many states that make it easier or harder to ban books. Some of these laws have created problems for people tasked with enforcing them, i.e. librarians, due to what can be perceived as ambiguity in the text of the laws. (Source: Education Week.)

Some book banning efforts, headed up by groups such as Moms for Liberty, Citizens Defending Freedom, and Parents’ Rights in Education, have also led to the closure of public and school libraries and to librarians quitting their jobs and switching careers. The primary reason cited by these groups and others like them is preventing children from accessing materials they view as being sexually explicit or pornographic. (Source: Education Week.)

Groups against book bans, such as the American Library Association (ALA)'s Office for Intellectual Freedom, the Freedom to Read Foundation, and the National Coalition Against Censorship, believe that book bans are primarily targeting people of color and the the LGTBQ+ community, and preventing access to books highlighting the experiences of these groups will prevent people in them and out of them from learning about themselves and other perspectives (Source: Columbia Teachers College.)

Proponents of book bans often believe they are protecting the intended audience of the books, usually children, from disturbing or prurient content. They may also believe that that removing certain books supports the ideals of their community. The graphic novel Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe has been the target of the most book bans for three years in a row, due to the frank depiction of the author's struggle with their gender identity while they were growing up. Those who seek to ban the book believe that the depictions of nudity and sexual activity make it a pornographic work unsuitable for minors (Source: AP News.)

Opponents of book bans often believe that books bans and censorship run counter to the Constitutional right to free speech (Source: Free Speech Center), and that banning or censoring books can have a negative impact on the public. Many opponents also believe that librarians should be the ultimate deciders on whether to remove a book from their collection rather than someone who hasn’t had any training in the library field (Source: Teach Magazine.)

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