Many books survive challenges at schools

LGBTQ+ titles among most likely to be banned

Almost half of books challenged at school are returned to shelves, but titles with LGBTQ+ characters, themes and stories are most likely to be banned, according to a Washington Post analysis of nearly 900 book objections nationwide.

School officials sent 49% of challenged titles back to shelves, the Post found, a discovery some interviewed for this story hailed as proof the national alarm over book challenges has been overblown — although librarians warned of a severe burden on employees forced to spend months defending titles.

The next most-common outcome, in 17% of challenges, was for a book to be placed under some form of restriction. Libraries might require parental permission or limit the youngest students from checking out a given title.

And school officials permanently removed 16% of challenged books, making that the third-most-common outcome. In the remaining cases, the books were either still under review as of late 2023, were never reviewed by the district or were unavailable before the challenge.

The Post requested the results of all book challenges filed in the 2021-22 school year from more than 100 school districts, which the Post had previously identified as fielding formal objections during that time. In total, officials in those districts shared the outcomes of 872 challenges to 444 books across 29 states.

The Post analyzed the types of books challenged to determine what titles were most likely to be removed, restricted or retained. Books about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer lives were 30% more likely to be yanked, the Post found, compared with all targeted books. By contrast, books by and about people of color, or those about race and racism, were 20% more likely to be kept available compared with all targeted books.

Amid a national debate over what to teach about race, sex and gender, book challenges surged to historic highs in 2021 and 2022, according to the American Library Association, which has tracked such objections for more than two decades. But little has been done to analyze the effect of these challenges — although a 2023 report from the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute found that 74% of books PEN America tracked as “banned” in 2021-22 remain available, per public schools’ online library catalogues. (PEN America, a free-speech advocacy group, acknowledges that it defines a ban as any action taken against a book, ranging from removal to diminished access.)

There is no reliable national data on the outcomes of challenges to titles at public libraries, said Shannon Oltmann, an associate professor of library science at the University of Kentucky. But, Oltmann said, she and a colleague have just received a federal grant to investigate that question. She called the rate of books placed back on school shelves “a really promising statistic.”

“That is most welcome news to hear,” she said, although she cautioned that book restrictions can function as bans. And she lamented the finding about LGBTQ+ books: “We know from research that reading about people different from themselves helps youth develop empathy, compassion and broader understanding.”

Others hailed the Post’s findings as evidence that school districts are appropriately taking into account parent, staff or student discomfort with books offered to children in libraries or classrooms.

“In a public system, challenges are appropriate, reviewing challenges is appropriate and, in some small number of cases, keeping those books out of circulation is probably appropriate,” said Robert Pondiscio, a senior fellow studying K-12 education at the American Enterprise Institute. “It sounds like the system is working as it should.”

In interviews, librarians across the country said they were heartened by the rate of returns — but cautioned that the success can come at a high cost. Defending books from challenges is equivalent to a “second full-time job,” said Martha Hickson, a New Jersey school librarian who fought attempts to ban five LGBTQ+ books in the 2021-22 school year.

Hickson, 64, worked evenings and weekends to coordinate a defense of the titles, recruiting the help of community members, authors and free-speech advocacy groups, she said. She also faced down allegations that she was a pornographer and a pedophile, shouted by parents at school board meetings and written into the book challenges, which named her personally.

Although her school board ultimately voted to retain the five books, the experience damaged Hickson. She had a mental, physical and emotional breakdown in fall of 2021 and had to take a month off work. She is “barely going at this point” and worries for other librarians throughout America, she said.

“My mind and body could not withstand it,” she said. “To be publicly flogged, with nowhere to turn, but to still have to do your job and then another job defending books on top of it? I don’t know who can do it.”

What happens after a book is banned?

Of the 140 fully banned books in the Post’s analysis, 41% featured LGBTQ+ individuals or storylines. Books by and about people of color, or dealing with race and racism, made up 10% of banned books.

LGBTQ+ titles also made up a sizable percentage of books that were restricted but not banned: nearly one-third, or 28%. Books with authors or subjects of color made up 31% of restricted books. And LGBTQ+ books were 20% more likely to be unavailable before drawing a challenge. (The Post previously found 43% of 2021-22 school challenges targeted LGBTQ+ books, while 36% targeted books dealing with race.)

The overrepresentation of these books in challenges and removals means that LGBTQ+ students and students of color will suffer, said Sam Helmick, president of the Iowa Library Association.

“And all students will learn that ideas and speech are things to fear and avoid,” Helmick said.

The Post’s analysis of challenge outcomes fails to account for informal book removals, which do not stem from objections but which are also soaring, said Kathy Lester, a board member of the Michigan Association of School Librarians. The Post previously reported that school administrators nationwide are secretly yanking books before they can be challenged.

Lester said that, starting in the summer of 2022, she began hearing from librarians in dozens of districts about formal book challenges — and from dozens of librarians elsewhere about more insidious, surreptitious book culling.

“A similar number of people have been reporting some level of soft censorship from administrators telling them they cannot purchase certain materials,” she said, “or quietly pulling things from the shelves.”

What happens to books after they are banned varies. The Post asked every school district about the fate of eliminated titles, but the vast majority did not answer. One district in Iowa said books taken out of circulation are “stored in a secure location by the school librarian.”

A Texas school division said banned books are “taken to our district’s warehouse.”

A Wisconsin district reported that “copies were recycled.”