Literature

2022 Sets Record , for Most Attempts , to Ban Books. Associated Press reports that the number of attempted bans and restrictions on books continues to surge. . According to a new report from the American Library Association released on March 23, the number of attempts in 2022 set a new record. Last year, the association compiled over 1,200 attempts to either ban books or restrict access to them in schools and libraries. The number nearly doubled from 2021, which set the record that 2022 broke. I’ve never seen anything like this. The last two years have been exhausting, frightening, outrage inducing, Deborah Caldwell-Stone, Director of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, via Associated Press. In 2022, over 2,500 books were objected to. . In 2021, the number of objections was 1,858, and just one year earlier it was only 566. . States including Arizona, Iowa, Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma have all passed or proposed bills restricting books. . States including Arizona, Iowa, Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma have all passed or proposed bills restricting books. . AP reports that some books have been targeted for racist language, others for having gender or racial themes. In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis has approved a bill to review classroom reading material and limit discussion of gender identity and race in schools.