The American Library Association has released a new report stating that attempted book bans and restrictions at school and public libraries have surged to a record high in 2022. The report has

documented over 1,200 challenges in 2022, almost double the previous record set in 2021, and the most since the ALA began tracking data 20 years ago.

Deborah Caldwell-Stone, who directs the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom, said that she has never seen anything like this, and the last two years have been exhausting, frightening, and outrage-inducing. The report not only highlights the growing number of challenges but also the changing nature of these challenges. In the past, complaints usually arose from parents and community members about a single book. However, now, the requests are often for multiple removals, and national groups such as Moms for Liberty, a conservative organization, organize them.

The ALA report reveals that last year, over 2,500 different books were objected to, compared to 1,858 in 2021 and just 566 in 2019. In numerous cases, hundreds of books were challenged in a single complaint. The ALA bases its findings on media accounts and voluntary reporting from libraries and acknowledges that the numbers might be far higher. Librarians around the country have shared stories of being harassed, threatened with violence or legal action.

The vast majority of complaints come from conservatives, directed at works with LGBTIQA+ or racial themes, according to Caldwell-Stone. Bills facilitating the restriction of books have been proposed or passed in Arizona, Iowa, Texas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, among other states. Florida's Gov. Ron DeSantis has approved laws to review reading materials and limit classroom discussion of gender identity and race books. Books pulled indefinitely or temporarily include John Green's "Looking for Alaska," Colleen Hoover's "Hopeless," Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel "The Handmaid's Tale," and Grace Lin's picture story "Dim Sum for Everyone!"

Recently, Florida's Martin County school district removed dozens of books from its middle schools and high schools, including numerous works by novelist Jodi Picoult, Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning "Beloved," and James Patterson's "Maximum Ride" thrillers. This decision has been criticized by bestselling author James Patterson on Twitter as "arbitrary and borderline absurd." Photo by diego_cue, Wikimedia commons.