Censorship

The judge ruled in favor of the ACLU of Colorado, which brought the lawsuit on behalf of two students in the Elizabeth School District; Texas bill that gives school boards authority over school library book selection passed the state senate; Oregon high school removed Flamer by Mike Curato after a student complaint.

The Missouri Secretary of State has launched an investigation into OverDrive and stopped funding for the platform; Utah bans a 17th book from all public schools; a Virginia district removed seven books from the shelves; and in South Dakota, a bill to criminalize librarians was amended with an appeal process on "obscene" materials.

Rochester (MN) Pride cited unspecified safety concerns for canceling the visit by The Rainbow Parade author Emily Neilson; federal judge says lawsuit over removal of school library books in Florida can continue; districts in South Carolina and Texas keep The Hunger Games and Bathe the Cat on the shelves, respectively, while a Pennsylvania high school removes three LGBTQIA+ graphic novels.

New PEN America analysis of book bans in the 2023-24 school year found that bans across reading levels and genres continued to target titles about people of color, race, racism, and LGBTQIA+ subjects, as well as stories about disabled people, immigrants, social activism, and bullying.

A bill to remove legal protections from school and public librarians advances in South Dakota; Livingston Parish, LA, has emptied the YA shelves in five branches and told librarians to read every title in search of sexually explicit material; and so much happening in Arkansas in the latest Censorship News.

While winning the Newbery, Caldecott, and Printz awards often leads to a bump in sales and a spot on school library shelves, censorship legislation, librarians afraid of challenges, and the growing anti-diversity movement could change that this year.

Schools for military families must pull several lessons tied to immigration, gender, and sexuality and remove books that could "potentially" cover those topics; Tennessee county removes 32 books from school libraries; and Utah pulls 16th book from state's schools.

Topics that drew reader attention in an eventful first week of February 2025. 

The executive order saying the United States will only recognize "two sexes" will have a ripple effect that "will undoubtedly affect public schools, public libraries, and the literature that is shelved in both," according to the statement signed by more than 50 organizations.