Book ban battles proliferate in Colorado and across U.S.
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
It's shaping up to be a big year for the number of books some groups are attempting to restrict access to in Colorado libraries and schools.
Driving the news: At least 136 unique book titles have been challenged across Colorado in the first eight months of 2023, according to new preliminary data from the American Library Association.
- That's a 143% increase from 2022, when 56 books were challenged.
Why it matters: The sharp uptick is evidence, the association says, of a "growing, well-organized conservative" movement that is broadly distributing lists to supporters to file mass challenges.
- Before 2021, most challenges to library books were brought by a parent over a particular book, according to the association. But in 2022 and 2023, it estimated that 90% of book challenges have been to multiple titles.
Zoom in: In late August, Douglas County's library board rejected calls to ban four books that discussed LGBTQ+ issues. The challenges were filed by Aaron Wood, the founder of a Christian men's activist group.
- Earlier this summer, a school district in Colorado Springs reinstated three titles it had pulled roughly two months earlier after critics argued the school failed to follow its own book removal policy.
The big picture: From January through August, calls to remove books from libraries and schools in the U.S. were up 20% compared with the same period in 2022 — a year that saw attempted book bans reach record levels, Axios' Sareen Habeshian reports.
- Most of the books in question were written by or about a person of color or a member of the LGBTQ+ community, according to the American Library Association.
Flashback: Last year, the most contested book in Colorado and the country was "Gender Queer: A Memoir" by Maia Kobabe.