Virginia has one of highest numbers of school book bans in the nation with Hanover driving the numbers
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Virginia had the fifth-highest number of school book ban instances in the nation in the last academic year, per PEN America, a literacy nonprofit.
Why it matters: More than half of the state's book removals came from metro Richmond's smallest county: Hanover.
By the numbers: 75 of Virginia's 121 book ban instances during the 2023-2024 school year came from Hanover County.
- Only four other districts saw book ban instances last year: Spotsylvania with 23; Fluvanna, 16; Augusta, 4; Lexington, 2.
- Nationwide, there were more than 10,000 instances last year — a jump from 3,362 recorded in the previous year.
- About 8,000 of the book bans came from Florida and Iowa, largely due to state laws, according to PEN America.
Of note: The numbers refer to actions taken, not individual books banned. Those 10,046 challenges resulted in 4,231 unique titles being banned.
- Since Hanover County School Board voted last year to give itself more authority to remove books, all of its 75 instances resulted in banned titles.
- The previous school year, Hanover removed 18 titles, per PEN.
Zoom out: Book bans have become central to contemporary culture wars and largely target stories about people of color and LGBTQ+ communities.
- Lately, though, book bans are increasingly targeting stories by and about women and girls, along with those that include depictions of rape or sexual abuse, according to the nonprofit, which advocates for authors' rights.
- The top banned book in the U.S. last year was "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult, a nearly 20-year-old novel about a school shooting and a town grappling with the aftermath.
- It was banned because of "a single page that depicts a date rape and uses anatomically correct words for the human body," the author told PEN America.
What they're saying: "Having the most banned book in the country is not a badge of honor – it's a call for alarm," Picoult told PEN America.
- Last school year, her book was banned in dozens of counties across the nation and one in Virginia: Hanover.