2026年5月14日，美国加利福尼亚州旧金山，一栋建筑墙面上，金属栏杆后陈列着被禁书籍，并配有信息牌。
A display of banned books behind metal bars with informational plaques on wall of a building, San Francisco, California, on 14 May 2026.
摄影：Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images美国公立学校图书禁令年度数量创下1.2万本的历史新高，得克萨斯州以8100本禁令位居榜首，斯蒂芬·金再次成为被禁最多的作家，PEN America（美国笔会）调查显示据言论自由非营利组织PEN America称，2025-2026学年，美国公立学校发生了近1.2万起图书禁令，为单年最高纪录。
US book bans in public schools reach record annual high of 12,000 Texas tops list with 8,100 bans while Stephen King is again most banned author, PEN America finds The US saw almost 12,000 book bans in public schools during the 2025-2026 school year, the highest number in a single year, according to the free-expression non-profit PEN America In a report released on Monday, PEN America said that there had been 34,000 instances of book bans since the organization started tallying the increasing “book censorship crisis” across US schools in 2021.
PEN America在周一发布的报告中指出，自该组织于2021年开始统计美国学校日益严重的“图书审查危机”以来，图书禁令案例已累计达3.4万起。
PEN said that new state-level censorship laws fueled much of this increase, in conjunction with the implementation of artificial intelligence tools that removes an expansive number of titles.
PEN America表示，新的州级审查法律是推动这一增长的主要因素之一，同时人工智能工具的实施也导致大量图书被移除。
Texas saw the greatest number of book bans in the 2025-2026 school year – more than 8,100.
在2025-2026学年，得克萨斯州的图书禁令数量最多，超过8100本。
PEN America’s report said this surge in Texas stemmed from the Texas law SB13, which bars extensive categories of books in schools.
PEN America的报告指出，得克萨斯州禁令激增源于该州SB13法案，该法案禁止在学校使用大量类别的书籍。此前三年，佛罗里达州一直位居学校图书禁令数量榜首。
Florida had previously ranked No 1 in school book bans for the three previous years. The bans involved a “record number of unique titles” – exceeding 7,000 – involving more than 4,000 authors, illustrators and translators.
被禁图书涉及“创纪录数量的独立书目”，超过7000种，涉及4000多名作者、插画师和译者。分析发现，114个学区在该学年实施了图书禁令，这是“单年历史最高数量”。
Analysts found 114 school districts which banned books during the school year, “the highest number ever for a single year”. The most frequently banned title for the 2025-2026 school year was Sold by the journalist Patricia McCormick.
2025-2026学年被禁最多的图书是记者帕特里夏·麦考米克（Patricia McCormick）的《被卖》（Sold）。这部青少年小说讲述了一名尼泊尔少女被卖入性奴役的故事。PEN America表示，斯蒂芬·金连续第二年成为被禁最多的作家。
This young adult novel involves a teen from Nepal who is sold into sexual servitude. Stephen King was the most banned author for the second year running, PEN America said. “Mostly I feel angry on behalf of the women that I interviewed for the story: young women who’ve been sold into sexual slavery, who told their stories so the world could know what was going on. To hear people, or book banners, say that their accounts are pornographic is so disrespectful to them,” McCormick said in a statement issued by PEN America.
“我主要感到愤怒的是那些为我的报道而接受采访的女性：那些被贩卖成为性奴隶的年轻女性，她们之所以公开自己的遭遇，是为了让世界了解这些可怕的事实。听到有人或某些出版商称她们的故事‘色情’，实在是对她们的极大不尊重，”麦考密克在PEN America发布的一份声明中表示。
“It’s also really disrespectful to the students who seek out that book. There are kids who need a book like that because they have some kind of sexual exploitation experience in their own life, and there’s something about reading a story about someone who’s six degrees away from you – a girl in Nepal – that inspires a certain amount of empathy and understanding that you might not have for yourself.”
“这种行为同样也严重不尊重那些主动寻找这类书籍的读者。有些孩子确实需要这样的书籍，因为他们自己在生活中经历过性剥削；通过阅读那些发生在遥远国度（比如尼泊尔）的故事，他们能够产生共鸣与理解——这种情感可能是他们自己难以体验到的。”这些禁令还暴露了人们对青少年所喜爱的书籍（如小说和漫画）的歧视态度。根据PEN America的数据，被禁的青少年读物中，小说类作品占了90%以上。
The bans also revealed worrisome prohibitions on books youth seek out, such as fiction and manga. Fiction comprised more than 90% of young adult titles subject to bans, per PEN America. Kasey Meehan, director of PEN America’s Freedom to Read program, said: “When reading for pleasure is in decline across all ages, bans on popular and engaging titles are exceptionally tragic.
PEN America“阅读自由”项目的负责人凯西·米汉（Kasey Meehan）表示：“当各个年龄段的人们阅读的兴趣都在下降时，对那些受欢迎、引人入胜的书籍实施禁令，实在是一种悲剧。”
“Schools should be doing everything possible to connect kids with reading by introducing them to engaging stories and formats,” Meehan also said in the statement released by PEN America.
米汉还在PEN America发布的声明中强调：“学校应该尽一切可能帮助孩子们培养阅读兴趣，通过向他们介绍有趣的故事和阅读形式来激发他们的阅读欲望。然而现实却是相反的：许多学校却在禁止那些能够帮助孩子们在文学作品中找到自我、加深对他人的理解以及激发想象力的书籍。”尽管书籍禁令的现象日益普遍，但家长、学生和教育工作者仍在努力抵制美国许多学区中出现的保守趋势（包括这些禁令）。
“Instead, many are doing the opposite, banning books that help kids see themselves in literature, deepen their understanding and empathy of others, and develop their imaginations.”While book bans are increasingly pervasive, parents, students and educators are fighting the conservative turn seen in many US school districts – including book bans.
今年，在佛罗里达州的许多选举中，支持阅读自由的候选人成功击败了众多保守派候选人。
Progressive school board candidates bested many rightwing candidates in many Florida elections this year.