If you grew up finding yourself in Cisneros, Allende, or Julia Alvarez, you know books are more than assignments. They are mirrors. Lately, those mirrors keep getting pulled. The country is in another wave of bans and “reviews,” and Latino stories sit in the blast radius. The data backs it up. So do the empty shelves.

The surge in Banned Latino Books, by the numbers

During the 2023 to 2024 school year, PEN America recorded 10,046 instances of book bans. The report notes that it is the highest year on record and includes over 4,000 unique titles removed in more than 10,000 instances of bans. According to the report, 43 percent of those bans involved books completely removed from district collections. Florida and Iowa led the nation with over 4,500 and over 3,600 bans, respectively.

PEN America adds that among commonly banned books, 44 percent include people and characters of color, and 39 percent include LGBTQ+ people and characters. Nearly 60 percent are written for young adult audiences and depict topics students actually confront, including grief, substance use, mental health, and sexual violence.

What counts as a ban, and why it matters

PEN America defines a school book ban as any action that removes or restricts a previously accessible book due to content challenges, administrative decisions, or pressure from lawmakers, even if “pending investigation” or restricted by grade or permission. The group explains that time matters in school. Temporary removal still denies access and chills learning. According to the report’s methodology, the same book can be tracked across districts as it is pulled, paused, or restricted.

Where Banned Latino Books are disappearing

PEN America’s Index recorded bans across 29 states and 220 public school districts in 2023 to 2024, with Florida and Iowa showing sharp increases after state laws took effect. The report ties Florida’s spike to HB 1069 and state guidance that requires removal during review when “sexual conduct” is alleged. Iowa’s SF 496 prohibits any description or depiction of a “sex act” and includes “Don’t Say Gay” style provisions. Districts then removed books en masse to comply.

What gets targeted in Banned Latino Books

PEN America analyzed the 1,091 titles banned in two or more districts. More than half include sex-related themes and depictions. Forty-four percent include characters or people of color. Thirty-nine percent include LGBTQ+ characters or people. The report stresses that many books with those representations had already been removed in prior years, shrinking what remains.

Author Jodi Picoult addressed the year’s most-banned title and the logic behind bans: “Having the most banned book in the country is not a badge of honor – it’s a call for alarm. Nineteen Minutes is banned not because it’s about a school shooting, but because of a single page that depicts date rape and uses anatomically correct words for the human body.” She added, “These book banners aren’t helping children. They are harming them.”

The chilling effect beyond the shelves

Latest reports document “soft censorship” that hides under routine processes. Targeted weeding. Temporary library closures for audits. After-hours book fairs. Cancelled author visits. The report ties those actions to fear of new laws and pressure campaigns. PEN America cites research showing costs to districts, staff departures, and harm to student well-being. Pediatrician and author Dr. Sayantani DasGupta calls the erasure “a kind of psychic violence.” She writes, “Book banning is an assault on our individual and collective health.”

A longer history that includes Banned Latino Books

Arizona’s HB 2281 banned the Mexican American Studies program in 2010 and swept up Chicano and Latino classics. In 2017, a federal judge struck it down as unconstitutional and found it to have “discriminatory intent.” The law used claims about resentment and subversion to rationalize removing books ranging from “Bless Me, Ultima” to “Borderlands.”

Latino Book Review traces the fallout and describes newer waves of anti-DEI laws that reshape higher education and public life. “The urgency to bring Latinx voices to the forefront is pressing,” the platform argues, calling today’s bans an attempt to erase communities by weaponizing policy.

The canon under fire: a sampling

According to PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans (2021–2025), the following Latino and Latin American titles have been removed from school districts across the U.S.:

Public libraries and universities also highlight many of the same banned or challenged works:

Why “Banned Latino Books” signals cultural erasure

PEN America’s “Hispanic Heritage Hidden” update frames the stakes plainly. “Numerous books about Hispanic Americans, their cultures and experiences navigating life in the United States are among the nearly 23,000 books banned since 2021.” Of the unique titles banned in the 2023 to 2024 school year, 36 percent featured characters or people of color. The org connects the dots: removing those stories during Hispanic Heritage Month turns celebration into silence.

Here’s how you can help Latino authors

Buy from Latino-owned bookshops and community stores that champion our writers. Order directly from authors or small presses when possible. Build a home library that preserves our culture for future generations. Share reading lists at your school or PTA meetings. If a district moves to pull a title you love, file a comment, speak at a board meeting, and cite PEN America’s methodology and data. Support platforms that amplify these voices, including book clubs and local literary journals. Protect the freedom to read with the same energy you bring to celebrating our stories. Our shelves remember who we are.

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