In fact, the American Library Association reports that book challenges and subsequent book bans surged in public libraries in 2023, nearly equaling such actions in schools.

Because I follow the issue closely, I see news reports pretty much every day about book challenges and book bans in municipal libraries.

Most of the challenges center around books with LGBTQ characters, with complaints about the history of U.S. racism or fictional accounts that evoke such racism coming in a close second.