PEN America released its list of the most-banned books of the 2024-2025 school year on Wednesday – and warned that the number of books challenged or banned in public school districts across the country has risen exponentially in the past two years. Horror writer Stephen King ( 206 instances), young adult novelist Ellen Hopkins (167 instances) and fantasy author Sarah J. Maas (162 instances) are the authors listed as most-challenged overall in the 2024-25 academic year. "Never before in the life of any living American have so many books been systematically removed from school libraries across the country. Never before have so many states passed laws or regulations to facilitate the banning of books, including bans on specific titles statewide," the PEN report says. In January, the Department of Education issued a memo in which it called book bans a "hoax ," and rescinded all federal guidance that indicated that removals of "age-inappropriate" books could be violations of civil rights laws.