Fighting for the Freedom to Read
What you need to know about book bans and censorship in the United States
While Banned Books Week was last month, fighting censorship is a year-round effort.
Book banning continues to be a rising problem for states all across the country, with Texas and Florida being the most notorious for mass efforts to challenge and remove books from libraries in 2023. Even in states where book banning isn’t a huge issue, even those states aren’t immune to rising book challenges.
As someone who strives to read diversely, it would be of no surprise that some of the books I would read end up on these banned books list as almost 50% of book challenges center titles depicting the lives of BIPOC and/or LGBTQIA+ authors or were simply written by BIPOC and/or LGBTQIA+ authors. With diverse stories often being the targets of censorship attempts, it is so important to speak out against book bans if we want to keep diverse stories on the shelves for readers who need them.
Freedom to Read Community Day of Action, created by the folks at Unite Against Book Bans, is happening on October 19th, 2024, where readers, activists, and bookish professionals will be speaking out against censorship and standing firm for the freedom to read.
That being said, I wanted to create this resource guide featuring some of my favorite banned books as well as resources/media to educate yourself on book bans in the U.S. I hope you find in this resource guide information to aid yourself in the fight against book bans as well as gain some perspectives from the diverse stories found in banned books.
Some of My Favorite Banned Books
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda1 by Becky Albertalli
Ban This Book by Alan Gratz
Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
Banned Book Club by Hyun Sook Kim & Ryan Estrada
Heartstopper series by Alice Oseman
Resources to Understand More About Book Bans in the U.S.
Books & Articles to Read
Books (Both Fiction and Non-Fiction)
Ahmed, S. (2024). This book won’t burn. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
Connis, D. (2019). Suggested reading. Katherine Tegan Books.
Gratz, A. (2017). Ban this book. Starcape.
Johnson, C.D. (1994). Stifled laughter: One woman’s story about fighting censorship. Fulcrum Publishing.
Jones, A. (2024). That librarian: The fight against book banning in America. Bloomsbury Publishing.
King, A.S. (2022). Attack of the black rectangles. Scholastic Press.
LaRue, J. (2023). On censorship: A public librarian examines cancel culture in the US. Fulcrum Publishing
Levy, D.A. (2024). Not another banned book. Delacorte Press.
Miller, K. (2024). Lula Dean’s little library of banned books. William Morrow.
Articles
Book Riot has a whole section on their website dedicated to reporting news and thought pieces relating to book banning in the U.S., and even has a weekly column focused on highlighting various book banning news throughout the country.
Videos to Watch
Reads with Rachel has an excellent series of videos detailing her efforts to fight against book bans in her home state of Florida that I would definitely recommend checking out.
Podcasts to Listen To
Brooklyn Public Library’s Borrowed and Banned series.
Also known as Love, Simon, the title used for the 2018 film adaptation of the book.
Currently #5 in the Most Challenged Books in the U.S. for 2023, according to data from the American Library Association