In September, one of the largest public school systems in Tennessee banned Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel Beloved. In 2023, a police officer showed up to a classroom in Massachusetts after a parent disapproved of illustrations in Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer. A librarian was fired in Texas after she refused to put so-called inappropriate books behind the counter, including a title about the origins of the KKK.
These are only a handful of the many flashpoints of the national rise in book bans, which has grown exponentially over the past four years. According to the latest data from PEN America, there were more than 10,000 instances of book bans during the 2023–24 school year—nearly triple the amount from the previous year.
Now, in the first ever collective action against book bans, more than 350 libraries, booksellers, publishers, advocates, and members of the public who believe in the freedom to read will hold rallies and take action across the country on October 19 for the Freedom to Read Community Day of Action. All three library systems in New York City—Brooklyn, Queens, and New York—will be among the ranks along with ALA, United Against Book Bans, the Association for Rural and Small Libraries, standing together with our communities against censorship.
Just five years ago, the need for such action would have been unimaginable. But today, vitriolic attacks on both books and librarians who serve the public are regular occurrences in school board meetings and city council hearings, the work of a small and vocal minority. In fact, two-thirds of Americans oppose efforts to restrict books in public schools, and most are confident in public schools’ selection of books.
Book banning is an attempt to silence voices and erase entire groups of people. By deeming characters of color and discussions of racism uncomfortable and by labeling queer characters and relationships obscene, these acts of censorship send an alarming message to young people—who are just beginning to discover their own identities— that anyone who isn’t straight, white and cisgender is a threat.
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Despite our country’s overwhelming support for the freedom to read, a handful of small national advocacy groups are determined to defy our desires. Not only are they continuing to push school boards to remove books from classroom shelves, but they are also lobbying lawmakers across the nation to pass dangerously vague and far-reaching legislation to expedite book bans.
In May 2023, Florida instituted a law creating a statutory process for book banning by requiring that any book challenged for “sexual conduct” be removed during the review process. It caused a significant rise in book bans during the 2023–24 school year.
Since then, several other states have passed similar legislation. And just two months later, in July 2023, Iowa enacted a law requiring all materials to be “age-appropriate”—a definition that has been applied to books with any content related to sex or gender. The change led to thousands of book bans during the 2023–24 school year, compared to just 14 bans from 2021–23. In Utah, 13 books—12 of which are authored by women—have already been removed from schools statewide under a new law that triggers the ban after just three of 41 school districts claim they contain indecent material. Similar regulations exist in South Carolina and in Tennessee where the 2022 Age-Appropriate Materials Act is now expanding.
And this legislation doesn’t stop at removing books from classroom and library shelves. Today, teachers and librarians in some jurisdictions can face professional ramifications and even criminal charges if they recommend the “wrong” book.
What’s more, we know that our youth are eager to read: Brooklyn Public Library has distributed over 9 thousand eCards to young people in all 50 states as part of its Books Unbanned initiative, granting them free access to the library system’s full digital catalogue. They have checked out nearly 300 thousand books in the last two years.
Teens across the country are bearing the brunt of book bans. From coast to coast, young readers are losing access to critical books that help shape their identities and affirm their experiences. Through our work, we have heard voices that from young people that tell stories of frustration, fear, and a fight for access. One 17-year-old from Texas shared, “as a person of color, it sucks to not be able to see myself in novels.” An LGBTQIA+ teen from Georgia says, “I have already been so scared in school and in the community to show who I am and now they are taking away the one thing I had as an escape.” These testimonies reveal that for many, reading is not just an educational tool but a vital resource for understanding themselves and one another. After hearing thousands of stories like these, we can’t help but be inspired by the young people who are fighting for their right to read, and the librarians across the country who remain committed to stamping out censorship in their communities.
The alarming number of book bans so far this year shows that the few who support censorship are not backing down. But neither are we. Reading is a fundamental right—we must protect it.
