How to Fight Book Bans

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. MY friend Jo Piazza just revealed the cover for her new Tradwife murder mystery Everyone is Lying to You TODAY and I’m so excited to share it with you. This book is Gone Girl, but make it tradwives. It is going to be THE BEACH READ of the summer so pre order yours now. You can find it at Amazon, Bookshop or get a personalized copy from the woman-owned Bluebird Bookshop.

2. If you are looking for the perfect gift for the holiday season, nothing is better than a functioning democracy. Democracy in Retrograde is currently $20 on Amazon and  $27 on Bookshop. 

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I am a certified book lover.  People have been asking me what I’m doing for comfort post-election and it’s listening to my favorite audiobooks. (Agatha Raisin IYKYK!) When I got a news alert that Utah just banned the 14th book from public schools I decided I had to write about it. I’ve been  worried and I think a lot of you are too..

What scares me is that I also hear from a lot of people who buy into the conservative narrative that this is about protecting children.  For me, protecting children doesn’t mean preventing them from learning, it means giving them access to information so they can know how to deal with things that are actually hurting them. 

I’m not writing this post to fear-monger or outrage bait, but a lot of policies start with narrow exceptions that break the rule. Biblical conservatives want this country to be a Christian nation. In both Texas and Oklahoma we’ve seen them make moves to integrate the bible into public school. This is all part of a long-standing effort to re-write the history of America as one that has always been a Christian country, there’s a great podcast called Teaching Texas about this. 

After all these years, there really is no coordinated national response to Moms For Liberty and their ideology. When the book bans come to your community, it will likely be up to you to fight it and find the resource to help.  As we saw from the election, there are rightwing Trump-supporters in all of our communities these days. And there are the people who are on a religious mission for change, they will work endlessly and single-mindedly to achieve their goals. 

Book banning was continuing to rise even before Trump was elected. PEN America found that during the 2023-24 academic year more than 10,000 books were removed, at least temporarily, from public schools. They called it a “dramatic increase” because it was about triple the number of books from the previous year. 

The books most frequently banned often include those addressing race, gender, and LGBTQ+ themes, though they say it overwhelmingly focuses on LGBTQ+ content. Titles like "The Handmaid's Tale" and "1984" have been removed from shelves in various districts, reflecting a broader movement to censor literature that challenges traditional narratives or promotes social justice.

Trump has said that he is going to take executive action to ban schools from “promoting critical race theory or transgender insanity.” We don’t know what to make of his Education nominee Linda McMahon, other than that she is a Trump loyalist.   Conservatives focus on "patriotic education" through PragerU and other for-profit entities will likely only grow.

Education Week did a great job explaining how book bans happen at the state and local level.

Book bans skyrocketed in 2022 as statewide legislation took shape across the country, restricting what materials could be taught, or what books could be accessed in schools. The bans have continued to escalate, with state laws being the main driver of restricted access.

PEN estimates that about 8,000 of the bans last school year came from Florida and Iowa, two states with recently enacted laws restricting books that contain sexual content from schools.

While a lot of this has indeed been happening at the state and local level, we need to prepare for more federal fuel to be added to this fire. We can take a look at what Project 2025 says.  It outlines plans for expanding censorship and book bans as federal priorities. It aims to criminalize librarians who allow access to banned books and seeks to eliminate discussions about ‘critical race theory’ and LGBTQ+ topics from educational settings. Project 2025 also suggests implementing a federal Parent’s Bill of Rights, which would empower parents to review school curricula and restrict their children’s access to certain materials without consent. This includes provisions for inspecting library materials and obtaining parental approval for changes related to a child's gender identity.

Let’s be very clear here. Classic dystopian novels like "The Handmaid's Tale" and "1984" aren't just fiction anymore—they're starting to feel like prophetic warnings. When books that critique authoritarianism and systemic oppression are being censored, we should all be paying attention.

What We Can Do

1. Stay Informed: Know what books are being banned in your area and why. PEN America tracks book bans and fights censorship in public schools and libraries across the country. You can check out book bans by state right here. And here is a list of the most banned books. 

2. Vote Local: Book bans happen at the local level and right under our noses when we aren’t paying attention. Make sure to stay informed on all school board elections and other local elections in your area and find out where candidates stand on bans. Ballotpedia sometimes has this information, but there is no aggregate list of all school board and library board elections. (I talked to these folks years ago and  begged them to get it fully updated!)

3. Run for library board:  I just got a DM from someone who said that she saw my posts about library boards and looked - she found out there was an empty seat just sitting there! Now she’s on the library board.  Fill the seats. I worked on this resource with Run For Something for people interested in running for School Board. 

4. Support Local Libraries: Librarians are the frontline defenders against censorship and we must continue to support them if we want them to continue to fight for the books we all deserve to have on shelves. Check out Every Library, a group of librarians fighting against book bans.  I love this tip from Every Library: “Inform all in the community including families, businesses, elected officials and taxpayers about the absurdity of book bans, and the threat they pose to vulnerable youth, and the entire community’s safety, prosperity and reputation.”  

5. Use Your Voice: Share banned books, talk about why they matter, and amplify marginalized voices.  

And here are some more tips from the American Library Association:

 If you hear of a challenge at your local library, support your librarian and free and open access to library materials by contacting the Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF). OIF estimates it learns of only 3-18% of book challenges. Find out your library's policy for reviewing challenged materials. Stay updated about intellectual freedom by signing up for the free Intellectual Freedom News newsletter, or reading the Journal for Intellectual Freedom and Privacy.

Most Banned Books List 2022-2023 School year

1. Tricks, by Ellen Hopkins, 33 bans

2. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, 29 bans

3 (tie). Looking for Alaska, by John Green, 27 bans

3 (tie). A Court of Mist and Fury, by Sarah J. Maas, 27 bans

5. Gender Queer: A Memoir, by Maia Kobabe, 26 bans

6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky, 25 bans

7 (tie). Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher, 24 bans

7 (tie). Sold, by Patricia McCormick, 24 bans

9. Crank (Crank Series), by Ellen Hopkins, 23 bans

10. Identical, by Ellen Hopkins, 22 bans

10 (tie). Empire of Storms, by Sarah J. Maas

More Reading:

This guide to how books get banned should be required reading for all of us.

This LitHub conversation on what Project 2025 plans for books is great.