Banned Book Week Resources

BANNED BOOK WEEK is October 4 to 10 so I wanted to post some relevant resources here:

From the ALA: https://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10

From School Library Journal: https://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/story/ALA-Releases-150-Most-Challenged-Books-from-1990-2025

Banned books week.org: https://bannedbooksweek.org/  and suggested their action steps: https://bannedbooksweek.org/let-freedom-read-day/

Banned Book List – compiled by PEN America: “The 52 Most Banned Books in US Schools” covers 2021 through 2025: https://pen.org/top-52-banned-books-since-2021/    

ALL of these are on the Dan Patrick/Texas list (no longer accessible unless you look at Recover America’s list of “harmful” books which is linked in this PEN America article about book bans in Texas: https://pen.org/were-coming-for-the-books-texas/

BANNED BOOK WEEK is certainly about censorship, but it should also prompt us to think about literacy and the ties to democracy (see recent “buzz” around The New Dark Ages by James Marriott). Molly Guptill Manning has written several texts about WWII era soldiers and literacy. I have read and enjoyed When Books Went to War and I am hoping to read her The War of Words, about soldiers writing about their experiences.  Her most recent non-fiction work is titled A Librarian’s War and was reviewed positively in the Wall Street Journal. Some of the statistics that she uncovers are shocking, especially in contrast to the efforts today to repress reports and journalism from the troops or about their experiences. Back to banned books … consider the list of titles removed from the Naval Academy in April 2025.

Best of the Year in Books ...

Here (in no particular order) is a compilation of some of the “Best of the Year” lists, updated for 2025: 

National Public Radio provides “Books We Love,” 1000s of titles (from 2025 and earlier years) and shows their covers in a fun, very interactive way. Please do not forget to consult the Indie Next Lists - recommendations from independent booksellers – like this one for book groups. 

More ideas from National Book Awards or public libraries like Chicago Public Library, Lake Travis Public Library Staff made a video featuring their favorites,  and New York Public Library published the year’s 10 most checked out books. Keep searching – these lists often lead to others with suggestions for all ages. 

Best of 2025 from School Library Journal; including Sisters in the Wind on its Young Adult list. And there are multiple state award lists to consult, too, like the Texas Lariat Reading List, its 2026 suggestions should be coming soon. Plus professional choices from Publishers Weekly – I am excited because I am not very familiar with their Top 10 or Mystery choices so plenty of new ideas to explore. Kirkus Reviews also has a variety of lists.  A separate Kirkus list is provided for best young adult books which can be further subdivided by genre. 

And Goodreads has its Choice Awards across several categories for 2025: https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-books-2025 With titles like this year’s top fiction choice (My Friends by Bachman), this is always a “go to” list since reader votes and word of mouth have built interest. Amazon, of course, offers its own list of editor choices for 2025, with best seller (and my personal favorite of the year) Heart of a Stranger. LibraryReads: primarily for public libraries, this group has stopped issuing overall favorites, but  has an impressive archive with Top 10 choices by month. 

Name a publication and you are likely to find a best book list. For example, The Washington Post offers several lists. The Wall Street Journal has a best of 2025 list for books, both from their reviewers and fifty “luminaries.” In addition to an article about Five Breakout Books (that is a gift link) of which Theo of Golden is one I have on hold currently, see 100 notable books of the year from The New York Times; there is also a top ten list on their site. Overwhelmed? The blogger at LitHub has compiled a chart which lists the titles that appeared most frequently on recommended lists (Memorial Days is on eight and The Correspondent is on five) … and my “to-be-read” pile grows ever taller… Plenty of overlap and some delightful selections on these many lists. … Ah, so many books and so little time. Once again: Happy Reading!!! Enjoy!!!

The Story of My Anger by Jasminne Mendez

The aptly titled THE STORY OF MY ANGER by Jasminne Mendez has been published just in time for Banned Book Week (Oct. 5 to 11, 2025). Mendez writes about Yuli, a Texas high school junior and young woman of color, who is struggling to be seen, to find her voice, and to use her anger in a constructive manner. She and her friends (Aleeyah, Ty, and Madison) have bonded over their love of theater and music despite not being cast for leading roles in the local school plays, like Our Town. (At one point, Yuli muses: … but if Black girls like me/are never given the chance/ to play the part of Emily/how are we ever expected to feel/like we're a part of this great/American story?) In addition to using poetry and verse, including haiku (It's not my skin that's/a problem, it's their lack of/imagination.), Mendez also employs stage directions and play structure to help set the scenes. In this way, readers learn that the friends value Mr. G and the way his Ethnic Studies class introduces them to a variety of authors (like Maya Angelou, Octavia Butler, or Yuli’s favorite, Ntozake Shange) and viewpoints. The classmates are understandably upset and frustrated when the classroom library is removed by the administration, and they stage a protest and petition to get the books re-instated. Tensions escalate and emotions flare for Yuli, her activist brother, and supportive Mami. Based in part on events from 2012, THE STORY OF MY ANGER received starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus (“A compelling drama with a firecracker protagonist that stuns with its strikingly beautiful writing”). Jasminne Mendez is Pura Belpré Honor Award recipient and a Dominican-American poet, playwright and author of several books for children and adults. The Spanish language edition of THE STORY OF MY ANGER will be available in mid-November. I read this very engaging story in a day. Highly recommended.

Banned Together compiled by Ashley Hope Pérez

It’s not often that one sees a title with starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal, but a new book intended for high school students achieved just that. Dedicated to “brave readers everywhere who persist when cowards try to erase stories and communities from libraries,” BANNED TOGETHER is edited by Ashley Hope Pérez and illustrated by Debbie Fong. In order to chronicle “Our Fight for Readers' Rights,” Pérez has compiled contributions (essays, poetry, drawings) from sixteen authors like Ellen Hopkins, Kyle Lukoff, and Nikki Grimes whose work has been challenged or banned. Also included is a short graphic novel type story about The Vandegrift Banned Book Club in Leander, Texas. Booklist says, “this collection movingly reminds readers of the power they have against censorship.” Check out a copy today. 

Another tool for restricting information is to limit library funding as evidenced in a recent executive order intent on dismantling "the only federal agency dedicated to sustaining the entire museum and library ecosystem in the United States." Please see the American Libraries Association page of FAQs about the recent executive order impacting IMLS, The Institute of Museum and Library Services. The ALA suggests several actions to take now. More information is available through news stories such as those found at The Conversation, the Associated Press, and NPR or from other advocacy groups like EveryLibrary.

Banned Books Week 2024

Do not forget that it is Banned Books Week ... click on the banner below for links to all kinds of activities and downloads from the American Library Association and Unite Against Banned Books:

That Librarian by Amanda Jones

THAT LIBRARIAN by Amanda Jones is a LibraryReads selection for August. Look at the cover – do you see a metaphorical caped crusader? In this text, Jones, an award-winning librarian and former President of the Louisiana Association of School Librarians, describes “The Fight Against Book Banning in America” and the harassment she endured after speaking out at a local public library meeting in support of keeping LGBTQ books in the collection. I had the privilege recently of seeing Jones on a School Library Journal TeenLive! panel with Debbie Levy, author of A Dangerous Idea about the Scopes Trial roughly 100 years ago. Sadly, those long ago attempts to restrict student access to ideas offer many parallels to today’s efforts to ban books. For example, much of this discussion is happening in small communities, but has a national impact. Both authors were stressing how together we can overcome these prejudices and how concerned citizens, especially librarians, authors, and book publishers, are working hard to protect young people and their right to read. Jones has been extremely brave in publicizing her story and her efforts to hold her detractors accountable in court. She says, “everyone in the United States should stand up for intellectual freedom and stand against censorship…” and offers suggestions (see especially chapter 15) for local action in your own community. Follett’s Titlewave offers a free, downloadable Reading Group Guide for THAT LIBRARIAN; one suggested eye-opening exercise is to list books that have had an impact on your life and then research whether they have been banned or challenged. Jones references many supportive groups, some of which are PEN America (exhibit coming soon to Austin’s Henry Ransom Center); EveryLibrary, and the American Library Association which offers resources at Unite Against Book Bans. Library Journal gave a starred review to THAT LIBRARIAN, calling it a “essential reading” and Booklist- in another starred review - said, “Jones is an inspiration to everyone combating book bans, and her memoir/guidebook should be available to all.” I concur.

The Genius of Judy by Rachelle Bergstein

How many Judy Blume books have you (or your children and maybe even grandchildren) read? Judy Blume was a popular author at our house and we still have signed -with love- copies of Freckle Juice and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, plus photos of our children meeting her. But her writing was controversial, too; Blume was “the country’s most-banned author in the mid-1980s.” And, unbelievably, one of her books was just banned statewide in Utah (more from The Guardian). In a newly published book called THE GENIUS OF JUDY Rachelle Bergstein explores “How Judy Blume Rewrote Childhood for All of Us.” The tone is slightly academic, but the stories about how Blume started writing and the impact she is still having are fascinating. Bergstein includes a timeline and offers over two dozen short chapters on topics important to Blume and her readers (e.g., pre-teen girls, rebellion, divorce, censorship). My favorites were the last two which deal with Libraries and Legacy. I am proud to recommend Judy Blume’s books and am so grateful for the impact she had on our family and many others. THE GENIUS OF JUDY is a LibraryReads selection for July. 

Interested readers may also want to watch the documentary, titled Judy Blume Forever, currently streaming on Amazon Prime:

 Indeed, her stories are OUR stories.

This Book Won't Burn by Samira Ahmed

It is World Press Freedom Day and I'm posting a review of a novel which deals with censorship:

THIS BOOK WON'T BURN by Samira Ahmed (Hollow Fires and Internment) is filled with anger. The main character, Noor Khan, is a high school senior whose family circumstances force a change in schools in the last quarter of her senior year (yes, hard to believe that other options would not exist in real life). And Noor is understandably upset when she, her Mom, and her freshman sister move from suburban Chicago to a small town in downstate Illinois where they are one of the very few families who are not white or Christian. It is an adjustment for everyone, but Noor channels some of her anger into publicly reading banned books – and faces detention, multiple threats, and physical violence as a result. Fortunately, she is supported by new friends, Juniper with her girlfriend Hanna, plus Fasi, another student with desi heritage. One of the best aspects of Ahmed’s novel is the way she casually introduces many books that have been challenged such as Anger is a Gift, Monday’s Not Coming, All Boys Aren’t Blue, When the Moon was Ours, Fahrenheit 451, and many more.

Too bad that the preview for THIS BOOK WON'T BURN did not include a list of all of those titles. It also seemed rather unrealistic that 500 books would be simultaneously removed from a single school library. Even in Texas (the state with the dubious honor of hosting the most book challenges recently) where a school district near San Antoino pulled 400 books at one time, it was noted that “Most of those [titles] are appropriate and will stay on our library shelves as is.” Ahmed’s novel is set in Illinois with an activist librarian who would also likely have had a more robust review process in place. Ahmed raises a very important issue, but she tends to employ caricatures (a school board President who would try to run down a student with a car?). For example, she explicitly calls out MAGA supporters and Liberty Moms, but even though the book’s publication coincides with this week’s celebration of the second annual Little Free Library Week, Ahmed does not give her readers any information about groups like Little Free Library or mention recycling a used newspaper kiosk; even AARP offers suggestions to create these yard libraries. THIS BOOK WON'T BURN would benefit from an appendix of related resources -- like the ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom or PEN America (and PEN teaching guides) or the Texas FReadom Fighters or even the lawsuits brought by other publishers who devote web pages to the topic and provide links to an action toolkit.

THIS BOOK WON'T BURN received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus summarized it as follows: “A timely story about silence as complicity, defending freedom, and the courage to fight against hate.” Readers may also wish to investigate The Asian American Foundation and their annual STAATUS Index Report.  

The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians

THE SECRET LIVES OF BOOKSELLERS AND LIBRARIANS by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann was described as “comfort food for bookworms” by Publishers Weekly. The authors have compiled a series of stories that touch on the importance of books and reading. There are so many words of wisdom here about book joy and the role of books in connecting people. One is from the Kelly Moore, librarian at the Carrollton Public Library near Dallas who comments on how libraries are “staffed with some of the most naturally curious people out there. Come in and ask a question, and we joke that we'll chase you out into the parking lot when we finally find the answer, even if it's a week later.” Another is from Sharon Perry Martin library director at University Park Public Library in Texas who tells about a day when she was about fifteen and her Mom confronted their public librarians, saying Sharon could take out any book she wanted: “From that point on, I get an adult card and can check out anything I want. It makes a big impact. So does my mother's taking ownership for raising me, as every parent should. She trusts me not to check out or read books that I'm not supposed to, just the ones that I want to read.” Carolyn Foote, the 2022 recipient of AASL Intellectual Freedom Award, reflects on an increasing number of book challenges and her work defending the right to read by creating the hashtag #FReadom. Martha Hickson, high school librarian in New Jersey, says, “I’m all about protecting children and their right to information.” This wonderful collection will help readers better understand what booksellers and librarians do, but more importantly, WHY they do it.

Book Challenges

 

I love this quote from Ron Charles of The Washington Post: “On Monday [4/8/24], the American Library Association released its annual list of the 10 most challenged books. In a show of sympathy, the moon briefly covered the sun.”  

Use the link above to find information on each title as well as other data and patterns of censorship.