For the start of *Freedom to Read Week*

I choose to put the focus on the main point of the activism week from the positive stance of what we’re promoting vs the negative actions of banning books and restricting access to stories and violating rights of readers to decide for themselves

a reminder that one of the most often banned & challenged children’s books is a TRUE STORY of some penguins from Justin Richardson (an assistant professor of psychiatry at Columbia and Cornell) & Peter Parnell (a playwright) & illustrated by Henry Cole. Read my interview with the authors of the book!

Published in 2005, And Tango Makes Three was in the top ten most challenged and/or banned books from 2006-2019. It was the joint most-banned picture book of 2022 tied with two others with LGBTQIA+ themes. It has now been challenged in 32 states.

Those are disheartening statistics as it is valuable for educators to share books about the diversity of people, experiences, and family structures in our communities. Kids get to see the world reflected and how love is at the core of all kinds of families. Plus, penguins are cute.🐧

As Honorary Banned Books Week Chair Ava DuVernay says, “I believe that censorship is the enemy of freedom. By banning books, we deny ourselves opportunities to learn from the past and to envision a braver future. Books have the power to open minds and build bridges.”

And now, with this special new School & Library edition, you get more value including a new afterword from award-winning author Eliot Schrefer, a special note for educators on the freedom to read from the authors, resources if you are faced with a challenge, and a note to educators on how to handle discussions about families in age-relevant ways. This School & Library edition is a fantastic update for every school library collection.

Other titles you may want to highlight and share

In the 2021-22 school year, there were 1,648 books banned, of which 317 were picture books, with 19 banned multiple times.
Those included:
Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag
I Am Jazz
And Tango Makes Three
Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation
Worm Loves Worm
When Aidan Became a Brother
We March
We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga
The Name Jar
Sulwe
Stella Brings the Family
Sparkle Boy
Sing a Song: How Lift Every Voice and Sing Inspired Generations
Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat
In Our Mothers’ House
The Baby Tree
Everywhere Babies
They She He Easy as ABC
The Family Book
Call Me Max

I have heard stories about challenges to these books that also appear on these lists:
Prince & Knight
Love, Violet
Papa, Daddy, & Riley
I’m Not a Girl

For the 2022-23 school year, PEN American tracked 3354 book challenges. I scanned through and found these picture books (including all of the ones from above) that were challenged / removed / banned:
I is for Immigrants
This Day in June
Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress
Uncle Bobby’s Wedding
Fred Gets Dressed
Something Happened in Our Town
All Because You Matter
Mixed: A Colorful Story
Before She Was Harriet
The ABCs of Black History
Milo Imagines the World
10,000 Dresses
Bodies Are Cool
Calvin
Maiden and Princess
Red: A Crayon’s Story (side note: the author explains the book relates to his experience with dyslexia)
Love Is…
The 1619 Project: Born on the Water
Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness
Mother Bruce

The Day You Begin

Not Quite Snow White
Jacob’s New Dress
Black is a Rainbow Color
Antiracist Baby
My Princess Boy
Families! Families! Families!
Julián at the Wedding
Julián Is a Mermaid
Hands Up!
Zen Shorts
It’s Okay to Be Different
The Family Book
Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope
All Are Welcome
Peaceful Fights for Equal Rights
Not Quite Narwhal
It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book About Gender Identity
Grandad’s Camper

You may be noticing some trends if you know these titles:
Overall in 2023, 47% of total titles targeted for censorship represent the lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC individuals.

So what can you do?

Fight for the right of every family to choose for their own child(ren) what is right for them and not allow someone else to limit that by censoring titles available in libraries.

*Speak at a school board meeting or send a letter to your local school board to let them know that you support the freedom to read and inclusive collections that represent the cultural diversity and pluralistic nature of this society and our world. That you don’t believe the identities of characters or authors/illustrators shall deem materials inappropriate for age groups and that specific incidents of controversial content shall not automatically disqualify materials from library collections – works should be taken as a whole to determine their value and age-relevance. (Side note: I use age-relevance because age-appropriate is a more subjective term, while age-relevance is more objective.)

*Reach out to your school librarian and let them know you support them in these efforts – put it in writing & cc the administrators, curriculum directors, and superintendents!

*Raise your voice as loudly as those who seek to ban books and ensure it gets heard. Encourage your friends and family to do the same! The loud voices are the ones that are heard most often, but that doesn’t mean they are the majority.

*Vote – for the major and local elections!

*Buy, request, and share all kinds of books, and celebrate fREADom.

And follow Kelly Jensen’s advice, as an author and advocate who has long and loudly been supporting and reporting on the freedom to read, on “How to Fight Book Bans in 2024“

As Maggie Tokuda-Hall, cofounder and national team leader for Authors Against Book Bans wrote for Book Riot, “Every year in September, libraries, independent bookstores, and schools all over the country celebrate Banned Books Week. Often, there’s a display put up with a hand-lettered sign featuring beloved and historically banned books like To Kill a Mockingbird, and Captain Underpants. But the time to quietly erect a display has come and gone. We are fighting a new fight now, one that depends on our fear. It is time to fight accordingly. It’s time to be brave.

Banned Books Week is “an invitation to all of us to put a spotlight on this issue and use it as a galvanizing force to protect our children. Not from the books like Everyone Poops, but from the forces that would see our children cheated of a wiser, bigger, more resilient version of themselves.”