“What can I do to learn about book censorship and help put a stop to it?” This question and variations thereof continue to be the most common ones I come across. The answer is not just to buy the books. That is an act of consumerism, and while it has value, meaning, and purpose — especially for living authors whose works and lives are under attack — it is not a step toward ending book bans. It is a myth that book bans increase book sales and “help” an author whose work has been targeted. It is also a myth that book bans encourage young people to obtain the banned title.

The reality is that what’s at stake are our public institutions of democracy: public libraries and public schools. Also at stake are the lives of whole groups of people whose stories are being silenced, erased, and burned nationwide by a small, vocal, wealthy, and well-connected contingent of far-right politicians and Christian nationalists (sometimes those groups are the same).

Rather than offer a traditional “how to fight book bans in 2026” guide, I’ve compiled a massive list of ideas for things you can do not only effectively to fight against book censorship but that also will increase your own knowledge, vocabulary, and fluency in the world of censorship as it is right now. You may recall a similar list from 2025. While there is some overlap between last year’s small tasks to be proactive against book censorship list and this year’s, most of the tasks on the 2026 list are brand new. There are 60 tasks, one for each week, plus a few bonus tasks. This allows you to choose one task per week if you’d like. If you’re looking for more ideas or opportunities to do more, try to complete the whole list and/or supplement this year’s list with last year’s. Several of the tasks on this year’s list that were also on last year’s are ongoing tasks: you’ll want to keep tabs on your local school or library board meetings more than one time through the year, or be familiar with who your state and federal representatives are, for example.

Not everything on this list will apply to every person, though most will. These are all adaptable to your personal situation. While some of the tasks might feel duplicative, that’s by design. Everyone has to learn what type of activism and advocacy works for them. Try things out, learn what is sustainable in your life, and lean into this with curiosity. A few tasks on this list are library worker specific, though again, they’re adaptable to non-library workers, too. You’ll find those demarcated with a plus sign (+).

Five years into this meteoric rise in book censorship, we cannot afford to be complacent. That is how and why our institutions of civic engagement and democracy have been so readily attacked. What we need are people showing up, doing the work, putting their butts in chairs at meetings (or at least getting their emails into inboxes), speaking out, and doing the work. Share those resource guides, especially the ones you find to be interesting or helpful, but know that, in and of themselves, they are not going to end book censorship.

Consider keeping a journal to track what works and doesn’t work, how it felt to engage in the activity, and what your takeaways were, among other things. One of the best ways we learn about our capacity to be agents of change is through reflection. To help with this, as the list below can be overwhelming to take in as a whole, I’ve created a Google Spreadsheet for you to use in tracking, documenting, and including any notes that might help you along the way. The document is locked, so to edit it, you’ll need to go to File, then select ‘Make a Copy’ onto your own Google Drive.

Links here are suggestions and starting points. You may also discover other resources to learn from. Go for it. These tasks are in no particular order. If you’re new to this kind of work, consider the easier reaches first. Those’ll help you build your muscles to work up toward the tasks that might require more vulnerability or bravery. Some of these tasks are as simple as reading books related to censorship and sharing information through your personal social networks. Others will require a bit more. These efforts matter, especially when they’re done in conjunction with one another and with thousands of other people nationwide.

A big thank you goes out to a host of freedom to read advocates who’ve been doing this work since the beginning. Librarians and Texas FReadom Fighters Carolyn Foote and Becky Calzada; Anne Russey, Laney Hawes, and Franklin Strong from the Texas Freedom to Read Project; Stephana Ferrell from the Florida Freedom to Read Project; community change agent John Norcross; and the indefatigable researcher and book ban tracker Tasslyn Magnusson all contributed valuable insights. Both John and Tasslyn are founders of the Wisconsin Library Alliance.

1. Find out who represents you in your state legislature and in the US House of Representatives and Congress. Put their name, contact information, and the committees on which they chair or sit somewhere handy. This might be your phone or a digital sticky note on your laptop. 
2. Attend a screening of The Librarians documentary to learn how librarians have emerged as first responders in the fight for democracy and library users’ First Amendment Rights. If you can’t attend a screening, mark your calendars to watch the PBS Independent Lens premiere on February 6, 2026.
3. Students have stepped up to push back against book bans. Get to know some of these young people. For example, Christopher Lau launched his Unban Coolies website and YouTube Channel, which features over 200 interviews with banned authors, illustrators, librarians, and advocates. Interviews include Jason Reynolds, Cynthia Kadohata, Ashley Hope Perez, Matt de la Pena, and more. Add these interviews to your playlist!
4. Host a banned books exchange night that doubles as an opportunity to gather together to watch a film or webinar related to book censorship. Many different organizations regularly offer great webinars, including EveryLibrary, the American Library Association, PEN America, and others. Everyone will bring a banned book they own and swap with fellow attendees. 
5. Pick one friend or more with whom to attend a village, town, city, or county board/council meeting. These governing bodies are often responsible for appointing or approving members of library boards as well as providing oversight of library budgets.  Sign up for public comment and share one thing you think is being done well at your public library. If you know there is something contentious happening in your public library, consider attending that meeting. If you are really feeling bold, you can use this time to ask council members whether or not they have a public library card (since they often do not respond during public comment per meeting rules, perhaps ask them to pull it out and show it if they do). Get creative. You can use this Show Up, Stand Up, Speak Up Canvas. 
6. Volunteer to be part of your state library association’s intellectual freedom committee. If your state library association or another professional organization, such as your state school library association, does not have an intellectual freedom committee, ask why and consider starting one. Volunteers in other state organizations would be thrilled to help you get started and share their expertise. Not a librarian, but want to do something like this? Many state and national library professional associations offer memberships to Friends of the library, Board members of the library, and other supporters–you may be able to get involved that way! +
7. Get your hands on a copy of the digital guide by the Freedom to Read Project, Turning the Page: An Advocate’s Guide to the Freedom to Read. Put together by parents who’ve been working on the ground to overturn book bans in public schools and public libraries, it is a wealth of personal stories, practical tips, and advocacy tools to help support doing anti-censorship work in one’s own backyard. Choose one activity from the guide to do as you work through it. 
8. Read Ban This!: How One School Fought Two Book Bans and Won (and How You Can Too) by Patricia A. Jackson, Ben Hodge, Olivia Pituch, Edha Gupta, Christina Ellis, and Renee Ellis. 
9. Write a letter to your library board complimenting something about the work being done in your public library. Don’t overthink this. You can say you borrowed a book you loved because you saw it on display. You can say that library workers do a fantastic job of selecting material that meets the needs of your community. If you work in a library, advocate for making it easy for your users to advocate for you (examples here and here). 
10. Write a letter to your school board complimenting something about the work being done in your public school. This can be personalized if you’re a member of the school through children. If you’re not part of the school community personally, use this as an opportunity to highlight data or facts—you appreciate that the school has a full-time librarian in each school, or you are impressed with increased test scores over the last few years. Note: A bonus step here is to ask your school’s administration if it has a full-time librarian or any librarian at all, and if not, to inquire about the reason. What plans do they have to hire a librarian for the school? What hurdles are in their way? Who do you need to write a letter to to help them? 
11. Write a letter to your state representatives advocating for librarians in every public school in your state, incorporating information you find through a bit of research on school librarianship in your state. You start your learning at Save School Librarians, and you’ll find plenty more if you look into your state school librarian professional association. Sign the petition at Save School Librarians, as it’s easy, but also take the time to write a letter, too. 
12. Spend 10 minutes every month reading through the previous month’s public school and public library board minutes. Then, spend 10 minutes reading through the documents for the upcoming meeting, including the board packet (this is where you will see FOIA requests that have come in, letters that have come in, and so forth). You can find those on your school or public library website or on the city/county website. If you cannot find them, reach out to the board/, director, and/or superintendent and ask where you can review them. If they do not respond or do not keep those records, this is a major red flag. They work for you and should provide this information readily. You can set up a monthly calendar event to remind yourself to do this task regularly. 
13. Read PEN America’s latest report on book censorship in American schools, called “The Normalization of Book Banning.” Then read “2025 Book Censorship Wrapped: Trends, Challenges, and Successes Over The Year,” put together by five organizations that’ve been tracking and reporting on book censorship. This information and data will help you write to your local, regional, and federal representatives about the issue of book censorship and attacks on libraries. 
14. Read Exquisite Things by Abdi Nazmian (and this interview about how his books being banned inspired this book)
15. ​​Familiarize yourself with the Bill of Rights in the Constitution, particularly the First Amendment and the Tenth Amendment. Learn what it means, where it applies, and some of the most well-known Supreme Court rulings predicated upon those freedoms. Then do the same for the Fourteenth Amendment. There are numerous excellent resources available. 
16. Select one or more friends to attend a school board meeting with. Sign up for public comment and share one thing you think is being done well at your public school. If you know there is something contentious happening in the school related to books or the library, make that the meeting you attend. You can use this Show Up, Stand Up, Speak Up Canvas. 
17. Pick one or more friends with whom to attend a public library board meeting. Sign up for public comment and share one thing you think is being done well at your public library. If you know there is something contentious happening in your public library, consider attending that meeting. You can use this Show Up, Stand Up, Speak Up Canvas.
18. Read Trouble in Censorville edited by Nadine M. Kalin and Rebekah Modrak.
19. Find a pro-literacy volunteer opportunity in your community. This could be the Friends of the Library or the Library’s Foundation, both of which raise money for the library, and the former of which includes doing outreach on behalf of the library. It could be a local teen center seeking someone to lead a book club or volunteering at the local elementary school library. Commit to whatever time you have, be it weekly, monthly, or quarterly. 
20. Request one, two, or three 2026 LGBTQ+ or BIPOC book releases for purchase at your local library. Learn how the process works online or in person, then submit your requests and ask to be the first to borrow them. Consider doing this two or three times throughout the year.
21. Borrow a book from a library book display. Bonus points if this is a book display about banned books that features the kinds of books being targeted, including those by and about BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people. Borrowing books from the library matters, especially for these types of books. They show interest and engagement from the community, and librarians use that information to advocate for their budgets and collection decisions. 
22. Help build the QT Library, a queer library in Boston that aims to grant access to queer and trans literature. How can you help “build” the library? Donate money or books, if you’re able. If those are not in your budget, spread the word about the institution. You can also participate in their virtual Trans YA book club. 
23. Learn about the “Faith for Libraries” campaign. Pick a way to get involved, be it by signing the pledge, listening to a recommended podcast, or sharing information with friends and colleagues who may benefit from it. 
24. Download the Books Unbanned Freedom to Read Teen Intellectual Freedom guide. If you work with young people, select one or two activities from the guide to do with them. If you don’t work with teens, try out some of the activities yourself. There are numerous journaling prompts, as well as excellent opportunities to explore your values and discover how you connect with the meaning of community and the library. Pass the free guide on to any intellectual freedom champions you may know. 
25. Up your knowledge on the state of prison book bans. Follow organizations like Seattle’s Books to Prisoners, dive into the information and data provided at Prison Banned Books Week, spend time with the 2021 Thurgood Marshall report on book censorship in American prisons, follow the Prison Journalism Project, and, if you have the means, find a local or regional organization working to provide books to prisoners and volunteer or make a donation. 
26. Where and how you can, divest from sites and shops like Amazon (and its affiliates like Audible) and Barnes & Noble. It isn’t possible for everyone to do this, nor is it necessary to do it all the time, and that’s okay. Choose to purchase from independent bookstores. You can often buy directly through their websites or support an independent bookstore through purchasing through bookshop.org or Libro.fm for audiobooks. Even if you change where you buy your books or audiobooks once a month or four times a year, that impact makes a difference. If you don’t have a local shop or want suggestions for places that directly support the anti-book ban movement, check out Loudmouth Books, an independent bookstore in Indianapolis, Indiana, founded by author and intellectual freedom advocate Leah Johnson; Black Pearl Books, an independent, Black-owned bookstore in Austin, Texas, with a focus on inclusive literature; The Lynx, an independent bookstore in Gainesville, Florida, with a focus on banned books and books by marginalized voices; or The Banned Book Shop, which donates 10% of profits to PEN America to help continue their anti-censorship work.
27. Read a book on activism, advocacy, and/or liberation, and put one lesson into action. Some options include We Do This ‘Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice by Mariame Kaba, Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care by Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba; Outrage by Ellen Jones; and Micro Activism by Omkari L. Williams, among many others. 
28. Donate to or amplify a request from an educator seeking to add banned books to their classroom. Go to DonorsChoose.org and search through requests using terms like “banned books” or specific book titles that are frequent ban targets, such as The Hate U Give or Flamer. 
29. What does your civics knowledge look like? Strengthen your muscles on American civics by reading a book about contemporary democracy. You can find some recommendations for YA books on the topic here, though there are many, many more written for both adults and for younger readers, too. 
30. Pick one local official every month who is responsible for overseeing policies that impact your public or school libraries, and try to get a 15-minute meeting with them. It doesn’t have to be in person–it’s just as effective to ask for a call or Zoom meeting. Your request for a meeting can include a brief message about your support for diverse library collections that serve the needs of all library users. This way, even if you don’t get the meeting, they know why you called or emailed and understand that you care enough about this issue to take the time to discuss it further.
31. Print your own “How to Fight Book Bans” bookmark and use it as a tool when you’re looking for something small but meaningful you can do in the face of continued book censorship. Ask your local literary organizations–be it a local bookstore, library, local Silent Book Club, or other group–if you can drop off some copies to be used. If you work in or with a bookish organization, consider printing and distributing copies of the bookmark yourself. These are great for your banned book displays, as well as for display on the shelf alongside some of the most commonly banned books. (My local indie has it right at their register!).
32. Spend time getting to know the book review sites created by “parental rights” advocates and where/how they’re writing and sharing information about books. Be familiar with how they rate materials. Explain to other people what the goals of these sites and reviews are. Among the biggest sites attempting to undermine professional knowledge and expertise are RatedBooks, Take Back the Classroom, and the forthcoming National Book Rating Index. 
33. Library workers, build up some of your “soft skills” with the help of the fantastic READCON toolkit. Learn about Civic Engagement, championing lifelong learning, and empower yourself as a public servant. You can pick and choose the curriculum you’d like to learn from, and it’s all freely available to you at any time. Not a library worker? You can still gain a lot from this program, and you might find that diving into the “Get Ready, Stay Ready” toolkit–another project from the team behind READCON–helpful in enhancing your advocacy skills.+
34. Collaborate with others in your community to draft and put forward a resolution from your local school board, public library, or local village, town, or city council in support of the freedom to read and against book bans. Here are two examples of what this looks like.
35. Visit your local public school library during back-to-school nights, open house nights, or other special events. You can visit these regardless of whether you have a student in the school or not. Say hello to the library workers and compliment them on a job well done. Ask if they need anything to help support them (you may hear something like “tell the school board you appreciate us” or “more funding”—that is something you can and should take right to the board, too). If you don’t have a local school library or library worker, take the time to address this with the district and/or your city/county council. How are students accessing materials and/or learning information literacy without a library? 
36. If you’re a library worker feeling the mental health impacts of book censorship and/or attacks on your profession, or you’re a library worker feeling cut off from the kinds of community support that would help you, get involved with the Library Worker Support Network from Urban Librarians Unite. There’s a posted schedule of regular meetings and information on intake. Use this as a chance to connect with peers over the unique challenges–and opportunities–that exist in library work. You do not need to work in an urban setting.+
37. Learn about Libraries For The People. If you’re a library worker or want to get involved in your local Friends or Board, you’ll find resources aplenty. Not interested in or don’t work in libraries? You’ll find plenty of information worth knowing about the public library system and its structure here. Keep tabs on their events and join one in person or online. 
38. Look for stories about libraries, school districts, and book challenges, and create a list of journalists working in this space. Reach out to them with leads for new stories or with local content that might help with a follow-up story. Offer yourself as someone they can interview! 
39. Read the forthcoming graphic novel Wake Now in the Fire: A Graphic Novel by Jarrett Dapier, based on the true story of a group of Chicago high school students working to overturn the school district’s ban on Persepolis. The comic is set to release on February 3, 2026. 
40. Spend time looking for and reading zines dedicated to the freedom to read. You can find several great ones via the GNCRT Addressing Comics Challenges Community Zine Project. Take your exploration a step further and consider creating your own zine related to book bans and censorship — then share it online or print physical copies to distribute locally. Your local library may even have its own zine library that you can contribute to–an opportunity to explore even more offerings from your local democratic institution. Zine reading and creation is a chance to think about and engage in hands-on, DIY advocacy. 
41. Volunteer to serve on a review or policy committee for your local school or library board. Every institution will be different, and opportunities will differ depending on where you live. For example, in Texas, there are opportunities to get involved in School Library Advisory Committees (SLACs) to help select materials for school libraries and/or determine whether to keep materials on shelves; these aren’t in every district, but they are in many! Elsewhere, you might find your library has a citizens review committee you can get involved with. Good, pro-library, pro-literacy members are crucial in these roles; otherwise, only the most extreme parents or citizens have their voices heard. 
42. Understand the four types of book censorship from Dr. Emily J.M. Knox, alongside some of the history of how each kind of censorship has been seen historically and in our current timeline. The linked article is the distillation of what you can find in this phenomenal testimony (with documentation) given by Dr. Knox before the US Senate Judiciary Committee in the fall of 2023. 
43. If you have the financial means, support your local newspaper. If your community doesn’t have a newspaper, consider subscribing to a regional one. In an ideal world, these would be independent newspapers, free from being owned by major conglomerates; however, those are becoming increasingly rare. You can search a handy directory of local journalism here. Don’t have a local or regional paper? Find an independent journalist or outlet that you do like and subscribe to them. You could choose to go with a podcast here, too, if that’s more appealing. There are numerous great ones on various topics related to the freedom to read. Can’t afford to pay for any more subscriptions? You can support these independent and/or local creators by sharing their work on social media and staying informed about their free offerings. 
44. Take a moment on social media to share the work being done by freedom to read advocates across the country (or even the globe!). Create a plan to do it regularly, either by writing your own posts that link out to things of interest and/or re-sharing the posts by groups or organizations doing the work. This may seem so small, but any opportunity to increase the reach of news–even if it’s not in your own community or state–makes a difference. 
45. Practice discussing the issues that impact the freedom to read with close friends and family. Once you’ve worked that muscle, throw on a T-shirt or hat that advertises your support for free expression and look for opportunities to strike up a conversation with a stranger.
46. Get to know some of the youth-led groups working on anti-censorship efforts throughout the country and support them by sharing their stories or work on your own social networks. Among the groups you may want to research include Diversity Awareness Youth Literacy Organization (DAYLO) and their youth advocacy guide; Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT); Golden State Readers; the Freedom to Read Teen Ambassadors; and Students Protecting Education.
47. Incorporate your advocacy into your gift-giving throughout the year with friends and family. We’re not talking about a card that advertises a donation made in the person’s name, but think about fun ways like: pairing a joyful picture book from an underrepresented author with a soft blanket and “storytime coupon” (your promise to read it together) as a birthday gift for a niece or nephew or gift a “Banned Book Club in a Box” for your book-loving friend by purchasing two copies of a frequently challenged book, printing out a discussion guide from the publisher, and adding in snacks. You can get some creative ideas in this post or in this post.
48. Pick your favorite nonprofit dedicated to the freedom to read and create a giving circle among your friends and your neighbors. Set a goal to raise a specific amount of money and then break it up into smaller donation goals for each member of the circle. For example, let’s say you and five friends decide that you want to raise $1,000 for your local freedom to read group. Each friend will set a personal goal of raising $200 and ask four of their friends for $50 donations, 10 of their friends for $20 donations, or 20 of their friends for $10 donations, and so on. With any luck, you’ll exceed your goal, and for hyperlocal anti-censorship groups, this type of fundraising can go a really long way. You can launch this at any time of year, but consider running such a challenge around your birthday (folks love to help a good cause when you’re able to speak about why you’re doing it during your special time of year!). 
49. Learn what the Miller Test is and how it was established. 
50.  Take some time to read through your local library’s collection management policy. It should be on their website, but if it’s not, reach out to the library and ask for it. If you work in libraries, take the time to review your policy. Whether you’re a patron or a library worker, this is your opportunity to identify potential gaps in the policy, ask what should be updated in light of ongoing censorship, and initiate the process of updating it and/or advocating for its revision. Library workers who aren’t in administration: you can begin the conversation by asking questions and offering to help spearhead policy updates to get the ball rolling. If there’s pushback or a lack of interest, that might be worth addressing in and of itself. These policies protect the First Amendment rights of both the library and its users–a core component of what a library does. 
51. We know that digital censorship in libraries is a real issue, and it has been particularly prevalent in school libraries, where individual books or entire themes within books are made inaccessible to users. One group that has been working on digital rights and library advocacy is Library Futures. Take time getting to know their work, and read through their insightful publications. Arming yourself with this knowledge, whether or not you work in libraries, will enhance your advocacy skills and deepen your understanding of the impact of digital materials in libraries. 
52. Write an Op-Ed for your local paper about your library and/or about the importance of the freedom to read. This doesn’t need to be genius stuff –simply drop some facts and statistics and highlight how your library facilitates the community’s First Amendment rights. If you live where libraries are under attack, highlight what’s going on in that opinion. 
53. Find out if there is a local anti-censorship, pro-library, or pro-public schools group in your area. Follow their work and get involved in one of their activities. Can’t find one in your town? Look at your county or larger region. Still can’t find one? Consider creating a local freedom-to-read advocacy group. You can coordinate using Fight for the First, as well as social media. Even if you can’t form something formal, creating an email list with three, four, five, or more people who care about the issue can be invaluable in keeping tabs on what’s happening locally and encouraging action. 
54. There will be numerous elections for school board and library board seats in 2026, held in both the spring and the fall. Find out when your state and local area will hold elections this year and mark them on your calendar. Start spreading the word to your friends and family. These elections are the perfect opportunity to build a voter’s guide in whatever capacity you may have. Here’s how you can create one for school boards and one for public library boards. If your work overlaps with that of other pro-literacy groups locally, collaborate and share — the more people engaged in the work, the more accurate and accessible the information becomes. 
55. With midterm elections in 2026, if you have state or federal-level representatives up for election, show up to a local or regional town hall, if possible. Ask the candidates to discuss their plans for public institutions of democracy, such as schools and libraries. If you’re part of a pro-literacy organization, consider developing a short candidate survey to get their insights on issues related to public libraries, public schools, and the freedom to read. Share both the responses you get and highlight the candidates who didn’t respond at all with folks who will be voting in those elections. 
56. Be a fact-checker in conversations about banned books. If you hear someone talking about banned books as if they don’t happen, as if they are a boon for authors, as if they encourage young people to pick up the books, speak up, and dispel those myths. If you don’t use your voice to set the record straight, someone else is going to do it for you.  
57. Ask your librarian if they have been aware of any local book banning attempts.  Listen to them and get informed about what is happening locally. If your library is not forthcoming about challenges or ban attempts—while rare, there are library workers who agree with book bans and censorship and/or who do not want to share this public information—you can file a Freedom of Information Request.
58. Listen to a new-to-you podcast series or standalone episode about book censorship. You can do this for a set period of time–for example, you’ll spend a week listening to several shows or episodes–or you can make a plan to subscribe to one or two you really like and listen to them every time they’re published. Some recommendations include Banned Camp, Borrowed and Banned, and NBC’s Southlake Podcast. The first one is an ongoing show, while the next two were limited runs, meaning you can listen to them in full all at once. Another great episode is “Librarians Are Not Groomers” from Conspirituality. 
59. Sharpen your skills in understanding misinformation and disinformation. You can develop this skill through learning about information literacy via The News Literacy Project, as well as the books What The Fact? By Dr. Seema Yasmin or Misguided: Where Misinformation Starts, How It Spreads, and What to Do About It by Matthew Facciani. Put your fake news identifying skills to the test with this Misinformation Susceptibility Test. 
60. Follow Authors Against Book Bans on the social media platform of your choice, and take an action suggested by them. If you’re an author, get involved in your state’s chapter of the organization. 
61. Pick up a book published in the last six years that talks about far-right politics or extremism. You can choose anything here, as the goal is to help draw connections between book censorship and attacks on libraries/schools, with the broader goals of the far right. Some titles of interest include Sisters in Hate: American Women on the Front Lines of White Nationalism by Seyward Darby, Culture Warlords or Wild Faith by Tal Lavin, and Michael Edison Hayden’s forthcoming Strange People On The Hill (April 7). Though not an entire book, chapter six of Adam Aleksic’s Algospeak is a powerful read on how incel language has been aided by algorithms to be rebranded as “Gen Z” speak.  

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Book Censorship News: January 9, 2026

• This story is chilling. During Banned Books Week, a Minnesota public school librarian was fired for having a banned books display and for ordering books for his library. Recall that Minnesota has an anti-banned book law. They only matter if they’re enforced, and the district here didn’t meet the state’s policy requirements.
• Read Freely Alabama has filed an Amicus Brief in support of the plaintiffs in Parnell v. School Board of Escambia County, Florida, the case about the banning of And Tango Makes Three and other books by Escambia County’s school board.
• A Lexington, Massachusetts, man filed a lawsuit against the local school district for exposing his five-year-old to a book featuring LGBTQ+ characters. He won the case and the district has to do everything they can to ensure children whose parents are bigots don’t have their kids getting the idea queer people exist.
• The Arkansas Attorney General has really been having a go of being a pro-book, anti-library advocate lately. He was excited to share that his state was one of 20 filing an Amicus Brief in an 11th Circuit Court of Appeals case that says that states should have the right to decide what books are or are not allowed in libraries. Now, he’s trying to claim the fees in a case filed in his state that overturned parts of an unconstitutional book ban law are too high and the state shouldn’t have to pay them. This story is paywalled.
• “Some 181 libraries in the Tennessee Regional Library System, in 91 of the state’s 95 counties, received letters from the secretary of state in October calling for a full audit of the libraries’ juvenile books to better align them with Trump administration standards on gender topics.” This isn’t a new story, but as more information about its execution emerges, it’s worth continuing to share. Executive Orders aren’t laws, and the Secretary of State in Tennessee is among those in his party who are consistently, unnaturally obsessed with gender, sex, and children. We need to keep pointing out how weird this is.
• A deep dive into the Pennsylvania legal group responsible for some of the most reprehensible anti-LGBTQ+ laws being pushed into public schools.
• Per government order, dozens of books have been pulled from school shelves across Alberta, Canada. It’s fewer than when they did this earlier in the school year, but any books banned are still too many books banned.
• Davidson County Board of Education member Mur DeJonge (TN) wants the board to be more quick in banning books he dislikes.
• PEN America’s got a good piece about the censorship of talking about censorship.
• If you’re looking for updates on proposed legislation to ban book bans in New Mexico, here you go. If you’re looking to get involved in New Mexico or in two other states with anti-book ban bills on the docket for this year, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, this guide will be helpful.
• Higher education censorship is continuing to grow exponentially. The latest victim? Plato. Yes, Plato’s being censored at Texas A&M University.
• A must-read editorial from a Wyoming teenager on how the state legislature is trying to ban what teens in the state can read.
• “Today, the New Hampshire House of Representatives voted 181-157  in support of SB 33 as amended, a chilling bill that goes beyond banning books to also censor web pages, videos, artwork, performances, and other school materials.” The New Hampshire GOP can’t help themselves.

If you missed it, Utah began 2026 by banning three more books for public school students statewide, and one day later, a coalition of authors and public school students, with the support of the ACLU of Utah, filed a lawsuit against the state for banning books.