Info
Having written this column since mid-2021, I sometimes forget what I’ve covered. In some ways, I haven’t written anything new in the world of book censorship because the tactics, goals, and outcomes have not changed much at all over the course of this significant era of censorship, even if the trends in how those means are achieved have.
This week, rather than drafting something fresh, let’s take the time to look back at some of the Literary Activism columns you may have missed from the previous several Januarys and Februarys. Catch up on what you may have missed, and remember that there is nothing exceptionally new in the book—just different names and faces trying to get their 15 minutes of manufactured outrage fame. We are seeing the results of these actions play out and if you’ve been watching or engaged, nothing is surprising. That doesn’t mean it isn’t infuriating, disgusting, or not in need to pushback. It just means that the groundwork’s been being laid so it is simply not surprising in the least.
How to Critically Read a Press Release From the Federal Government (2025)
“As we truly enter a new administration—one that has reiterated time and time again that things like mis- and dis- information are not real and that those who teach such literacy skills may find themselves losing the right to vote (!)—it is going to be vital to learn how to critically read press releases disseminating from the federal government.
Last week proved this as we saw the Department of Education announce that book bans were a hoax. While what the release stated was (partially) true, there was not only a lot of missing context to the press release, there was also a lotof response that indicated a lack of understanding about what the purpose of such a press release was. The release induced a lot of panic and anger, and while much of that was merited, that elicited response was intentional on the part of the new Department of Education.
Let’s break down the press release to consider what it is and is not saying as a means of helping to practice critical literacy skills. This exercise is meant to help as we move through the next several years, as we will see such communication from the federal government happening over and over again.
Find the full press release below. If it is challenging to read as a screenshot, head to the Department of Education’s website to look at it in entirety (we will break it down into more readable bits as we go).”
56 Small Tasks to Be Proactive Against Book Censorship in 2025 and Beyond (2025)
“I’ve compiled a massive list of ideas for things you can do to not only effectively 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. Intended to be 52 tasks, one for each week; thanks to input and insight from several others working in the anti-book censorship space, there are a few more tasks than there are weeks in the year. This gives you the opportunity to choose one task per week with a few bonus tasks and/or gives you the chance to do more than one task a week when you have the capacity to do so.”
If you haven’t yet taken the time to look at the 2026 edition of this small tasks list, you can find it here.
To Defend Religious Freedom from the Trump Administration, We Need to Fight Book Bans (2025)
“Likewise, quippy retorts that people should ban the Bible because it doesn’t meet the standards of “appropriate” do more harm than good. Excitement over the instances where the Bible has been banned, however temporarily, says more about the person cheering’s biases than it does about their commitment to ending censorship. We don’t solve book bans by banning books, but we also don’t court the allyship of people of faith who want to ensure democratic institutions like libraries and public schools survive.
Faith is not what’s at the center of book censorship. It’s extremism and authoritarianism. Book censorship and the dismantling of public goods threatenreligious freedom, not protect it.
Today, I’m excited to have a guest piece from Reverend Paul Brandeis Raushenbush talking about the ways in which people of faith are engaged—and can be further engaged—against book censorship. Reverend Raushenbush is the President and CEO of Interfaith Alliance, an organization dedicated to protecting the integrity of *both* faith and democracy in America. He has been a champion for intellectual freedom, encouraging people to show up for their public libraries and schools to ensure their longterm existence.”
BookLooks, RatedBooks, and Other Unprofessional Book “Review” Sites to Know (2025)
“Getting up to speed on the review sources being used and given legitimacy outside of BookLooks matters because in order to effect actual change, we have to be aware of the various ways these tools are being used and implemented. Certainly, get to know BookLooks. But if your knowledge ends there, you’ve got a lot of catching up to do. Even since the last time I did such a roundup of these biased online book ratings systems in November 2022, more have popped up and become favored by the myriad groups working to ban books in their local community schools and public libraries.
It might not feel good to give these sites any views by clicking the links. But it is vital to see how they’re operating in order to understand why they’re not worthy of being used in professional settings. Compare review sources that are long-running, professional resources by and for library and education professionals such as Kirkus, School Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly, and you’ll see why and how any institutional leadership should be embarrassed and ashamed to even consider their use.”
Envisioning a Student Bill of Rights in an Era of Censorship (2025)
“Can you give a brief introduction and history of SEAT? What was the moment when you knew you needed to develop a statewide youth-led advocacy group and what/where have you been working together since your initial founding?
SEAT, or Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, is a youth-driven initiative that fosters civic participation, promotes equity, and drives systemic change through policy advocacy and educational reforms.
After a year of elevating student voices at school board meetings in the fight against book bans and Internet censorship in Katy ISD, our founders knew we needed to address local issues in an interconnected movement. SEAT was formally established in November 2022 to launch our collective engagement during the 2023 Texas Legislative Session. During this critical period, we mobilized to challenge the HB 900 book ban and advocate for inclusive legislation that upheld youth rights across Texas.
Our efforts centered on advancing equity and improving shared experiences within educational, domestic, and social contexts. Despite the eventual passage of HB 900 and other bills later proving detrimental to us as youth, we recognized the enduring need for a platform to amplify student voices and support the ongoing fight against systemic inequities. These legislative outcomes highlighted the urgent necessity for sustained advocacy, and we have grown tremendously from collective student leadership.”
Be Your Own Library Advocate (2024)
“Public libraries are not play places. They are not cooling centers or warming centers or mental health clinics. Public libraries are not bars, nor are they essential services. Public libraries are places of information and access to information. They are places that ardently defend the rights of every person to seek out that information. This is fundamental and yet not highlighted or underlined enough. Public libraries are cornerstones of democratic and civic engagement, not safety nets for broken systems elsewhere. They might take on those roles, but that’s not their purpose.
No one else can raise your social value for you. You have to do it yourself. You have the data here to support it.”
“While library workers have watched the last several years of censorship play out, the belief that they could be next has played a role in increasing stress and activating the fight-flight-freeze response. No longer is trauma seen as a result of an incident; this cycle acknowledges how possibility can activate a trauma response, even if that possibility is not necessary for the cycle to unravel.”
Book Banning Will Not Stop at Schools (2024)
“In the current book banning climate, there is a pattern worth paying attention to: what begins in public schools seeps into the public library. This begins at the ground level in board meetings and then emerges in higher-level offices. Proposed legislation at the public school level has seen success — look at the Texas READER Act, the expansion of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, Iowa’s S.F. 496 (currently partially enjoined), Indiana’s HB 1147, Kentucky’s SB 5 — in part because it is an easy sell to legislators. They want to protect kids or at least be on record, looking as though they want to protect kids. What better way to do just that than through laws that put parents front and center in the schools? To the average person not paying attention to what’s actually happening, it sounds good.
That is the same mentality behind the emphasis that book banners aren’t banning books because the kids can get them at the public library.”
American Intolerance and Book Bans (2024)
“Until we acknowledge implicit and explicit intolerance of others running through the narratives of “parental rights” and “protecting the children,” we cannot make meaningful or lasting change. The First Amendment rights guaranteed by the Constitution should be granted to all people, not a select few. Limiting these rights limits the extent of our democracy by encouraging intolerance for others. The only way democracy survives is through tolerance.
A path to building, cultivating, and practicing this tolerance is through access to diverse books.”
Data Overwhelmingly Supports Libraries and Library Workers (2024)
“In a time when library workers are beleaguered by rhetoric from the far-right and are the most likely to be handling book banning issues, it is important to remember the vast majority of parents trust and respect librarians. Where tensions or conflicting ideas emerge is where there is opportunity to educate and challenge mis- and disinformation about the roles and responsibilities of librarians and libraries.”
Why Do We Even Read? (2024)
“The growth of algorithms that reinforce sameness and groupthink, paired with America’s history of discrimination and blatant disregard for the rights of all, clarify this contemporary moment of book banning.”
How to Talk About Book Bans with Friends, Library Patrons, and More (2023)
“Something that needs to be understood about the reality of book bans right now is this: teaching other people about what is truly going on — beyond the singular headlines — is crucial, and it’s going to mean you need to get uncomfortable. Whether you’re a book lover or parent who is sharing stories or work in libraries or schools where your patrons and parents may not understand the scope of censorship right now, doing the work means getting uncomfortable. It means “getting political.” It means not taking neutrality as a stance. It means really learning how to talk about book bans.
So how do you do it? Let’s break this down into two different, though related, avenues. The first is educating friends or family, the people in your life for whom you don’t work on their behalf. The second is patrons or customers, the people in your life who you might serve in your role as a librarian or educator. These ideas are meant to be jumping off points. Tailor and adapt as appropriate.”
How Faith-Based, Right-Wing Money Is Waging War Through Book Challenges (2022)
“How do book challenges relate to the disintegration of public education? While it seems that book challenges are about removing any discussion of people of color and queer people from classrooms — a truth worth acknowledging — it’s much bigger than that. Book challenges are one of the many prongs being used by right-wing, faith-based groups to destroy public education as a whole in order to fight for school choice, vouchers, and a white-washed, “liberty” centric history.”
Soft and Quiet: Self-Censorship in an Era of Book Challenges (2022)
“Quiet censorship — also known as soft censorship or self-censorship, terms used interchangeably — is when materials are purposefully removed, limited, or never purchased at all despite it being a title that would serve a community. It’s always been an issue with intellectual freedom, but now, with more “parental rights” groups demanding curricular and collection oversight, even the best professionals who don’t believe in censorship are falling victim to choosing the path of considering the people who may complain over those who may need the material.
In Anna’s school, this plays out in several ways.
“I was working with a really bright, innovative teacher who was rethinking how to teach To Kill a Mockingbird in class. We were building a reading list that could supplement the text for her honors class, and based on the teacher’s criteria, I suggested Out Of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez,” Anna said. “The instructor said to me ‘I can’t afford to add it because of the attention it’d bring.’”
LGBTQ+ Books Quietly Pulled From Washington State Middle School (2022)
“In what reads as a story we’re seeing frequently across the country, a school principal in Kent, Washington, has removed a series of books from Cedar Heights Middle School’s library in anticipation of potential publicity for those materials being made available to students. This “silent” or “quiet” or “soft” censorship has played out from Pennsylvania to Florida, Wisconsin to Washington, and because it’s so rarely reported, less attention has been shined on these stories than those where protestors show up to school board meetings.”
Gavin Downing, the librarian in this story, is now among the most well-known anti-censorship fighters today.
How Are Censors Encouraging Others to Join Their Campaigns? (2022)
“By cherry-picking the facts of the board’s meeting about the book, the writer is able to rile up fellow “concerned parents” by selecting examples that fit her specific agenda. Nowhere does she recognize this is a book that is made available to second semester seniors, that it’s been in classrooms for half a decade, nor that it’s part of a health class. Of course students are learning “math, science, and English,” but they’re also learning health.”
High Plains Library District Programming Policy Welcomes Censorship (2022)
“What Parks describes is censorship. This is not, as the Board member said, a means of being neutral. It’s a targeted policy meant to suppress and/or eliminate discussions related to anti-racism, to activism, to social justice, and to queer lives. These topics do not encourage “another side,” much as the Holocaust does not either — and all of these topics deeply reflect the collections within the HPLD.”
Brooky Parks, the librarian in this story, is also among the most well-known anti-censorship fighters right now.
Book Sales, Promotion, and Donations Don’t Solve Censorship (2022)
“The Streisand Effect won’t change the reality of censorship. It doesn’t create a movement to protect First Amendment rights. It’s consumerism, packaged neatly as intellectualism and moral superiority. The real attack on legal freedom granted by the U.S. Constitution is downplayed by efforts to sell the books, and while it might put the books on bestseller lists, it doesn’t fix the problem.
Because this isn’t about the books. They’re just the tools.
It doesn’t matter how many copies of a banned book are donated to a school or public library. It’s flashy and it’s something I’ve certainly helped do to make a point. The world we’re in now, though, needs more than that — it needs people on the ground doing something to ensure intellectual freedom remains a cornerstone of American rights.
That’s not to say there’s not good intention behind it. Unfortunately, good intentions don’t make change when the eye of the hurricane is already here. The reality is those most hurt by these book bans and challenges are those young people we see, as well as those we don’t, can’t, and refuse to see. A book being pulled from a school library does have a tremendous impact on kids who don’t have money, transportation, or the ability to be openly themselves or openly curious about the world. They can’t simply buy the book or go to a public library. To think or say as much comes from tremendous privilege.”
Top line note for this week is this: following the State of the Union address, House Republicans introduced a bill that would ban LGBTQ+ books and literature in public schools. The way this bill is written makes it seem as though public libraries would also be included.