Censorship news has been heavy this year. Covering the topic, including the historical precedents, decimation of access to books for young people, and the new tactics being used to undermine our constitutional rights, takes a toll. This week, let’s take a different approach to talking about book banning and censorship. Here are three 2026 releases that have covered the topic of book banning across an array of formats. The three books are entirely different in tone, topic, and scope, but together, they present a holistic and honest look at America’s historic and contemporary engagement in book banning.

They also provide something that so many of us need right now: hope.

By no means is this a comprehensive look at the books about book banning out in 2026. Rather, they are three intentionally selected to offer varied perspectives and insights–and they’re three that I’ve personally found to be excellent.

Book Banning in 21st-Century America by Emily J.M. Knox This is the second edition of Dr. Knox’s fantastic exploration of contemporary book banning, released earlier this year. In it, readers will explore 25 different stories of book censorship across American public schools and public school libraries. It’s intended to illustrate the four Rs of censorship–Knox’s framework consisting of redaction, restriction, removal, and relocation. In addition to highlighting specific cases, Knox dives into the practice and purpose of reading more broadly, which further helps illustrate why some people are so compelled and convinced in their book removal beliefs. Knox’s book is academic, but it’s one that those interested in book censorship will find approachable.

Wake Now In The Fire by Jarrett Dapier and AJ Dungo In 2013, Chicago Public Schools banned Persepolis. It became clear pretty quickly that many within the district had no idea why the graphic novel became a target, nor why it was removed. This graphic novel tells the story of the book’s removal from CPS, centering the voices, perspectives, and advocacy of students in the district who uncovered what was happening and why. Author Dapier conducted countless interviews with students who participated, and his own early research into the ban helped inform the highly readable comic. Dungo’s illustrations do a great job of rendering the highs and lows of this censorship battle. Many of the threads seen in today’s censorship efforts are clear in this story from over a decade ago, including how students were quick to recognize that stories from marginalized perspectives are most easily targeted. This comic is clever in mirroring the style of Persepolis, too: it’s a work that straddles the line of fiction and nonfiction–the story and situation are very real, but some of the dialogue and sketching out of the central characters required some imagination. It’s wild to think that 2013 was both not that long ago and, at the same time, generations ago.

Is This a Cry for Help? by Emily Austin Purely fiction, Austin’s book is absolutely grounded in the realities of being a public librarian today. Darcy, the book’s main character, has just returned to her library job after a mental breakdown. When she comes back, she’s faced with a local right-wing journalist’s ire over the library’s materials, as well as a manufactured panic over a storytime the journalist and his followers believed was a drag event (it wasn’t). Darcy’s been answering several emails from a patron named Sammy, who begins by asking for some information about birds but then starts asking questions that become a little more personal, to which Darcy does her best to answer with verifiable facts and resources. The book explores grief and the challenging nature of relationships, alongside Darcy and her colleagues’ experiences under the spotlight of censorship and attacks on libraries. Though there are several scenes that those who’ve paid attention to real-life censorship will find themselves rolling their eyes at–because they’re so accurate–the ending of this book is one that’s deeply hopeful and a reminder of why this fight to protect the right to read matters so much.

Still looking for ways to get involved in the efforts to combat book censorship and protect the right to read? These 60+ small tasks to defend the right to read make things approachable and manageable, and you’ll see that one of the tasks includes reading one of the above-referenced books (though any of the titles here will help you make even more sense of what’s happening right now). You’ll also see learning about the broader work of one of the above authors as a task.

Book Censorship News for March 20, 2026

This week’s top line story is about the need to contact your representatives right now in Congress about HR 7661, the national book ban bill. Here is what’s happening and what you should know when you reach out to your reps.

• One of the anti-library bills in Iowa’s legislature this session could lead to the closure of public libraries to minors in parts of the state.
• While we’re in Iowa, two residents in Dubuque believe they should be able to dictate the books people have access to in their public library. Rather than go to the library board to discuss their issues, they’ve gone above the board to the county board of supervisors, who are now involved in the issue. Public libraries belong to everyone, not just to right-wing cultists angry that gay people exist.
• The Alabama Public Library Services’s new “anti-trans books in public libraries for minors” requirements are going to cost public libraries thousands of hours of time, not to mention untold amounts of money. That’s the point, of course.
• Lapeer Schools (MI) are reviewing their collection policies for the library after complaints about the materials available. Same story, new location. This district is being attacked by folks from Take Back the Classroom.
• A conservative group in Alabama has sued the Tuscaloosa library for denying them the ability to reserve meeting rooms. This story is particularly interesting not because of the lawsuit, but because the group suing the library was the same group cheering the library leaving the American Library Association–the professional association whose guidelines don’t recommend libraries discriminate when it comes to meeting room reservations.
• New Braunfels Independent School District (TX) has banned over 600 titles and relocated/recatalogged over 800 using Artificial Intelligence and overly-restrictive selection criteria. Woof. The earlier behavior in this school district doesn’t make this entirely surprising but what a significant loss for students.
• The bill in Florida which would undermine the federally-standard Miller Test used to define obscenity, allowing for even more book banning in public schools, has failed. This is some welcomed news.
• Unfortunately, a bill on deck in Idaho that would create two different classes of access to books moves forward. This bill would allow private schools and private libraries to continue using the standard Miller Test. Public schools and public libraries would need to ban anything republicans find offensive at the moment. That’s not sarcasm. The ill-defined outlawed materials would be entirely up to interpretation.
• Speaking of state level bills, here is a two–part series looking at some of the most egregious–and some of the most welcome!–news about current state-level book and library related legislation.
• Nearly 200 books in Rutherford County, Tennessee’s public library will be moved from their appropriate spots in youth and YA sections and into the adult section. It’s massive censorship being done here. The public library also removed their freedom to read policy.
• In New Jersey, where there’s a freedom to read bill, Readington’s school board elected to write their own new policy to protect students from “sensitive materials.” You’ll be shocked to learn this is a meaningless phrase, and it’s already causing a chilling effect with the educators in the disrtrict.
• Massachusetts’ Freedom to Read bill is inching closer to passage. It could make movement this session.
• Book banners in Rapides Parish (LA) are excited to pass a motion that would allow them to ban books throughout the school district. The titles that would be removed? Those which “contrary to the religious values and beliefs of the people of our community.” Way for one small group of people to dictate an entire community.
• Twin Falls School District (ID) is actively reviewing the 100+ books challenged by one single person. This person is wasting tremendous time and money, and taxpayers should be aware she’s a drain on the system.
• A must-read interview with Leila Green Little, lead plaintiff in Little v. Llano County about the ongoing fight to protect the right to read.
• “A middle school book club planned in Bondurant [IA] was canceled after community pushback over the book selection, “This Book is Gay,” which is described as a “candid, funny, and uncensored exploration of sexuality and what it’s like to grow up LGBTQ.”” The board is dictating what an optional book club can read.
• Pine-Richland School District (PA) is continuing their debate over who has the right to challenge books in the district libraries. Recall this school’s been under attack for over a year now. With a more pro-student board, they’re working to reverse some of the damage previously wrought.
• A couple of weeks ago, Spring Hill Independent School District (TX) made a parent group remove a display about Ramadan because it was in violation of the district’s “neutrality” policies.