No one will deny that censorship is a hot-button topic, but the word itself conjures so many huge feelings that there’s a danger of the meaning being lost. The ACLU tells us that censorship, the suppression of words, images, or ideas that are “offensive,” happens whenever some people succeed in imposing their personal political or moral values on others.  As adults, it’s fair to want to be able to make a majority of those calls for ourselves. How does this right change when we’re talking about kids?

In a perfect world, things would be withheld from kids solely based on a deep understanding of child development, a neutral political stance, and a willingness to grapple with nuance daily. The world is far from perfect, and book bans in particular are more often about erasure than protection. Kelly Jensen, an author and Book Rioter who has done extensive work on covering the rise of censorship and book banning in the United States, offers an excellent primer on explaining book bans to adults who want to understand.  This is a powerful starting point, but adjustment is needed to help kids, especially those in elementary school, understand the concept of censorship.

Bring in the books about censorship for kids! I’ve gathered a few titles that deal with banning books, which is a tangible way that censorship affects our youngest citizens. These books deal less with what kinds of things should or shouldn’t be banned and more with the idea that one person cannot decide what is right for everyone, and that the feeling of being left out or erased is something that should be spoken about. Raising children of every belief and value with those two truths will go a long way in fighting harmful censorship.

3 Books About Censorship for Kids

This Book Is Banned: A Delightfully Silly Picture Book by Raj Haldar and Julia Patton If you’re looking to start a conversation about censorship for kids, start here. The word “silly” in the title is key, and “delightful” is in the right place, as well. Compared to the classic The Monster At The End of This Book, this story breaks the fourth wall in a panic as topic after topic is banned from its pages. The takeaway is that one person can’t decide what is right for everyone, but the book avoids any preachy tones with its hijinks and hilarity.

The Day the Books Disappeared by Joanna Ho, Caroline Kusin Pritchard, and Dan Santat This fun and funny picture book deals with the controversial idea that planes are the absolute best and really only necessary reading material. Arnold cannot understand why anyone would want to read about anything else! When a magic power lets him disappear books that he doesn’t think are interesting, he sees that before very long, even his own favorites might go POOF! Ho, Pritchard, and Santat pair their kid-friendly message about appreciating different perceptions with a letter for adults about championing books of all kinds.

Roar for Reading by Beth Ferry and Andrew Joyner A lion named Julius helps kids ROAR for books by reminding them they can stand up for what they believe in. Books are being banned at Julius’s local library, and he is ready to be a protector of the stories! This clever book features fun Easter eggs for adults (look for book puns and parodies in the illustrations) and helpful back matter, including an acronym (“Recognize. Organize. Act. Respect.”) that is a call to action.

Hopefully, you’ve found a starting point in these books about censorship for kids. Happy reading!