Banned Books Week: Saving Stories, Saving Children

Today starts Banned Books Week, and a new report from PEN America is blunt about the current wave of book bans in the United States: “Never before has access to so many stories been stolen from so many children.”

The Scope

PEN America’s report, “The Normalization of Book Banning,” pulls no punches:

In 2025, book censorship in the United States is rampant and common. Never before in the life of any living American have so many books been systematically removed from school libraries across the country. Never before have so many states passed laws or regulations to facilitate the banning of books, including bans on specific titles statewide. Never before have so many politicians sought to bully school leaders into censoring according to their ideological preferences, even threatening public funding to exact compliance. Never before has access to so many stories been stolen from so many children.

The organization recorded 6,870 instances of book bans in the 2024-2025 school year, across 23 states and 87 public school districts. Florida had the most bans, with 2,304 instances for the school year, “owing to the passage of multiple vague laws, direct pressure from local groups and elected officials, and threats to educators’ professional licenses if they fail to comply.”

The cumulative effect of book bans is even more dire. Since July 2021, PEN America has recorded 22,810 cases of book bans across 45 states and 451 public school districts. The report points out a number of troubling trends, saying:

The rhetoric of the Trump Administration and the directives of the Departments of Education and Defense add yet another pressure on states and school districts to censor….

Persistent attacks conflate LGBTQ+ identities as “sexually explicit” and erase LGBTQ+ representation from schools….

The ruling in Mahmoud v. Taylor [about which more here], to mandate “opt outs” for children whose parents object to LGBTQ+-relevant picture books, forecasts heightened censorship of LGBTQ+ content across school districts nationwide….

Many of these book bans are not due to decisions made in reconsideration policies and processes. Nor are they the direct result of legislation…. This functions as a form of “obeying in advance” to anticipated restrictions from the state or administrative authorities, rooted in fear or simply a desire to avoid topics that might be deemed controversial….

State-mandated bans are challenging to quantify but we can estimate the impact on students, and that impact is significant.

The Impact

Book bans steal stories from children, reducing the opportunities to see themselves reflected and to learn about the world around them. But book bans foretell another danger, as I’ve said multiple times before. Book bans, in prohibiting certain representation, raise the question of whether children who themselves embody that representation will be allowed to speak or write at school about their own identities and families. This is a particular concern in the 12 states with so-called “Don’t Say Gay/LGBTQ” laws—but even in other states, book bans and the discourse around them may make teachers and administrators reluctant to allow such expression in classrooms (or even in hallways), and students themselves may hesitate.

As we continue to fight book bans, then, we must remember that ultimately, the reason for doing so is not only about the books, nor even about giving children diverse, inclusive representation (although that is an important component). At heart, it’s about creating environments in which children are able and encouraged to express who they truly are. It’s not just about the freedom to read. It’s about the freedom to be.

A Spark of Hope

The situation is dire, but PEN America also gives us a spark of hope. Their report also tracked “the robust network of advocates fighting back publicly against censorship in defense of the freedom to read.” Among the 87 districts that experienced book bans this year, it says, were 70 that showed some kind of public response to counter them. “Often, it is parents, individual authors, students, educators, librarians, and community members who have been instrumental in creating the most local and direct pressure to return books to shelves,” it notes.

What to Do

You, too, can be a part of this effort. Banned Books Week should give us fresh momentum—particularly the American Library Association’s Let Freedom Read Day on October 11, when they ask everyone to take at least one action to help defend books from censorship—but our work must continue beyond that. Here are my updated lists on how we can all pitch in.

If you are fighting book bans or potential bans in your community

Report censorship attempts confidentially to the ALA and/or to the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC).
Visit Unite Against Book Bans, an ALA-led coalition that includes LGBTQ organizations, publishers, and others, for a toolkit of talking points, suggested actions, and more resources.
See GLAAD’s new toolkit, “Book Bans – A Guide for Community Response and Action.”
Visit EveryLibrary’s Fight for the First site, which has tools to help organize a local group and create a campaign for fighting a book ban.
Support challenged books by speaking up at town, school board, and library meetings. PEN America has suggestions on how to do so.

To support the freedom to read

Recommend books about LGBTQ and other marginalized people to your local libraries to show there is community support and need for them.
Borrow or purchase these titles for the young people in your life.
Review LGBTQ- and BIPOC-inclusive children’s and young adult books on Amazon, Goodreads, and similar sites to counter reviews that claim they are inappropriate simply for having such content. (Be honest about a book’s literary and artistic quality; but always stand up for people’s right to access the title.)
Encourage and show up for school visits and author talks by diverse authors.
Run for school and library boards yourself if your time and inclination allow.
Donate to organizations fighting book bans, if you have the means.
Write to or call your elected officials and urge them to stand against censorship.
Vote in all elections—local, state, and national.

Other book resources to know

My own Database of LGBTQ Family Books offers a way to search and filter for LGBTQ-inclusive titles for ages 0 to 12 (and books for LGBTQ parents and prospective parents), and to read my extensive reviews.
The Books Unbanned initiative invites young people to apply for a free ecard via any participating library (Brooklyn Public Library, Boston Public Library, LA County Library, San Diego Public Library, and Seattle Public Library), allowing them to check out e-books no matter where they live. One can apply to any or all libraries (within their stated age ranges, which vary slightly), since their collections may differ.
Several organizations and initiatives are offering free LGBTQ books to schools and educators, including Pride and Less Prejudice, Hope in a Box, GLSEN’s Rainbow Library, and Open Books.
To keep up with all that’s happening with book censorship, I recommend Book Riot’s Literary Activism newsletter (though I’ll keep reporting on highlights, particularly LGBTQ-related ones, here at Mombian, too.)