This week marks Banned Books Week, which seems a good time to recap some things we all can do to fight book banning and censorship as they continue to run rampant. Here are my tips and resources.
Why We Need to Fight Book Bans
Book bans and challenges in public libraries remain near record levels, the American Library Association (ALA) reported earlier this year, with books featuring LGBTQ and other marginalized characters among the most frequently targeted. PEN America’s 2025 report, “The Normalization of Book Banning,” which looked at book banning in schools, is similarly dire.
Additionally, 14 states now have so-called “Don’t Say Gay/LGBTQ” laws that sweepingly and explicitly ban discussion of LGBTQ people or topics in all school curricula, per the Movement Advancement Project—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 I’ve said many times before, it’s not just about the books. When books about people of certain identities are banned, children of those identities (or with family members of those identities) may feel they can’t talk freely about themselves or their families, and that they and their families don’t matter. And all children will be less prepared for the world today and the people they may encounter.
PEN America’s report offers some hope, however, noting that among the 87 districts that experienced book bans during the 2024-2025 school year, 70 showed some kind of public response to counter them. It notes:
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.
We should all 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 10, when everyone is encouraged 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 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), with 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, Long Beach Public 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).
- In Canada, the Centre for Free Expression offers a number of resources on promoting libraries and intellectual freedom; it also maintains the Canadian Library Challenges Database. The coalition behind Canada’s Freedom to Read Week (similar to Banned Books Week, though at a different time of year) also has many resources.