By Barbara Ward, University of New Orleans & Deanna Day, Washington State University
What could be more important in a democracy than intellectual freedom or the Right to Read? What are the dangers inherent in white-washing history and refusing to acknowledge some of the mistakes our nation has made? What are the consequences for classrooms, schools, libraries, even countries when one person or one small group of vocal individuals makes the decision about what materials can be allowed on classroom and library shelves or included in the curriculum? These and other related questions as well as the recent spate of book challenges as well as the approaching Banned Books Week, set for Sept. 22-28, 2024, prompted us to consider once again the damage caused to children and teens by limiting access to reading materials.
In this blog post, we celebrate some of our favorite titles honoring the value of an informed populace and the freedom to choose reading material even when it might be offensive or problematic to some. After all, one of the purposes of education is about being introduced to many different perspectives and deciding for oneself what to think, not simply swallowing propaganda or one person’s opinion as the truth. Truth is far more complex than the simplistic, easy, one-sided answers that some prefer.
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Answers in the Pages by David Levithan, 9780593484685, Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2022.
Three stories tell the story of a book being challenged by a fifth-grade boy’s mother due to the ambiguity of its last lines, words that are open to interpretation, as well as the evolution of a budding relationship between two boys, and passages from the book in question.
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Attack of the Black Rectangles by Amy Sarig King, 9780593484685, Scholastic, 2022.
A group of sixth graders try to figure out why a book they are reading has been censored with black sharpie and later attend a school board meeting to stand up for their rights to read.
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Baby’s First Book of Banned Books by Laura Korzon, 9780735380165, Mudpuppy, 2023.
Deftly distilling relevant themes from timeless classics, this essential board book introduces very young learners to crucial lessons from books that have been banned in the past, sewing seeds that may blossom into expectations of intellectual freedom.
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Ban this Book: A Novel by Alan Gratz, 9780765385581, Starscape, 2018.
When Amy Anne Ollinger’s favorite book is pulled from the school library shelves due to a parental complaint, the quiet, rule-following bibliophile finds her voice and mounts her own secret campaign to ensure her classmates have access to the books they want to read.
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Banned Book by Jonah Winter & Gary Kelley, (il.), 9781568463940, Creative Editions, 2023.
“We Are Right” or WAR is a group of individuals that black out words in books because they consider them to be inappropriate for children and then show up at school board meetings or local schools demanding that certain book titles are removed from libraries.
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Banned Book Club by Kim Hyun Sook, Ko Hyung-Ju & Ryan Estrada (il.), 9781945820427, Iron Circus Comics, 2020.
This graphic novel discusses political oppression in South Korea in the early 1980s and Sook’s experiences in an underground banned book club in college.
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Finally Seen by Kelly Yang, 9781534488335, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2023.
A classmates’ parent tries to stop her teacher from reading aloud a diverse book, Lina realizes she must break her silence and courageously speak up in defense of the book since it has helped her adjust to her new life as an immigrant.
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The Great Banned-Books Bake Sale by Aya Khalil & Anait Semirdzhyan (il.), 9781568463940, Tilbury House, 2023.
Kanzi, who has immigrated from Egypt discovers that several books about immigrant youngsters and children of color are no longer on the library shelves and have been banned by the school district and holds a bake sale to purchase diverse books.
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Miles Morales Suspended: Spiderman by Jason Reynolds and Zeke Peña (il.), 9781665918466, Atheneum/ Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, 2023.
Miles Morales is in school suspension for disagreeing with his history teacher and finds himself fighting with a termite that is trying to destroy all of the books about people of color and their history.
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Property of the Rebel Librarian by Allison Varnes, 9781524771508, Random House, 2018.
A twelve-year-old year girl whose parents challenge her school library’s inclusion of books they deem dangerous becomes a rebel with a cause, secretly dispensing provocative [to some] books to her schoolmates.
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This Book is Banned by Raj Halder & Julia Patton (il.), 9781728276564, Sourcebooks Explore, 2023.
This humorous picturebook discusses just because we don’t like something, such as giraffes or avocados, doesn’t mean that everyone feels the same and the animals or fruit should be banned from society.
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You Can’t Say That!: Writers for Young People Talk about Censorship, Free Expression, and the Stories They Have to Tell by Leonard S. Marcus (Ed.), 9780763690366, Candlewick, 2021.
Through informative and powerful interviews, 13 authors of books for young audiences discuss why their books were challenged as well as their reactions to challenges against intellectual freedom, offering insight into how these complaints affected their next writing projects.
WOW Dozen features a list of 12 global books for children and adolescents around a theme, topic, issue or personal favorites. Each Dozen consists of ten newly-published titles with two older “must have” books. Please share or recommend additional books that fit the theme in the comments section or on social media using #WOWDozen. Use the printer icon in the upper left corner of this post to print or save this list as a PDF.
- Themes: Alan Grantz, Allison Varnes, Amy Sarig King, Anait Semirdzhyan, Answers in the Pages, Attack of the Black Rectangles, Aya Khalil, Baby's First Book of Banned Books, Ban This Book, Banned Book, Banned Book Club, Banned Books, Barbara A. Ward, David Levithan, Deanna Day-Wiff, Finally Seen, Gary Kelley, Great Banned Books Bake Sale, Jason Reynolds, Jonah Winter, Julia Patton, Kelly Yang, Kim Hyun Sook, Ko Hung-Ju, Laura Korzon, Leonard Marcus, Miles Morales Suspended: Spiderman, Property of the Rebel Librarian, Raj Halder, Ryan Estrada, This Book is Banned, You Can't Say That, Zeke Pena
- Descriptors: WOW Dozen