10 Actions to Fight Book Bans

The number of challenged and banned books in the United States has soared in recent years. According to Pen America, there were 22,810 instances of banned books in U.S. public schools from 2021 to 2025. Books have also been removed from libraries, museum shops, and even the United States Defense Department schools. The majority of titles that have been targeted contain themes about race, gender, or sexuality -- in effect erasing or decreasing access to important stories, identities, experiences, and history. We must fight this censorship! To help us all take action and make a difference, Just Us Books has created the Banned Books Pledge.

I Pledge To:

1. Read more banned children's books.

2. Introduce 5-10 different banned children's books to educators, librarians, bookstore managers and parents-anyone who has influence and/or power to help increase the number of these books within our body of children's literature. 

3. Donate banned children's books to youth organizations, literacy programs and youth community groups. 

4. Prioritize buying these books from independent publishers, independent bookstores and vendors. 

5. Support and get involved with organizations like the Banned Books Week Coalition, Authors Against Book Bans, The Kids' Right to Read Project and other efforts to fight censorship in kidlit. 

6. When visiting a bookstore or library, encourage managers to include more banned children's books. Take the initiative to purchase or borrow from the library at least one banned book to show my commitment to supporting these books. 

7. Encourage educators and administrators to include banned books among their classroom resources. 

8. Encourage book reviewers and bloggers to include banned books among the titles they spotlight. 

9. Publicly celebrate banned books, including sharing them on social media, book review sites and through personal recommendations.

10. Encourage others to take this pledge.

RESOURCES
PEN America Banned in the USA. The Normalization of Book Banning
AuthorsAgainstBookBans

BANNED BOOK LISTS

Jane Addams Peace Association
BooksandAuthors Freely We Read: Picture Books Middle Grade Books Young Adult

PEN America

HuffPo

Banned Books Week

Book bans are on the rise. In classrooms and libraries across the nation, books such as We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices, which we published to provide children comfort and encouragement during difficult times, are being called divisive and discriminatory. Since the fall of 2021, PEN America has counted more than 10,000 book bans in public schools alone. Books written about Black, LGBTQ and other marginalized groups are particularly impacted by these restrictions and censorship.

But we’re fighting back. Organizations, educators, librarians, bookstores, authors, illustrators and readers are working together to counteract book banning efforts. Here are a few ways you can join this important work:

1. Stay informed. Follow organizations such as the Banned Books Week Coalition, Pen America, Authors Against Book Bans or Kids Right to Read Project and participate in Banned Books Week activities to learn about the issue in community: https://bannedbooksweek.org/events/ 

2. Check out a challenged book (or two or three) from the library or buy banned/challenged books from your local bookstore. Many bookstores have banned book displays. You can also check this database for banned book lists.   

3. Speak out. Reading a banned book? Post about it on social media. Talk about the difference a book has made in your life. ALA also has free resources including posters and infographics, to help you champion the cause.

And remember, this advocacy isn’t limited to one week. We need to join together in frequent and consistent action to fight censorship, help keep books available in schools and libraries, and promote the freedom to read!