Banned Books
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Books are under profound attack in the United States. They are disappearing from library shelves, being challenged in droves, being decreed off limits by school boards, legislators, and prison authorities. And everywhere, it is the books that have long fought for a place on the shelf that are being targeted.
My publishers in the US and Canada, Charlesbridge, joins PEN America, Unite Against Book Bans (UABB), the American Library Association (ALA), American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFE), We Need Diverse Books (WNDB), Authors Against Book Bans (AABB), fellow publishers, and so many more to combat the rising threat against the freedom to read and write.
Charlesbridge believes that restricting access to books and other reading material in schools and libraries violates those freedoms and inhibits a child's education and their future success. RIF said it best: "Reading is Fundamental."
Charlesbridge have contributed book resumes with statements from me and their other authors who have books banned to Unite Against Book Bans - you can check out more here.
UABB say,
My publishers in the US and Canada, Charlesbridge, joins PEN America, Unite Against Book Bans (UABB), the American Library Association (ALA), American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFE), We Need Diverse Books (WNDB), Authors Against Book Bans (AABB), fellow publishers, and so many more to combat the rising threat against the freedom to read and write.
Charlesbridge believes that restricting access to books and other reading material in schools and libraries violates those freedoms and inhibits a child's education and their future success. RIF said it best: "Reading is Fundamental."
Charlesbridge have contributed book resumes with statements from me and their other authors who have books banned to Unite Against Book Bans - you can check out more here.
UABB say,
Many of the people seeking to censor library materials mischaracterize books with cherry-picked excerpts intended to provoke outrage and create a false impression of what they’re about.
Book résumés provide necessary context from those who have read the books in their entirety.
They demonstrate the educational value and significance these titles have.
Book résumés can be shared at board meetings as a counterpoint to the toxic messaging that books with certain viewpoints and ideas are dangerous or that librarians and teachers are trying to harm youth by providing access to books. Book résumés can also aid book review committees tasked with determining whether a book meets the school or library’s selection criteria
Lola at the Library is banned in a number of states. Lola Sleeps Over and Lola's Nana-Bibi Comes to Visit have also been banned more recently. (Some of the other books in the series are also, but this is the most common).
The full book resumes are on the UABB site - click on the covers to read them.
You can read my statement here.
To find out what more you can do to fight book bans, click on UABB's home page here.
And they have a fantastic toolkit here.
The full book resumes are on the UABB site - click on the covers to read them.
You can read my statement here.
To find out what more you can do to fight book bans, click on UABB's home page here.
And they have a fantastic toolkit here.