“Harmful to Minors”: How Book Bans Hurt Adolescent Development

ABSTRACT

The following article analyzes the current wave of book bans in the United States of America. Book banning has a long history; the modern predominant focus on young people's reading materials grew around fifty years ago with the increased publication of realistic depictions of the lived experiences, identities, and personhoods of children and young people. Nonetheless, the current form of censorship is different: bigger, more politicized, and more targeted at those living with marginalized identities, particularly people of color and those with LGBTQ+ identities. This article argues that book banning places a unique burden on adolescent development and is particularly harmful to those living with marginalized identities.

KEYWORDS:

• Book bans
• censorship
• libraries
• adolescent development
• marginalized communities
• school libraries
• inequality in publishing

Acknowledgments

This article was originally written for the course INFO-601: Foundations Information, taught by Dr. Irene Lopatovska at the Pratt Institute School of Information in New York City. The author thanks Dr. Lopatovska for her encouragement, enthusiasm, and insight; the author also thanks librarians serving children and fighting censorship everywhere.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. PEN America, “Banned in the USA: The Growing Movement to Ban Books,” September 19, 2022, https://pen.org/report/banned-usa-growing-movement-to-censor-books-in-schools/.

2. OIF, ALA, “Challenge Support,” Text, Tools, Publications & Resources, December 8, 2016, https://www.ala.org/tools/challengesupport; See note 1 above.

3. Anne Lyon Haight, Banned Books: Informal Notes on Some Books Banned for Various Reasons at Various Times and in Various Places, 3rd ed. (New York: R. R. Bowker, 1970), 3, 52, 64, 69, 74, 109; Wayne A. Wiegand, Part of Our Lives: A People's History of the American Public Library (Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2015), 86–87, 106–7, 147, 169–72. The Office on Intellectual Freedom (OIF) was created in 1967.

4. Britannica Academic, “History of Publishing,” https://academic-eb-com.ezproxy.pratt.edu/levels/collegiate/article/history-of-publishing/109461 (accessed April 12, 2023); National Center for Education Statistics, “National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL),” (National Center for Education Statistics, 1993), https://nces.ed.gov/naal/lit_history.asp#:~:text=However%2C%20in%20the%20late%2019th,percent%20of%20blacks%20remained%20illiterate.

5. Wiegand, Part of Our Lives, 139.

6. Trisha Tucker, “Dangerous Reading: How Socially Constructed Narratives of Childhood Shape Perspectives on Book Banning,” Public Library Quarterly (July 3, 2023): 4–5, https://doi.org/10.1080/01616846.2023.2232289; Mark I. West, Trust Your Children: Voices against Censorship in Children's Literature, 2nd ed. (New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 1997), 18.

7. West, Trust Your Children, vii–viii, 44–45.

8. Catherine Sheldrick Ross, Lynne McKechnie, and Paulette M. Rothbauer, Reading Matters: What the Research Reveals about Reading, Libraries, and Community (Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2006), 10–14; Wiegand, Part of Our Lives, 120–24.

9. Haight, Banned Books, 101.

10. West, Trust Your Children, 178–79; ALA, “Most Frequently Challenged Authors of the 21st Century,” Text, Advocacy, Legislation & Issues, March 26, 2013, https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/challengedauthors.

11. Herbert N. Foerstel, Banned in the U.S.A: A Reference Guide to Book Censorship in Schools and Public Libraries, Rev. and expanded ed. (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002), xx, 25–29; West, Trust Your Children, viii–x, 7, 14–15, 24, 47, 179–80.

12. The surge in US book bans and challenges coincides with a restriction of civil rights throughout the country. Many attempts to restrict drag performance and gender-affirming care for trans and non-binary children are taking place throughout the United States. Similarly, with the push to remove what opponents call Critical Race Theory from curricula, we see a large pushback on books that contain what challengers describe as “anti-white” views. Xochitl Gonzalez, “The Librarians Are Not Okay,” The Atlantic, March 15, 2023, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/03/book-bans-censorship-librarian-challenges/673398/; Nicole Narea, “The GOP's Coordinated National Campaign against Trans Rights, Explained,” Vox, March 10, 2023, https://www.vox.com/politics/23631262/trans-bills-republican-state-legislatures.

13. See note 1 above.

14. “How a National Debate over Book Censorship Is Playing out in North Carolina,” WUNC, February 1, 2022, https://www.wunc.org/2022-02-01/how-a-national-debate-over-book-censorship-is-playing-out-in-north-carolina.

15. OIF, ALA, “Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000–2009,” Text, Advocacy, Legislation & Issues, March 26, 2013, https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/decade2009; West, Trust Your Children, 7, 140–42.

16. Tucker, “Dangerous Reading,” 3; West, Trust Your Children, ix.

17. ALA, “American Library Association Reports Record Number of Demands to Censor Library Books and Materials in 2022,” Text, News and Press Center, March 22, 2023, https://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2023/03/record-book-bans-2022.

18. See note 1 above.

19. “2023 Banned Books Update: Banned in the USA,” PEN America (blog), April 20, 2023, https://pen.org/report/banned-in-the-usa-state-laws-supercharge-book-suppression-in-schools/.

20. Ashe Schow, “Maya Angelou Book One Of 5 Banned by Alaska School Board for Being ‘Controversial,’” April 29, 2020, https://www.dailywire.com/news/maya-angelou-book-one-of-5-banned-by-alaska-school-board-for-being-controversial; Jennifer Sangalang and Jodie Wagner, “Florida School District Pulls 80 Books for Sex, Racial Content,” March 16, 2023, https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/2023/03/16/list-florida-school-district-removes-books-sex-racial-content-martin-county/70009140007/.

21. Judith Levine, Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children from Sex (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2002), 10–11. Materials are obscene if “taken as a whole, appeal to the prurient interest in sex, which portray sexual conduct in a patently offensive way, and which, taken as a whole, do not have serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.” Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 24 (1973). But for children, the standard is stronger, allowing more restriction if it is deemed “harmful to minors.” Ginsberg v. New York, 390 U.S. 629 (1968).

22. Pat R. Scales, Scales on Censorship: Real Life Lessons from School Library Journal (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015), 18, 98; West, Trust Your Children, 118.

23. See note 1 above.

24. “CBS News Poll: How Do People View Book Bans, Trans Rights Issues? – CBS News,” May 8, 2023, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-poll-views-book-bans-trans-rights-issues-gop-presidential-primary/.

25. “Big Majorities Reject Book Bans – CBS News Poll,” February 22, 2022, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/book-bans-opinion-poll-2022-02-22/.

26. Victoria Balara, “Fox News Poll: Parents Increasingly Concerned about Book Banning,” Text.Article, Fox News (Fox News, April 5, 2023), https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fox-news-poll-parents-increasingly-concerned-book-banning.

27. Taylor Knight, “Most Americans Oppose Book Bans amid New Wave of Censorship: Poll,” December 16, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/12/16/most-americans-oppose-book-bans-amid-new-wave-of-censorship-poll/; ALA, “Large Majorities of Voters Oppose Book Bans and Have Confidence in Libraries,” Text, News and Press Center, March 24, 2022, https://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2022/03/large-majorities-voters-oppose-book-bans-and-have-confidence-libraries.

28. Elizabeth A. Harris and Alexandra Alter, “Book Ban Efforts Spread across the U.S.,” The New York Times, January 30, 2022, sec. Books, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/30/books/book-ban-us-schools.html.

29. BBC News, “Judy Blume Worried about Intolerance and Book Banning in the US,” April 1, 2023, https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-65142127.

30. See note 1 above.

31. Isiah Holmes, “Uneasy Start to the School Year in Politically Charged Waukesha,” Wisconsin Examiner (blog), September 8, 2022, https://wisconsinexaminer.com/brief/uneasy-start-to-the-school-year-in-politically-charged-waukesha/; Hudson Callender, “Texas Lawmaker Challenges 23 Frisco ISD Library Books, Citing ‘Obscene Sexual Content,’” The Texan, August 17, 2022, https://thetexan.news/texas-lawmaker-challenges-23-frisco-isd-library-books-citing-obscene-sexual-content/.

32. PEN America, “2023 Banned Books Update: Banned in the USA,” April 20, 2023, https://pen.org/report/banned-in-the-usa-state-laws-supercharge-book-suppression-in-schools/.

33. Leyla Santiago Forrest Jack, “Florida School District Begins ‘Cataloging’ Books to Comply with DeSantis-Backed Law | CNN Politics,” CNN, January 26, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/25/politics/florida-school-library-books-law-desantis/index.html.

34. Washington Post, “Florida Schools Tell Teachers: Hide Your Books to Avoid Felony Charges – The Washington Post,” January 31, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/01/31/florida-hide-books-stop-woke-manatee-county-duval-county-desantis/.

35. Danielle J. Brown, Florida Phoenix February 16, and 2023, “Two Books on Baseball Players Who Faced Racism Finally Got Approved by Duval School District,” Florida Phoenix (blog), February 16, 2023, https://floridaphoenix.com/2023/02/16/two-books-on-baseball-players-who-faced-racism-finally-got-approved-by-duval-school-district/.

36. See note 33 above; Sangalang and Wagner, “Florida School District Pulls 80 Books for Sex, Racial Content.”

37. See note 33 above.

38. ALA, “Access to Library Resources and Services for Minors: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights,” Text, Advocacy, Legislation & Issues, July 26, 2006, https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/minors.

39. PEN America, “Utah School District's Reversal on Decision to Remove 52 Books from School Libraries Is an Important Step in Recognizing Students’ Speech Rights,” PEN America (blog), August 11, 2022, https://pen.org/press-release/utah-school-districts-reversal-on-decision-to-remove-52-books-from-school-libraries-is-an-important-step-in-recognizing-students-speech-rights/.

40. See note 1 above.

41. Grant Gerlock and Iowa Public Radio, “House Committee Looks to Enforce Age-Appropriate Books, School Discipline | Iowa Public Radio,” March 3, 2023, https://www.iowapublicradio.org/state-government-news/2023-03-03/house-committee-looks-to-enforce-age-appropriate-books-school-discipline.

42. “Louisiana AG Creates Online Portal to Report Books,” https://www.knoe.com/2022/12/07/louisiana-ag-creates-online-portal-report-books/ (accessed July 17, 2023).

43. See note 1 above.

44. Scales, Scales on Censorship, 13, 18, 76, 98; See note 1 above.

45. “Missouri House Votes to Ban Diversity Spending in Government,” AP NEWS, March 29, 2023, https://apnews.com/article/budget-schools-education-lawmakers-81424ffb499eb16d9f55e4e44c9893c3.

46. “How One Book Incited Republicans and Tore Apart a Small Town,” HuffPost, January 13, 2023, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/conservative-outrage-library_n_63bf1c46e4b0ae9de1c41ba6.

47. Maura Zurick, “Texas Library May Face Elimination Weeks after Banned Books Return,” Newsweek, April 10, 2023, https://www.newsweek.com/texas-library-may-face-elimination-weeks-after-banned-books-return-1793510.

48. “Ridgeland, Library System Come to Agreement on Funding,” April 12, 2022, https://www.wlbt.com/2022/04/12/ridgeland-library-system-come-agreement-funding/.

49. “Hilton Schools Evacuated after District-Wide Bomb Threat,” March 22, 2023, https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/rochester/public-safety/2023/03/22/hilton-schools-being-evacuated-after-district-wide-bomb-threat.

50. Zachary Schermele, “A Cultural Power Struggle at an Iowa Library Casts a ‘Dark Cloud’ over a Small Town,” January 4, 2022, https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/small-town-library-shut-say-culture-wars-closed-rcna39816.

51. Claire Taylor, “Lafayette Parish Librarian Who Spoke against Censorship of LGBTQ Books May Be Fired Monday,” The Advocate, July 23, 2022, https://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/news/lafayette-parish-librarian-who-spoke-against-censorship-of-lgbtq-books-may-be-fired-monday/article_7d1f549a-0a21-11ed-b48a-0f6416960652.html.

52. Kara Yorio, “Louisiana Librarian Amanda Jones Fights Back Against Online Attacks,” School Library Journal, August 12, 2022, https://www.slj.com/story/School-librarian-of-the-year-amanda-jones-fights-back-against-online-attacks.

53. Nicole Carr, “How One New Jersey School Board Flipped to a Conservative Majority,” ProPublica, June 29, 2023, https://www.propublica.org/article/conservative-transformation-wayne-new-jersey-school-board. In this New Jersey district, the new conservative school board majority was supported by the 1776 Project, a PAC whose website opens with a form to report “a school promoting critical race theory.”

54. Lauren Burke, “In the 1950s, Rather than Integrate Some Public Schools, Virginia Closed Them,” The Guardian, November 27, 2021, sec. World news, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/27/integration-public-schools-massive-resistance-virginia-1950s.

55. Librarians were often, early in the profession's history, responsible for restrictions to people's reading, with libraries instituting policies that only allowed patrons to take out one fiction book at a time – if they wanted two books, they had to take out a non-fiction book to broaden their horizons. For children's books, they would ban series because they considered the books poor quality literature.

56. Donna Bulatowicz, “Diverse Literature in Elementary Schools: Who Chooses and Why?” (Montana State University, 2017), 133–35; Linda Jacobson, “Unnatural Selection: More Librarians Are Self-Censoring,” School Library Journal, 2016, https://www.slj.com/story/unnatural-selection-more-librarians-self-censoring; Scales, Scales on Censorship , 37–38, 62, 64.

57. Kathy Ishizuka, “Can Diverse Books Save Us? In a Divided World, Librarians Are on a Mission,” School Library Journal, October 21, 2018, https://www.slj.com/story/can-diverse-books-save-us.

58. Gonzalez, “The Librarians Are Not Okay”; Emily St James, “Opinion | I Am Being Pushed Out of One of the Last Public Squares, the Library,” The New York Times, July 17, 2023, sec. Opinion, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/17/opinion/public-libraries-book-bans-lgbt.html; Kristin Pekoll, Beyond Banned Books: Defending Intellectual Freedom throughout Your Library (Chicago: ALA Editions, 2019).

59. Gonzalez, “The Librarians Are Not Okay.”

60. Scales, Scales on Censorship, 28, 37.

61. See note 38 above.

62. “Books Will Stay in West Linn-Wilsonville School District after Push for Ban,” kgw.com, March 5, 2023, https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/the-story/west-linn-wilsonville-school-district-book-ban/283-f69770b2-5243-4102-b638-ba649fab6f0f.

63. Rachel Ulatowski, “Mississippi Book Banning Law Causes All Kids to Lose Access to Public Library E-Books, Audiobooks Across the State,” The Mary Sue (blog), July 9, 2023, https://www.themarysue.com/mississippi-book-banning-law-causes-all-kids-to-lose-access-to-public-library-e-books-audiobooks-across-the-state/; David Brown, “Newlawebooks | First Regional Library,” June 30, 2023, https://firstregional.org/newlawebooks/.

64. The Editorial Board St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “Editorial: Ashcroft's Library-Censorship Rules Are Putting a Wall between Teens and Books,” STLtoday.com, July 20, 2023, https://www.stltoday.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-ashcrofts-library-censorship-rules-are-putting-a-wall-between-teens-and-books/article_5f141476-26ff-11ee-8a40-9baa67eab28b.html.

65. Jacobson, “Unnatural Selection”; “Restricted Access to Library Materials: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights | Advocacy, Legislation & Issues,” https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/restrictedaccess (accessed April 7, 2023); Scales, Scales on Censorship, 24–25, 56–57,71–72, 75–76, 78–79.

66. “Digest of Education Statistics, 2021” (National Center for Education Statistics, 2021), https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d21/tables/dt21_105.30.asp.

67. Gonzalez, “The Librarians Are Not Okay.”

68. Ibid.; Pekoll, Beyond Banned Books, ix–xi; Scales, Scales on Censorship ; See note 34 above. In The Librarians Are Not Okay, Xochitl Gonzalez reports on the high levels of abuse and mental strain that librarians are currently under; it is considerable. Gonzalez, “The Librarians Are Not Okay.” In this paper, I am concerned particularly with the impact of book bans on young people. Nevertheless, the toll that librarians are weathering is large and inevitably is intertwined with the effect on young people if librarians are unable to fulfill their ethical and professional duties to young people because of the lobbying by pro-censorship groups.

69. Janet Alsup, “Introduction. Identification, Actualization, or Education: Why Read YAL?” in Young Adolescent Literature and Adolescent Identity Across Cultures and Classrooms, ed. Janet Alsup (Routledge & Francis, 2010), 4–6; Wiegand, Part of Our Lives, 4; Ross et al., Reading Matters, 114–16; Bulatowicz, “Diverse Literature in Elementary Schools,” 31–42.

70. Rudine Sims Bishop, “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors,” Perspectives 6, no. 3 (1990), https://scenicregional.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Mirrors-Windows-and-Sliding-Glass-Doors.pdf; Maria Cahill, Erin Ingram, and Soohyung Joo, “Storytime Programs as Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors? Addressing Children's Needs through Diverse Book Selection,” The Library Quarterly 91, no. 3 (July 1, 2021): 269–84, https://doi.org/10.1086/714317.

71. Levine, Harmful to Minors, chap. 1; West, Trust Your Children, 53–55; See note 29 above.

72. Mary L. Warner, Adolescents in the Search for Meaning: Tapping the Powerful Resource of Story (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2006), xii–xiii.

73. OIF, ALA, “Top 10 Most Challenged Books Lists,” Text, Advocacy, Legislation & Issues, March 26, 2013, https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10; See note 1 above. The hostility to these topics can come from educators themselves: one Florida high school teacher has, on her own, challenged close to 100 books; four of her recent challenges were for books that were “indoctrination of LGBTQ,” “sexual introductions,” “race-baiting” and “anti-whiteness.” Cody Long, “School Board Restricts Access to Challenged Books after 7-Hour Meeting,” WKRG News 5 (blog), March 21, 2023, https://www.wkrg.com/northwest-florida/escambia-county/school-board-restricts-access-to-challenged-books-after-7-hour-meeting/; Brittany Misencik, “Escambia School Board Votes to Keep 4 Challenged Books after 7+ Hours of Debate,” Pensacola News Journal, March 21, 2023, https://www.pnj.com/story/news/education/2023/03/21/escambia-school-board-keeps-4-challenged-books-after-7-hours-of-debate/70033181007/.

74. CCBC, “Books by and/or about Black, Indigenous and People of Color 2018,” Cooperative Children's Book Center, 2018, https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/literature-resources/ccbc-diversity-statistics/books-by-and-or-about-poc-2018/.

75. “The Numbers Are in: 2019 CCBC Diversity Statistics,” Cooperative Children's Book Center, June 16, 2020, https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/the-numbers-are-in-2019-ccbc-diversity-statistics/.

76. CCBC, “CCBC's Latest Diversity Statistics Show Increasing Number of Diverse Books for Children and Teens,” June 13, 2023, https://uwmadison.app.box.com/s/rn4ccrdx8f8a2nbbqb6spx16kxcy52r1/file/1237060768926.

77. See note 1 above; “The Numbers Are in.”

78. Bishop, “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors,” ix.

79. Alsup, “Introduction. Identification, Actualization, or Education,” 5; Bishop, “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors.”

80. Bulatowicz, “Diverse Literature in Elementary Schools,” 39–40; Cahill et al., “Storytime Programs as Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors?” Although there are studies that suggest that reading is a “booster,” rather than a “change agent” – thus, those predisposed to exhibit less prejudice will have that boosted, short-term, and those who exhibit more prejudice will have that boosted. Tucker, “Dangerous Reading,” 7.

81. Wiegand, Part of Our Lives, 4.

82. Bishop, “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors,” x.

83. Joshua Breslau et al., “Lifetime Risk and Persistence of Psychiatric Disorders across Ethnic Groups in the United States,” Psychological Medicine 35, no. 3 (April 2005): 317–27, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291704003514.

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85. Alfred W. Tatum, “Engaging African American Males in Reading,” Educational Leadership 63, no. 5 (February 2006): 47.

86. Andrew Bacher-Hicks, “Proving the School-to-Prison Pipeline,” Education Next (blog), July 27, 2021, https://www.educationnext.org/proving-school-to-prison-pipeline-stricter-middle-schools-raise-risk-of-adult-arrests/; Tatum, “Engaging African American Males in Reading.”

87. Janice A. Byrd et al., “Reading Woke: Exploring How School Counselors May Use Bibliotherapy with Adolescent Black Boys,” Professional School Counseling 25, no. 1_part_4 (January 1, 2021): 2156759X2110400, https://doi.org/10.1177/2156759X211040031.

88. Luis A. Parra et al., “Greater Lifetime Stressor Exposure Is Associated with Poorer Mental Health among Sexual Minority People of Color,” Journal of Clinical Psychology 79, no. 4 (2023): 1130–55, https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.23463; Mai-Han Trinh et al., “Health and Healthcare Disparities among U.S. Women and Men at the Intersection of Sexual Orientation and Race/Ethnicity: A Nationally Representative Cross-Sectional Study,” BMC Public Health 17 (December 19, 2017): 964, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4937-9.

89. Stephen T. Russell and Jessica N. Fish, “Mental Health in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Youth,” Annual Review of Clinical Psychology 12, no. 1 (March 28, 2016): 468, https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-021815-093153.

90. Warner, Adolescents in the Search for Meaning, 8–9.

91. Alsup, “Introduction. Identification, Actualization, or Education,” 4–9; See note 29 above; Scales, Scales on Censorship, 44, 68–69; Warner, Adolescents in the Search for Meaning, 107–10.

92. “‘First of Its Kind’ Illinois Law Will Penalize Libraries That Ban Books,” AP News, June 12, 2023, https://apnews.com/article/book-ban-library-lgbtq-illinois-f5516941473e474712eaaafda084de76.

93. Hannah Natanson, “Are Book Bans Discrimination? Biden Administration to Test New Legal Theory,” Washington Post, January 17, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/01/13/granbury-book-ban-biden-civil-rights-investigation-title-ix/.

94. Franco Ordoñez, “Book Bans Are on the Rise. Biden Is Naming a Point Person to Address That,” NPR, June 8, 2023, sec. Politics, https://www.npr.org/2023/06/08/1180941627/biden-pride-month-book-bans.

95. Books Unbanned | Brooklyn Public Library,” https://www.bklynlibrary.org/books-unbanned (accessed April 7, 2023); James Barron, “Brooklyn Library's ‘Books Unbanned’ Team Wins Accolade,” The New York Times, January 4, 2023, sec. New York, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/04/nyregion/brooklyn-public-library-books-unbanned.html.

96. Cheryl Murfin, “SPL Joins the Fight against Book Banning,” Seattle's Child (blog), May 2, 2023, https://www.seattleschild.com/books-unbanned-seattle/.

97. “Digital Public Library of America Launches The Banned Book Club to Ensure Access to Banned Books,” Yahoo Finance, July 20, 2023, https://finance.yahoo.com/news/digital-public-library-america-launches-170000871.html.

98. Brakkton Booker, “The Push to Combat DeSantis’ Banned Book Movement,” POLITICO, July 7, 2023, https://www.politico.com/newsletters/the-recast/2023/07/05/moveon-banned-books-bus-tour-00104738.

99. “Book Ban Busters,” Red Wine and Blue, April 15, 2022, https://redwine.blue/bbb/.

100. York Dispatch Editorial Board, “Central York Unifies behind Banned Books – but Stay Vigilant,” York Dispatch, October 1, 2021, https://www.yorkdispatch.com/story/opinion/editorials/2021/10/01/central-york-unifies-behind-banned-books-but-stay-vigilant/5927356001/.

101. ABC, “Glen Ridge Public Library Votes to Keep 6 LGBTQ+ Books after Request to Remove Them – ABC7 New York,” February 9, 2023, https://abc7ny.com/glen-ridge-public-library-lgbtq-books-removal-trustee-board/12786117/.

102. Joe Hernandez, “Art Spiegelman Decries Tennessee School Board for Removing ‘Maus’ from Its Curriculum,” NPR, January 30, 2022, sec. Books, https://www.npr.org/2022/01/27/1076180329/tennessee-school-district-ban-holocaust-graphic-novel-maus.

103. Rachel Treisman, “Why a School Board's Ban on ‘Maus’ May Put the Book in the Hands of More Readers,” NPR, January 31, 2022, sec. National, https://www.npr.org/2022/01/31/1076970866/maus-banned-tennessee-school-board.

104. Scales, Scales on Censorship, 24–26; PEN America, “2023 Banned Books Update: Banned in the USA.”

105. “#BooksSaveLives,” We Need Diverse Books, November 14, 2022, https://diversebooks.org/programs/bookssavelives-2/; Scales, Scales on Censorship, 24, 74, 78.

106. Levine, Harmful to Minors, xxi–xxii.

107. See note 29 above.