Banned Books Week 2025

Today is the start of this year’s Banned Books Week. The event “highlights the value of free and open access to information.” I think it’s especially important to turn attention to these attempts to block access at a time when challenges have increased.

You can curate what your children read — I have no problem with that. But I have a big problem with anyone’s trying to control what other children and families have access to. The book someone challenges may be the book that is a lifeline to a child; the book where they see themselves, where they see they are not alone, where they see a future.

Looking at the list of most challenged books of 2024, the impetus for banning seems clear to me: fear and avoidance. The books on the list aren’t dangerous, but they are about topics that can frighten and discomfit — LGBTQ+ lives, sexual assault, and racism. In my opinion, banning books is about racism, homophobia, and transphobia. It’s not about books. But if we avoid the things we are scared of, we don’t learn and we don’t gain any mastery over that fear. Psychologists agree that becoming comfortable with discomfort is essential for growth. Why would you want to take that opportunity away from our kids?

“Banning books is about racism, homophobia, and transphobia. It’s not about books.”

This banned books week I hope you will spend a lot of time reading. Seek out books at the library or bookstore that center BIPOC or LGBTQ+ characters. Send a message to booksellers, libraries, authors, and publishers that you want to see this work out in the world. Put one of those books into the hands of a child and see what happens next. Talk to the young people in your life about why books are challenged and how that limits everyone’s freedom.

Books open worlds. Don’t close the door.