Annie always writes so well about why and how we teach literature: "In English class, teachers can show students what has moved others to use language with care and pleasure, and invite them to join a long tradition of people who have found a way to say something new."

This is important.

They said "free speech" and "academic freedom" but never believed in either and now in texas you need a permission slip to mention race in class and they're fine with it. Might not have worked if people with large platforms weren't furious about marginal increases of black people in their offices

BIG UPDATE: The State Board of Education decided NOT to vote on this awful reading list until April, pending feedback from teachers and community members. This is a temporary, partial, but very real victory! They listened to us!

This was in response to incredible testimony from @saras1959.bsky.social and @rebeccabendheim.bsky.social from @authorsabb.bsky.social, btw.

BIG UPDATE: The State Board of Education decided NOT to vote on this awful reading list until April, pending feedback from teachers and community members. This is a temporary, partial, but very real victory! They listened to us!

It feels good to have a voice! Proposed reading list for Texas students draws concern over religious themes, lack of diversity www.texastribune.org/2026/01/28/t... @txfreedomread.bsky.social @freadomfighters.bsky.social @frankstrong.bsky.social

Sitting in the SBOE meeting (where Julie Pickren just yelled at me for "teaching pornography") and I still can't believe the state of Texas is considering creating a "canon" that includes Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist. franklinstrong.substack.com/p/call-to-ac...

Have you grabbed our free digital workbook, Turning the Page? Get tips, scripts, tools, and worksheets to fight book bans and protect the freedom to read. Download: www.freedomtoreadproject.org/turning_the_page #FreedomToRead #StopBookBans

Every time I re-read this I'm gobsmacked by how much JD Vance's life story is just a fleshed-out version of the four paragraphs on Mr. C. It's uncanny. harpers.org/archive/1941...

🚨Call to Action, Texans we need your voices! 🚨TEA & The SBOE want to mandate what all TX school children MUST read, and the book list is out of touch with TX students & families. It was clearly created to stifle certain ideas & voices & funnel students toward a narrow tightly controlled worldview.

There is evil and then there is this

It isn’t healthy to be this angry all the time. But it also isn’t healthy if this doesn’t make you angry.

there's no good reason every public school student in a state should have to read the exact same books

Texas English teachers and librarians, we need your help. Read @frankstrong.bsky.social post about the "proposed" Texas Required Reading list and then WRITE your State Board of Education member about your concerns. All the details here: ➡️ substack.com/home/post/p-...

Urgent call to action, Texans: we need to write to our State Board of Education members and tell them NOT to adopt the proposed required reading list they’re considering at the the end of the month. It is BAD. I wrote about why here: franklinstrong.substack.com/p/call-to-ac...

Urgent call to action, Texans: we need to write to our State Board of Education members and tell them NOT to adopt the proposed required reading list they’re considering at the the end of the month. It is BAD. I wrote about why here: franklinstrong.substack.com/p/call-to-ac...

From a book challenge in Conroe ISD: Q: For what age group would you recommend this resource? A: MAYBE a mature high school age 🤦‍♂️

“This is exceptional. @thelibrariansfilm.bsky.social is a beautiful, really important documentary.” —Jenna Bush Hager. “Art can speak to the heart sometimes in ways the news can’t.” —Sheinelle Jones Watch SJP talk about the documentary on The Today Show. www.today.com/video/sarah-...

On today’s episode of pRoTeCt tHe ChiLdReN: Check out this Conroe ISD formal book challenge to “I am Billie Jean King” by @bradmeltzer.com Complaint: May result in “Aggressive gender equality and heterosexuality.” 🤔🤨🧐

Good (but depressing) article on the impact US book bans are having on publishing and marketing of LGBTQ stories, particularly in kidlit. Thanks to @adibkhorram.bsky.social @beccapodos.bsky.social @missdahlelama.dahliaadler.com and others speaking up about this! thehill.com/homenews/lgb...

You combat hopelessness by doing something. In an era of unrepentant book bans and library attacks, you show up. You learn. You show up again. Activism and advocacy are a practice. Here are over 60 tasks for helping preserve the right to read, wherever you are. bookriot.com/how-to-defen...

This is both entirely predictable and beyond belief.

kind of darkly funny that "gender studies" is the stereotypical "useless degree" because gender studies will help you understand a large and important chunk of the current psychosis in american life

Don’t know if I’ve ever read truer words.

So much of American history is just impulsive and extremely stupid elites, who don't believe in consequences because they have never personally experienced them, doing highly consequential stuff because they're bored or believe it might make them richer. I guess a lot of our culture, too.

I made an interactive map! This is a look at the effects Tx book-banning laws have had just *since the end of last school year*. I made it because it's easy to hear a shocking story about a book ban and then forget it and lose the larger picture. www.google.com/maps/d/viewe...

Greg Abbott is BRAGGING about this. He sent out a press release this week listing SB12 & SB13 as accomplishments--as if they aren't actively harming Texas kids. If that pisses you off as much as it does me, it's a great day to donate to @ginafortexas.bsky.social. ginafortexas.com

Texas worked hard to take the lead in book bans in 2025. I'm grateful @frankstrong.bsky.social and @txfreedomread.bsky.social work so hard to make these quiet bans public. And, even with all their work, this reckoning is a vast under-count. Primaries are in March. Are you registered to vote?

Curious about censorship actions in Texas? Be sure to check out this thread 🧵 Thank you @frankstrong.bsky.social for the new Substack post and map! @freadomfighters.bsky.social

More trans joy in 2026! www.texasobserver.org/protect-tran... (thanks to @kitoconnell.com for this lovely coverage in Austin)

I made an interactive map! This is a look at the effects Tx book-banning laws have had just *since the end of last school year*. I made it because it's easy to hear a shocking story about a book ban and then forget it and lose the larger picture. www.google.com/maps/d/viewe...

Interesting secondary finding: "Identity turns out to be a poor proxy for ideology, with limited governance effects that are fully explained by differences in policy priorities."

I love this story of real parents pushing back against out-of-town book banners in San Marcos, Texas. It also has a message on the power of persistence to bring into 2026. substack.com/@franklinstr...

I love this story of real parents pushing back against out-of-town book banners in San Marcos, Texas. It also has a message on the power of persistence to bring into 2026. substack.com/@franklinstr...

‘The Librarians’ To Premiere on PBS on February 9 www.slj.com/story/The-Li...

A 1974 study from Purdue University asked 10th-12th graders their feelings about book bans and lo and behold, those who opposed censorship got better grades, read more, and had stronger vocabularies than their peers. (Psst: it's the same today because this IS about intellectual access)

Morning run

Just for an end-of-year change, here are some things I've written in my life that have nothing to do with book bans. I got this idea when somebody resurfaced this post I wrote for the UT Spanish Dept's blog in 2013. It was later reposted at The End of Austin: endofaustin.com/2016/05/24/b...

Whenever I’m in the Big Bend area, I pick up the Big Bend Sentinel. Print is not dead and local journalism matters, y’all.

Please don’t take your eyes away from the damage book banning laws are doing in Texas. In Boerne ISD, a kindergarten class was forced to cancel its planned holiday party book exchange due to HB900 and SB13.

Please don’t take your eyes away from the damage book banning laws are doing in Texas. In Boerne ISD, a kindergarten class was forced to cancel its planned holiday party book exchange due to HB900 and SB13.

I’ve been saying OU sucks for years.

Putting together a map of school book bans in Texas this year. Here it is alongside Moms for Liberty’s map of its chapters. No surprise, but pretty striking.

“It’s not a “Florida” thing. It’s not a “Texas” thing. It’s a 21 states out of 50 thing. The government wants to dictate to half of this country's states what they can read & what they can think. They want public institutions of democracy & civic engagement to be mouthpieces of government beliefs.”

This week, we learned 21 states are eager to dismantle your First Amendment Rights. It should be bigger news. Here's the story, and here's what you can be doing about it. These are YOUR RIGHTS that the states want to steal from you. buttondown.com/wellsourced/...

It needs to be said more often that the world is a better, more beautiful and more enriching place BECAUSE trans people are a part of it.

These are the worst people in America.

Know a book lover who has everything? Donate to @authorsabb.bsky.social in their honor, or buy AABB merch at www.authorsagainstbookbans.com/donate/