“Information is power, and it is found in books, newspapers, magazines, in hard copy and virtual. It is our right to have access to it, no matter how uncomfortable it makes those holding onto power feel.” www.orlandosentinel.com/2026/01/04/s...

Check out this great recap of the biggest censorship stories from 2025: bookriot.com/most-popular...

“It is deeply demoralizing to watch fellow Americans in other states write yours off as a “lost cause.” To hear people say, sometimes casually, sometimes with resignation, “Well, that’s what happens there,” as if entire communities and the children who live in them are expendable.”

Feeling overwhelmed by book bans and censorship where you live? This pep talk offers encouragement, acknowledges the real challenges advocates face, and highlights the meaningful ways people are making a difference even when wins feel small. www.freedomtoreadproject.org/a_pep_talk_f...

2025 Book Censorship Wrapped: Trends, Challenges, and Successes Over The Year. This is a collaborative piece from @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social, @flfreedomread.bsky.social, @txfreedomread.bsky.social, @penamerica.bsky.social, and @bookriot.bsky.social: bookriot.com/book-censors...

Picoult’s THE STORYTELLER confronts history, justice, trauma, and moral choice, exactly the kind of empathetic, critical reading we need. Banning it doesn’t protect anyone; it silences Holocaust conversations & hard truths. Powerful stories help us reckon with the past & build a more just future.

Setting goals is an excellent way to jumpstart action. Are you ready for 2026? A new year is the perfect time to recommit to protecting access to books and standing up for intellectual freedom. Let’s make 2026 a year of courage, clarity, and collective action. 💛📖 #FreedomToRead #StopBookBans

What will you stand for in 2026? As censorship grows louder, our commitment to the freedom to read must grow stronger. Taking action doesn’t require perfection, just persistence. Show up, speak out, support readers. Let’s push back together with courage and community. #FreedomToRead #StopBookBans

She did this during the season when folks who'd be REALLY ANGRY about this are busy with their offline lives. Convenient. Really convenient.

“…allowing ‘officials to strip public school libraries of books because of ideological disagreement would weaponize the machinery of education to entrench political power and threaten important but vulnerable ideas.’” www.pnj.com/story/news/2...

Merry Grinchmas! “I know just what to do!” the Grinch hissed with a grin, “I’ll open the doors and let the great grift begin! I’ll call it a ‘Scholarship!’ I’ll call it ‘School Choice!’ While I gut public funding and silence their voice!” #Florida accountabaloney.com/category/edu...

Thank you to Tampa Bay Arts Passport for this special recognition of the Orange Blossom Award! The truth matters, and we will continue to document and share the real impacts of state policies and leadership choices on our public schools. www.tbartspassport.com/orange-bloss...

Here’s the thing, Florida isn’t leaving it up to our locally elected boards. Appointed state officials stepped in over the summer and demanded the removal of books that local Boards through their committees decided to retain for certain grades. www.wusf.org/courts-law/2...

“A free country does not only protect the right to speak. It protects the right to seek … That is the American bargain: we trade the comfort of control for the liberty of choice.”

“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/...

If you haven't yet, do spend some time with this one. What a powerful collaboration.

Critical thread on the freedom to read. Action steps included. We cannot let up. We cannot give an inch. Censorship is anathema to democracy and that's why it's a favorite tool of fascists.

2. Write your federal congressional reps in support of the re-filed Right to Read Bill: www.reed.senate.gov/news/release...

They “yadda yadda yadda’d the most important part” [insert Seinfeld gif here] Those … skip right over the distinction between (I) & (II). Districts must discontinue use of books found to be pornographic/harmful to minors. Depictions/descriptions of sexual content must be appropriately restricted.

If you're wondering what you can two, here are two action steps. 1. If your state is one of the 20, write your attorneys general and tell them what you think. Make sure they know if they're elected, their jobs are on the line. If they're appointed, emphasize that they don't represent your beliefs.

The government wants to tell half of this country's states what it is they can read and what it is they can think. They *want* public institutions of democracy and civic engagement to be mouthpieces of government beliefs. That's all. Please, for the love of god, GIVE A SHIT.

Please read this whole thread and (whether you live in one of these 21 states or not), please write your members of Congress and tell them you want the Right to Read bill passed. The right to access speech without the government viewpoint-limiting our taxpayer-funded libraries is on the line.

ALA, @bookriot.bsky.social, @penamerica.bsky.social, @flfreedomread.bsky.social, @txfreedomread.bsky.social all track different aspects of the movement - no matter how you look at it, book bans are sweeping across the country. Don't miss our joint report: https://bit.ly/4qkTZh5

Are we to accept that the freedom to read is a states’ rights issue? Do we want our First Amendment freedoms to vary by location? The implications of SCOTUS declining to hear Llano reverberate across the country... www.freedomtoreadproject.org/are_we_to_ac...

What trends emerged in book censorship in 2025? Five organizations have combed through their data and their work to bring to light what everyone should know. Consider these your places to prepare, your places to ponder, and, yes, even your places to celebrate (a bit!).

2025 Book Censorship Wrapped: Trends, Challenges, & Successes Over The Year. Dive into this groundbreaking collaborative piece from @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social, @penamerica.bsky.social, @bookriot.bsky.social, @txfreedomread.bsky.social, and @flfreedomread.bsky.social bookriot.com/book-censors...

Floridians spent millions on a state-level “transparency tool” that currently includes the library catalogs for a handful of schools. If only this tool didn’t launch three years after districts funded their own solutions to meet the unfunded 2022 requirement. www.tampabay.com/news/educati...

Tomorrow, a big project that will probably surprise a lot of people to see will be dropping and I'm so flipping proud of the work that happened to make it come together.

“Authoritarians gain power when citizens stop paying attention. Visit your local library, check out books, and keep reading. If we stay unified and informed, we can ensure reading w/out restriction remains the foundation of our democracy and a fundamental freedom for all.” time.com/7341120/book...

Elizabeth Acevedo’s CLAP WHEN YOU LAND is a breathtaking novel-in-verse about grief, sisterhood, identity, and the courage it takes to rebuild after loss. It gives young readers a powerful mirror for complicated emotions & a window into lives & cultures they may not know, but absolutely should.

In leaving the 5th Circuit ruling in place, SCOTUS effectively granted state and local governments in LA, MS, and TX the authority to determine what materials you can & cannot read. This means people in these states do not have the same 1A rights as the rest of the country. time.com/7341120/book...

Since we began tallying school book bans in 2021, thousands of books have been targeted repeatedly – as many as 147X for @johngreensbluesky.bsky.social’s Looking for Alaska and 142 for @jodipicoult.bsky.social’s Nineteen Minutes. These Are The Top 52 Banned Books Since 2021: pen.org/top-52-banne...

Parents have every right to guide their own child’s reading choices. What they don’t have the right to do is limit access for other people’s children. Protecting student rights doesn’t diminish parental rights. It honors the balance that keeps schools fair, inclusive & educational for every family.

What do librarians do when we’re under attack? You better believe that WE FIGHT BACK, for your right to read freely. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025... ✊✊📚

“Some [teachers] complained about the effect of technology on students’ stamina for reading and interest in books. But more pointed toward the curriculum products their schools had purchased from major publishers.” www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u... #Education #Literacy #ReadingMatters

"I am open with my sexuality to anyone who asks in the hallways of Merrimack Valley, which leads me to wonder: Should I be removed from the school if parents find the topics I speak about inappropriate?" Whew, this teen's editorial is GREAT. www.concordmonitor.com/2025/12/12/m...

It was a busy week for updates because of Collier and Escambia’s policy to take action based on the state’s annual list. In addition to the info below on Collier, Escambia removed or restricted over 200 titles in November. View this week’s spreadsheet here: www.fftrp.org/florida_cens...

Rulings like Little v. Llano and those that defer to the 5th Circuit going forward may limit consideration of First Amendment claims in library collection decisions, but they DO NOT require censorship, and DO NOT remove local responsibility or community voice. Get loud. Get involved. Get local.

“This is about elected officials & government employees exercising control over the public's reading choices. That's a pretty clear, textbook definition of censorship. And that's what it's been about all along. And if it can be done to In the Night Kitchen, or to Caste, it can be done to any book.”

Same: “The events of the last four years have just completely changed everything about my life in a way that can't be gotten back.”

Nearly 600 new books pulled "for review" in one school district since July.

A Federal Right to Read Act has been reintroduced by Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) and U.S. Rep Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ). We’re thankful for this legislation. Our freedom to read and learn should not be a state’s rights issue! www.everylibrary.org/applaud_rein...

Collier County Public Schools update on their internal review: 581 titles have been pulled for review since 7/1/25 (205 of those are new additions and come from the state’s 24/25 list). 375+ are still pending review Latest decisions: 8 grade or permission restricted 42 removed 44 retained

In U.S. high schools, the age of the book may be fading. Many teenagers are assigned few full books to read from beginning to end — often just one or two per year, according to researchers and thousands of responses to a reader survey by The New York Times.

In post-WWII America, following nonstop propaganda about Nazi book burning meant to bolster patriotism, Americans found that patriotism in mass comics burnings.

Do you care about critical thinking, empathy, and the future of our democracy? Access to diverse books strengthens civic engagement and resists censorship that threatens democratic values. Restricting what we can read actually weakens our society. www.freedomtoreadproject.org/why_the_free...

***IMPORTANT THREAD***** If you are anywhere near York County, South Carolina, PLEASE show up to their board meeting tomorrow. It is, of course and intentionally, at NOON tomorrow at For Mill Library. Here's York County Library's background, yes, still ongoing: bookriot.com/whats-happen...

Llano County library book removals allowed after U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear challenge www.texastribune.org/2025/12/08/t... This week at least, the book banners won... putting our intellectual freedoms and First Amendment rights seriously at risk.

A library's entire board of trustees was fired and replaced because they refused to ban one of my books. It's so terrible. www.randolphhub.com/article/news...