Banned Books Week

A couple of weeks ago I learned that SAY HER NAME has been banned or at least pulled off the shelves in a school district in TN. Like so many others, the ban targets LGBTQ books but for some reason they threw in a few anti-racist titles as well. You can read about it at Bookriot. So that makes three titles of mine that have been challenged so far; I’ll be talking about it this Thursday on a panel hosted by the Virginia ACLU (register here). You can find resources from PEN America and the NYPL has made a list of books that have been targeted, including A PLACE INSIDE OF ME. To my knowledge, my picture book hasn’t yet been banned—folks fought back in VA and I just heard from a parent in TN that they successfully pushed back on an attempted ban there as well. Students in York, PA reversed the ban that included MILO’S MUSEUM so I’ve got a lot to be thankful for this week. As long as most of us continue to support kids’ right to read, #Freadom will win!