Liberation Lit: Book Reviews

Banned Books Week is Sept. 22 to 28, 2024.

Learning can help us to resist hate and bias and counter limited narratives that have traditionally excluded diverse perspectives. Let’s build bridges of understanding and celebrate our diversity and shared humanity.  According to the American Library Association (ALA), in 2023, more than 4,000 unique titles were targeted with demands for censorship, the highest number in more than 20 years of tracking this data. Among troubling trends in 2023, ALA identified that public libraries were targeted in addition to school libraries and accounted for 46% of book challenges. During the 2022-23 school year, PEN America, which tracks book bans, found “3,362 instances of individual books banned, affecting 1,557 unique titles.” Many of these books center the experiences and perspectives of LGBTQ+ people and Black, Indigenous and other people of color.

These LFJ book reviews encourage us all to keep reading and learning together for liberation.