Reading Freely and Book Bans

When I’m not writing or teaching, I am often preparing to co-host The Perks of Being a Book Lover—a reading podcast I do with a longtime friend. In the past, we’ve talked about book bans with guests. 

A guest from our most recent season, Rebecca Leber-Gottberg, talked to us about a program coordinated by Rediscovered Books, an independent bookstore in Boise, Idaho.The intent of the Read Freely Project is to get banned books into people’s hands, literally. One of the rules of the program is that the books can’t just be donated to organizations or left in little free libraries. The act of handing people books opens up conversation about what the book is, what it’s about, and why it has been banned. 

One of the most interesting things I learned from this conversation with Rebecca is that the children’s book The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf is one that has generated controversy, a fact of which I wasn’t aware. Hearing this made me think about another former podcast guest, Vicki Johnson, whose picture book Molly’s Tuxedo is about a girl who doesn’t like wearing dresses and prefers pants. Vicki experienced a soft ban in 2024, when a school canceled her author visit at the last minute. 

I’ve always been a little ornery, so I love to read things that other people tell me not to. I was pleased to see Victor LaValle’s Lone Women on the Read Freely Project list. It is a horror historical fiction novel about a Black woman who moves to Montana from California after her parents have tragically died. She carries with her a trunk that contains something extremely valuable to her and dangerous. Life for a Montana homesteader is challenging, but women on their own are at a special disadvantage, which this novel explores. 

Is there a banned or controversial book that you’ve found appealing? Tell us about it.