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The large bookcase stood to one side of a dimly lit corner of the library. Only the librarian had the key to the case’s big, metal padlock—right at seventh grader Abhi Janamanchi’s eye level.
Inside were rare and restricted books, including one by Nathaniel Hawthorne about Greek heroes, recalled Rev. Janamanchi, now senior minister of Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Bethesda, Maryland. He’d been given permission by the librarian to access the books after he asked to read more about Greek mythology at his private school in Tamil Nadu, India.
Access to those bookshelves unlocked in Janamanchi a deep appreciation for reading—and the freedom to do so.
“I realize how [the librarian] opened a portal into a whole wide world in ways that I would not have been able to access at that age,” he said.
But with the rise of book bans across the country, portals like the one Janamanchi discovered as a child are at increased risk of closing.
Book banning is not a new phenomenon; in the United States alone, it can be traced to at least the 1600s in colonial times. Today, many book bans happen in school districts, led primarily by “parental rights” groups—such as Moms for Liberty—who object to content. But municipal public libraries are also a target.
Book banning threatens democracy because it chips away at a person’s right to choose what they want to read and believe in, according to Beacon Press, the 170-year-old publisher associated with the Unitarian Universalist Association.
Libraries, often one-stop environments for people to access a breadth of information and services and historical defenders of the freedom to read, are in the crossfire of book banning battles. In some states, libraries risk being defunded if they do not follow certain guidelines about the material they offer.
The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom reported a 20 percent increase in attempts to censor materials and services in the same eight-month period from 2022 to 2023, and the highest number of book challenges since they started compiling data over twenty years ago.
PEN America, a nonprofit that aims to protect free expression, recorded 3,362 book bans in public school classrooms and libraries in the 2022–2023 school year, according to its report, Banned in the USA: The Mounting Pressure to Censor.
Of those bans, 48 percent included books with themes or instances of violence and abuse, 30 percent included characters of color or discussed race and racism, and 30 percent included LGBTQIA+ characters and themes.
The same report found that most banned books are young adult novels that feature female, queer, and/or nonbinary protagonists. Maia Kobabe’s memoir Gender Queer, about coming out as nonbinary, became one of the most challenged books in 2021.
“Book Banning has always been around, but this time around it’s a concerted, organized effort that is on steroids,” said Gayatri Patnaik, director of Beacon Press.
Several Beacon Press titles have been affected by bans so far, including:
- An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz;
- An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz;
- We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom by Bettina L. Love;
- White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism by Robin DiAngelo.
Its marketing department put together a “ Book Bans are Threatening Communities” packet as a resource for people to find out what’s happening, why it’s important, and how they can fight back (see "Tips: Take Action Against Book Bans and Censorship" below).
“The worst thing is having something happen and feeling furious, but not knowing how to respond,” Patnaik said.
‘Find Subversive Ways to Access Books’
Five years ago, Patnaik couldn’t have predicted that Beacon Press would need to organize against book bans, but she notes the entire press is passionate about the initiative since it speaks to the publishing house’s mission of social and racial justice. Personally, she worries about how problematic it is to take away books that reveal the reality of United States history.
“If a lot of kids aren’t going to understand the basics of our very complicated history, I don’t know what that means, not only for these individuals but also for our country as they become teens and adults,” Patnaik said.
Janamanchi estimates that he went on to read at least twenty to thirty books from his childhood library’s restricted stash. One book, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, gave him a glimpse into American history before he learned about the subject in the classroom. Today, that classic novel, which follows the defense of a Black man falsely accused of rape in a Southern town, has been challenged in numerous school districts.
“I would encourage young people to find subversive ways to access books, especially those that are being banned,” Janamanchi said.
Beacon Press connected students in over 300 schools to books with diverse stories and accounts of American history, including How to Be Less Stupid about Race by Crystal M. Fleming, according to Patnaik, who has over twenty years of experience in the publishing industry.
She said Beacon Press also worked with Lush Cosmetics and the Zinn Education Project to ship over 13,000 copies of the young readers edition of The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks by Jeanne Theoharis to schools across the country.
Why Unitarian Universalists Should Speak Out Against Book Bans
Unitarian Universalism guides people to engage with diversity and history, Janamanchi noted, so that all people have the freedom to be their full selves and to see each other fully.
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As part of that commitment, his congregation, along with two others that all collaborate as part of the Potomac Partnership— River Road UU Congregation in Bethesda, Maryland, and the UU Congregation of Fairfax, Virginia—are pushing back on book banning.
In October 2023, the Potomac Partnership held the Unstoppable Stories: A Banned Books Festival to coincide with Banned Books Week. The weekend event in the Washington metropolitan area was filled with workshops, drag story time, and panel discussions, including one about libraries being on the frontlines of book bans.
Andrew Batcher, a longtime activist and social justice coordinator with Fairfax and Cedar Lane, said he tries to figure out what is meaningful, impactful, and spiritually uplifting around social issues for members of the congregations.
“This is a subject for faith communities to speak out about and to do it in partnerships that are going to protect access to information [and] freedom of speech, work against censorship, and promote inclusivity,” Batcher said.
UU Congregation Adds Banned-Books Section to Its Library
A community-oriented bookstore, Loyalty Bookstore, sold banned books at the Unstoppable Stories event. That action got Janamanchi and others thinking about adding a banned-books section to Cedar Lane’s congregational library.
“I am hoping that if books are made available, and there’s a child or young adult who may not feel comfortable exploring their identity, that some of these books might be there for them to pick up and read and think about themselves,” said Karl Debus-Lopez, a retired librarian helping with the efforts to build out a banned-books section.
Janamanchi said the congregation has families, children, and youth whose identities, life experiences, struggles, and celebrations are in so many ways reflected in these books.
After the Sunday service, Janamanchi noticed a young attendee perusing the banned books on display. He recognized the young person as a member of Cedar Lane who identifies as gender fluid. Without saying a word, the teen walked up to Janamanchi and hugged him.
“There are days when you wonder about what the heck you’re doing in ministry or what it means to minister to a largely privileged, white community where it feels more like we’re comforting the comfortable,” Janamanchi said. “And then there are these things that happen when suddenly you realize, it is worthwhile.”
Tips: Take Action Against Book Bans and Censorship
Beacon Press offers the following suggestions for pushing back on book banning.
- Stay updated and share information with others.
- Identify book-banning groups and censorship attempts near you.
- Report censorship.
- BE LOUD! Contact school and library administrators, sign petitions, reach out to local media, and attend your local school board meetings to speak out.
- Join a campaign against book banning.
- Organize in your community.
- Expand your reading list.
Find links to organizations, statistics, toolkits, petitions, suggested reading, and other resources for fighting censorship from Beacon Press.