10 Banned Books You Should Read | Banned Books Week 2023

Hey ya'll! In this video, I'm talking about 10 Banned Books You Should Read. It's Banned Books Week here in the US and it's time to highlight and celebrate banned books. I've read all of the titles that I've mentioned and I'm excited to share them with you!

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Black lives are important and always will matter.
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[torkusmarie]

I realized a while back that you work for my library system and can I just say, I am extremely grateful and proud to know that you're working there. 💗 I so appreciate how much you continue to use your platform to bring attention to all this book banning hysteria because it is genuinely scary and infuriating.

[marisagettas]

Banning those picture books is WILD! It’s lunacy! I’ve read many of these, but put MONDAY’S NOT COMING and ALL AMERICAN BOYS on my library holds list. Thanks for doing this Ashley. I’m going to check for a banned books in Canada list, too.

[saudadevemcorrendo]

the picture books had my jaw on the floor. absolutely unreal. thank you so much for using your platform to speak on this.

[beaubooks]

The fact that these bans exist in the US makes me really mad. I had books like ‘It’s Perfectly Normal’ when I was younger, and they helped me so much. I didn’t need to have uncomfortable conversations about those topics with adults and could look up relevant information on my own. (Age appropriate) sex ed starts at 10 years old where I live, and I believe it gave us the tools to protect ourselves. These bans are pure evil.

[mithzelluque]

people are so scared of exposing their children to the concept of them not being the main character of ever story... like, in what mind do they think that asking PICTURE BOOKS about validating someone's journey to self-acceptance and appreciation, and a BIPOC of them experiencing their culture through their relationship with their grandparents, is not going to be percieved as being prejudiced and racists af?!?!???!

[peaseblossom]

Wow. I mean, I’ve been hearing about banned books my whole life of course, and have read and enjoyed a bunch of them…but it seems like it’s escalated to whole new levels of paranoia and hate. It’s so sad! If I had kids, you can bet we’d be reading these. So instead I’m going to read them all (and will check out your videos from last year and I hope you do a sequel this year with the rest you wanted to list). Also, I’m a newish stepmom to a 14 year old boy and we live in a small mostly white, traditionally Christian town—I think I’ll be collecting a nice little library of some of these books for him to have access to and encourage him to read and discuss them with his Dad and I. …Thank you for shining a light on these books!

[sheramelton]

I am a white, straight, cis gendered person. Having said that, I CANNOT UNDERSTAND what is going on in America right now. People are literally pushing for only white men to have rights. They are banning books just for having black or gay characters. My heart breaks for the state of our Country and how people being treated.

[alexandrasstudio]

Hair Love being challenged What?!?! It is such a wonderful book full of love ! I read it to my fourth grade class the beginning of the school year and we talk about it all the time! My class is a very diverse group of kids. After that we read Frizzy by Claribel A Ortega! We all loved it so much we compared the books and talk about message with both books. It was a great discussion that will continue to grow in my classroom and I’m loving it! It is so sad to see amazing stories being challenged or banned! Great video! Thanks for sharing!

[mayamah]

I was just going through Libby banned book section and saw Hair Love and some of the other books you mentioned and it us just crazy to me because I read Hair Love awhile as go and still don't understand why it's banned. It's hust madness to me😮😢

[lusalma]

I went to an independent book store (in WI) this weekend and they told me the community over banned the picture book No David because it has the boy running away from the bath naked and shows his behind... I also read an article that said most of the bans were instigated by 11 people across the country which is just terrible.

[NotoriousPacOG]

These are books I need to read. Thanks for sharing Ashley.

[readingwithrebeccanicole]

There is a group trying to get Fry Bread removed from my local public library because it promotes CRT. I can't imagine anyone challenging it has actually read it. It's seriously just about celebrating Fry Bread!

[beebacchusvines]

Such a good list. Not so Pure & Simple has stuck with me for a long time. All American Boys was one of my favorite audiobooks ever. Oh, and there's my absolute favorite, Monday's Not Coming. (Speak was good and I haven't read any of Morrison's writing, which is a tragic failing on my part.) So sad that these picture books are challenged. Like..Fry Bread? Celebrating their experiences as Natives and banning their experiences? Ick. Let's keep making children of color feel bad for existing.

[Lorie]

They're banning picture books?! That's wild and out of control! I agree with what you said that if it's not in line with cis white Christian then it has to be banned which infuriates me. I am cis and white, but am Spiritual (had problems with the Protestants and what they were preaching) and it makes me mad because all books teach us something. I loved Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson and she's one of my favorite authors after reading that. She brought a reality I will never know, but am understanding. It's true, that when a black child goes missing it's swept under the rug, but if it's a white child the whole damn neighborhood is out looking for that white kid. It's terrible and the many missing cases of Native American women, I mean, why?

I do have All American Boys, but I haven't read it yet. This will be an interesting read and be similar in some respects to Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro which had white police using force against the black community especially some who were young adults. That was a five star book and to me is based in reality when you have witnessed this on TV, not real life or having to live it, but through media because of my color. I think my first taste of police brutality was watching Rodney King get beat when I was a child and asking my mom why they're hurting him. Her answer to me was because he's black and some people are racist.

I was fortunate that my mom was able to talk to me about the so called birds and bees, but she let school do most of it when we were 11 years old. I think my mom would agree with me in saying that books that explain how our bodies change should never be banned because her parents never taught her about her period or sex, she had to learn about it through friends. These books are important and as I am a mom of two boys I only know so much about what a male goes through when they go through puberty. Books like these really help out parents who have a child that's a different gender from them be able to explain and understand what that child is going through.

I am just hating that these books are getting banned as I love to read books that are different from my life experience, I always have since I was a kid because I wanted to travel the world and experience it.

Sorry this was long, it just upsets me that insipid people who I don't think read this book which means they clearly don't understand what it's about or because they read it and it's against their religious beliefs really burn me up! They don't want their kid to read it, fine, that's your kid, but you're not going to tell me that my kids can't read it unless you're want to help support my children then maybe you'd have a way, but if you can't fork over $400 a month, you don't get a say in what my babies want to read!

[Mariamox]

we studied The bluest Eye in school. It is an incredible book, i am even thinking of re-reading it again. Also all of these books sound really great.

[sarahjoines]

Thanks the kids books look great I’m going to get some for my grandkids. I’m in uk and it’s black history month. So happy uk black history month

[nerd-tastic]

I am so shocked that half of the books that you showed are on that list. That's crazy to me 🤯

[debtomaselli]

Thank you so much for making videos like this.

[nicoswanmakes]

A dear friend teaches critical race theory at our law school here. Adults barely understand it. They are definitely not teaching it in k-12.

[cwreads]

I own Speak in novel and graphic form. I love that book. NEW KID is another favorite I have read a few times. I cannot believe those pictures books are up for ban