Ban This!: How One School Fought Two Book Bans and Won (and How You Can Too)

“Each demand to ban a book is a demand to deny each person’s constitutionally protected right to choose and read books that raise important issues and lift up the voices of those who are often silenced.”
—Deborah Caldwell-Stone, former director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom

In September 2021, the school board in York, Pennsylvania, voted to remove a record-breaking number of books from school libraries in its community. The Panther Anti-Racist Union (PARU) at Central York High School, comprised of four students and two advisors, successfully fought the ban by organizing protests, speaking at school board meetings, and participating in media interviews to raise awareness.

In Ban This!: How One School Fought Two Book Bans and Won (and How You Can Too), the members of PARU—Christina Ellis, Renee Ellis, Edha Gupta, Ben Hodge, Patricia A. Jackson, Olivia Pituch—give actionable advice on how to respond to book challenges that happen in your school and community. Learn how to push back against book bans with arguments against the common reasons given to ban books in schools and public libraries, speak out against censorship, and win the right to intellectual freedom.