A new report released by PEN America outlines the disturbing new trend of book bans becoming normalized. The report tracked more than 6,800 instances of books being temporarily or permanently pulled from library shelves during the 2024-2025 school year. Author Stephen King tops the list with the most books banned. Critics warn that schools are “obeying in advance” pulling books from the shelves before it’s even demanded. 

Book bans have slowly become normalized in recent years and a new report from PEN America shows the alarming consequences. Under President Trump, the book ban movement has escalated with the federal government becoming a potent force for restricting book titles deemed to be controversial. PEN America President and author Jennifer Finney Boylan warns “this is not normal. This is not the way democracy is supposed to function… free people read books."

Author Arundhati Roy joins the Velshi Banned Book Club to discuss her Booker Prize-winning novel “The God of Small Things,” and to share her perspective on the subversive power of storytelling to shatter social and political boundaries. Though written in 1997, Roy’s exploration of these social rigidities–from Indian caste codes to societal taboos to familial responsibility–remains relevant as ever in the broader fight against literary censorship.

The influence of George Orwell’s “1984” continues to be relevant in today’s scary world. Any discussion of authoritarianism, surveillance, and the manipulation of truth invokes the dystopian landscape in Orwell’s novel. Reading “1984” is one of the first and most formative moments when American students are asked to consider government overreach and the fragility and malleability of their own minds. Veronica Roth, the author of another hugely influential dystopian series, “Divergent,” joins the Velshi Banned Book Club to discuss.

By reframing U.S. history by placing the realities of slavery at the center of it, Nikole Hannah-Jones’ landmark initiative “The 1619 Project” offers answers to questions of identity, belonging, and origin for Black Americans. But what about for Black children? Today’s Velshi Banned Book Club meeting will examine the children’s adaptation called “The 1619 Project: Born on the Water”. Lyrically written with beautiful illustrations, “Born on the Water” tells the story of a young girl who receives a family tree assignment in school. The rest, as they say, is history. Co-author Renée Watson & illustrator by Nikkolas Smith join the Velshi Banned Book Club.

There are few authors with as much influence as Stephen King. King’s writing, from imagery to phrases, is deeply entrenched in American culture: “It” and Pennywise cemented the killer clown, “Carrie” defined high school suffering, “The Shining” crystallized haunted hotels, “The Shawshank Redemption” epitomized jailbreak, and “Cujo” became shorthand at the dog park. What connects all of King’s work, from explorations of fairy tales to time travel, is hope.

There are few authors with as much influence as Stephen King. King’s writing, from imagery to phrases, is deeply entrenched in American culture: “It” and Pennywise cemented the killer clown, “Carrie” defined high school suffering, “The Shining” crystallized haunted hotels, “The Shawshank Redemption” epitomized jailbreak, and “Cujo” became shorthand at the dog park. What connects King’s work, from explorations of fairy tales to time travel, is hope.

Daphne Du Maurier's “Rebecca” is now 87 years old, it is an immediate best-seller, never once taken out of print, and one of the best examples of Gothic literature of all time. It has also inspired many writers and readers, including the singular, award-winning, and best-selling author Jennifer Egan. Egan read it for the first time at just 11 years old and, as she tells it, was so deeply enthralled with the novel that her mother asked her to please stop reading it. Years later, she wrote her own Gothic.

A deft exploration of identity, self-acceptance, and the power of first love, “Cemetery Boys” by Aiden Thomas is a masterclass in why fantasy isn’t just such a popular genre, but why it is used so often to explore complex topics. When exploring a nuanced and complicated topic like transgender identity and understanding, fantasy helps make it more tangible to readers. “We’re talking about heavy stuff,” says Thomas, “I’m always going to ease it a little bit with a little magic and mystery.”

Abdi Nazemian’s “Like a Love Story” is a poignant examination of what identity, individuality, community, death, and legacy look like when the stakes are at their highest. Specific in its setting and subject matter – dealing with AIDS and coming out in the 1980s– but universal in its depiction of the teenage experience. One of Time Magazine's 100 Best Young Adult books of All Time, the novel is now banned from all public schools in Utah and faces challenges across the country, despite sometimes – in 2025 –being the first time some students have heard about HIV/AIDS, says Nazemian. "Let's be more intentional about how we reach kids that are marginalized…Let’s ask more of ourselves.” There is sex in this book – discussions about how serious of a step it is, what the risks are, and the realities. There are curse words in this book -- slurs used by society to dehumanize LGBTQ+ people. And none of it gratuitous. "I want to focus on the best of history, not the worst,” says Nazemian – shifting the focus to “to the heroes.”

According to a sweeping new report from Every Library – an organizing platform that supports public and school libraries and librarians – just since January 2025, 133 bills have been introduced in 33 states that would negatively affect libraries, librarians, and access to literature. But across the country, including in red states, people are fighting back... and it is working. “The lawsuits are helping in a myriad of ways,” says NYT bestselling author (and most banned of 2024) George M. Johnson. "At first I thought they were trying to ban my story, but then I realized they never read my story…Our books are actually saving lives.” 

In “This Is My America” by Kim Johnson, our 17-year-old protagonist, Tracy, will stop at nothing until she clears her father and her brother’s name of crimes they did not commit. Interspersed with Tracy’s handwritten letters to Innocence X, a fictionalized Innocence Project, “This Is My America” is an approachable examination of equality, racism, and the prison industrial complex in this country. Johnson successfully and clearly articulates the urgent and bitter realities of injustice in a way that will resonate for all levels of readership, but especially for the young adult audience she has written for. 

Max Brooks’ seminal zombie thriller, “World War Z”, is set in an alternate 21st century world after a zombie apocalypse -- a pandemic that began in a small Chinese village -- infected and subsequently killed millions. Told through a series of interviews, all conducted by a fictional version of Brooks, there is very intentionally no hero. Each interview subject is a survivor of the apocalypse, each with a different role to play. While “World War Z” grapples with human shortsightedness, the power of fear, the fragility of modern life, the necessity of humanity in the face of chaos, at its core, it is a book about survival.

Olive's Ocean by the multiple award-winning author Kevin Henkes (also of ‘Chrysanthemum’, ‘Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse,’ and others) grapples with family dynamics, death, and the healing power of nature – but at its core, it's a coming of age story. It's an examination of how intrinsically linked adolescence and mortality are – more specifically, the awareness of mortality. It is hard to believe that this book spent nearly a decade climbing the American Library Association's List of 100 most challenged books. Including just a few curse words and a single allusion to sex made by Martha's 14 year old brother, the book is a window into young people's lives. “It's about the enduring bonds of family, the wisdom of the older generation, the importance of not judging someone and prejudging them and getting to know them,” says Henkes. “It's about a kid who's trying to figure out where she belongs, a kid who's trying to be understood. And the love is the operating principle – the foundation and the spine that supports everything.” 

“Pride Puppy!” by Robin Stevenson is a rhyming alphabet book. With brightly colored illustrations, it tells the story of a puppy that gets lost during a Pride parade. “Pride Puppy!”, despite its cute premise and beautiful pictures, is at the center of a Supreme Court case happening right now. A small group of Maryland parents have sued over exposing their children to LGBTQ+ inclusive books like “Pride Puppy!” at their public school. As outlandish as it may seem to center a children’s book in such a high profile, so much is on the line for authors, for access to literature, and for families like the ones portrayed at Pride in this children’s book.

Written in vivid detail with nuanced characters and artistic restraint characteristic of Lo, the hugely celebrated and widely acclaimed “Last Night at the Telegraph Club” is a poignant story of self-discovery and first love. Under the heavy shroud of McCarthyism and persecution of LGBTQ+ Americans - known now as the Lavender Scare - Lily bears the weight of her family, her Chinese-American community, her friends, her first love, and her identity. Though the novel tells a very specific story, Lo’s depiction of young adulthood reads as universal. Despite winning dozens of prestigious awards, including the Stonewall Book Award, a Printz Honor, and the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, members of the Velshi Banned Book Club know that literary merit does little to stop censorship—and it has certainly not stopped “Last Night at the Telegraph Club” from being relentlessly targeted for removal and ban across the country.

Just over a decade ago, in March of 2015, Valeria Luiselli began working as a volunteer interpreter in a New York City federal immigration court downtown. The role seemed straightforward enough. All she had to do was ask unaccompanied migrant children 40 questions and translate them from Spanish to English. Question #1 is: “Why did you come to the United States?” Question #38 is: “What do you think will happen if you go back home?” The answers would help a lawyer determine whether a case could be made to prevent the child from getting deported. Told in just over 100 pages, ‘Tell Me How It Ends’ confronts questions of privilege, identity, and our role – every American's role – in a broken system. 

“All Boys Aren’t Blue” hit two major milestones this month. One is an anniversary: the novel turned five years old. Five remarkable years of inspiring writers, creating empathy, and giving readers that safe place to land. The other is grimmer. According to the American Library Association, “All Boys Aren’t Blue” was the single most banned work of literature in America last year. It isn’t an honor. It isn’t a selling mechanism. It is a tragedy. “All Boys Aren’t Blue” has become more than just a power story or a beautiful work of literature – it’s become a symbol, representative of free speech, of access to literature, and of resistance. In five years, Johnson has become one of the most important voices in the fight against censorship. “All Boys Aren’t Blue” has gone from a remarkable debut memoir to one of the most critical works of literature in the contemporary American canon. The sort of book that imparts a different lesson onto you every single time you reread it. “There are days that are heavier than others,” says Johnson, “but it’s the messages I get from so many people that have been saved by the texts.” The attacks and band “could have stopped me from writing…But it didn’t.”

As part of an Executive Order signed in mid-March, the Trump Administration ordered several governmental entities be stripped down. One of them is called the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The IMLS is a tiny, independent federal agency with just about 70 employees. It provides funding for public libraries in every single state and territory. Could this be the beginning of the end for the main source of federal support for public libraries? Many people fear that the answer is yes. But some people – publishers, authors, and libraries – aren’t waiting around to find out. They’re fighting back. One of those people is Jon Yaged, the CEO of Macmillan Publishers.

100 years after its original publication, “The Great Gatsby” continues to inspire reimaginings, including from author Claire Anderson Wheeler (new novel: “The Gatsby Gambit”) and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Martyna Majok, (new musical “Gatsby: An American Myth”). Ultimately, the novel is a condemnation of greed and the upper class, an examination of the fallacy of the American dream, and, in Fitzgerald’s own words, a story of “aspiration”. In Jay Gatsby’s America, self-making and reinvention is, at once, possible and celebrated, and feared and reviled. This critical examination of the unachievable American Dream makes “The Great Gatsby” a target for book bans and challenges – and it is often pulled from shelves. It’s “one of the most potent translations of the American mentality,” says Majok. “This is our American myth.”

In this Velshi Banned Book Club feature, “Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs” by Jennifer Finney Boylan, a life is measured in dogs. The memoir poignantly examines mortality, identity, family dynamics, and, above all, love. Although it spans the course of 5 decades, “Good Boy” is not linear – like true reflection, the stories jump back and forth through time, referencing moments still to come and moments that have already passed. Much of the book is spent on the realities of coming out as transgender and what transgender identity really looks like – first for Boylan herself and then for her daughter. Both instances -- with a different dog acknowledging the moment – sent Boylan on to carefully examine masculinity and femininity, religious upbringing, friendships, success, and, again, love. 

What could America look like in 2035? What could the world look like in 2035? Journalist Melissa Chan and activist artist Badiucao have explored the potential reality of 2035 in their new dystopian graphic novel: “You Must Take Part in Revolution”. In the graphic novel, a proto-fascist America is at war with techno-authoritarian China. Taiwan is divided into two, and the threat of nuclear escalation looms over the globe. In the pages of this book, there is no good or bad government – the power is the problem.