A Letter You Would Ban: An Open Letter on Book Banning

By: Maya Doraiswamy

To those seeking to ban our books,

I write to you as one of the nearly 55 million young students in our nation whom you are taking from. Our education and public resources are meant to provide tools for analyzing, questioning, and challenging the world around us. When you ban books, you do more than remove pages from shelves—you take our rights to explore the complexities of life, to confront difficult truths, and to expand our understanding of the world. In banning books, you ban our representation, inspiration, and education.

Literary and human rights organization PEN America recorded over 6,870 instances of book bans in U.S. public schools for the 2024-2025 school year, affecting nearly 4,000 unique titles. 

According to PEN America, since 2021, almost 23,000 book bans have been reported in public schools nationwide—with a concerning increase in the number of documented attempts in the last four years being nearly doubled. The work of student advocates and community groups such as the American Library Association or PEN America have greatly aided in this struggle for educational rights, yet it is still not enough. 

Coordinated efforts by groups promoting conservative viewpoints have spread censorship to nearly every state. According to the American Library Association’s 2024-2025 book banning report, “pressure groups and government entities that include elected officials, board members, and administrators initiated 72% of demands to censor books in school and public libraries.” Several school districts, most prominently including Florida, Texas, Missouri, Utah, and South Carolina, have continuously removed books from their libraries in the past years, citing concerns over content deemed inappropriate or controversial. These bans have predominantly targeted books discussing topics of racism, individuals of color, mental health and wellbeing of students, LGBTQ+ topics, as well those more mature with sexual references or sexual violence. Some of the most popular banned books within the last few years consist of the following titles: Heartstopper, All Boys Aren't Blue, Gender Queer, The Hate U Give, The Color Purple, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Wicked, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Hiding behind claims of what is “appropriate” for children, you have chosen to perpetuate the idea that diverse, representative stories deserve to be silenced. It is without surprise that I state such “explicit” content is merely stories beyond that of the straight, white male narrative. 

Did you know that 25% of high schoolers identify within the LGBTQ+ community? That over 58% of public high school students come from racial and ethnic demographics other than predominantly white? That 20% of children struggle with mental health? Or even that nearly half of teenagers experience a form of sexual harassment or assault? In banning stories representative of these realities, you deem them unworthy of acknowledgment or advocacy. In banning books, you insulate nothing more than a version of the world where only some of us get to exist.

The best version of this world is one that is our world, reflecting our truths and our stories. This is a world where every student can find themselves in its pages—where a beautiful shelf is a diverse one, lined with voices carrying the weight of real experiences and identities. When they represent every individual and all communities, they hold proof of the truth that no one is too different to matter. That is the world worth protecting.

Censorship seeks to demolish this—it is but the steady dismantling of democratic principles we base the very foundations of this country on. It is the beginning of a future where fear and exclusion govern the knowledge our nation prides as power. It is this very power of information, the crucial rights to learn and to be educated, that you deny us the moment you allow your discomfort to dictate our opportunities—that your closed minds are what keep ours from opening. 

Literature is one of the greatest liberties—and I, for one, believe in our freedoms. If we are to be the informed, empathetic citizens this country needs, we must be free to read the diverse and influential stories beyond what fits such a narrow mold of "acceptable" knowledge. We are not asking for permission to exist—we are voicing the right to be seen, to be heard, and to be taught the truth.

Sincerely,

A Free Mind