Around 32 states have banned at least one book in schools, according to Education Week. Most of these books are LGBTQ+ books as well as books about racial justice, according to Social Justice Books.  

How can we learn from our past mistakes if we cannot even read about them? The whole point of books like these is so we do not repeat past mistakes and can improve our communities for the better. 

Schools and the U.S. government should not be allowed to decide what books kids can and cannot read. This should be only the parents’ decision to make. 

One graphic novel based on the diary of Anne Frank called “Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation” has been banned in some school districts in Florida, according to AP News. 

An LGBTQ+ book that has been banned in many schools is “When Aiden Became A Brother” by Kyle Lukoff, according to Pen America. This book is about a child who was thought to be a female at birth but later transitioned to male.

In June of 2023, the governor of Illinois signed into the law that books could not be banned, stated Illinois.gov. Illinois was the first state to do this. Gov. Pritzker encourages schools and libraries to embrace education and literacy no matter the topic. Gov. Pritzker has made it so that no book, no matter the subject, is allowed to be banned in schools or libraries. 

The majority of books that are being banned are books about the LGBTQ+ community. This is discrimination at its finest. 

In the future, this is going to create even more issues about people being afraid to be themselves as well as other people not accepting them. This will just make LGBTQ+ topics viewed as even more taboo than they already are.

According to Unite Against Books Bans, some religious books have been banned. These books typically target minority religions such as Hindu, Islam and Buddhism. Fantasy books that have witchcraft in them have also been banned because witchcraft goes against certain people’s religions, according to the The Banned Books Project.

Banning books will only harm children and our future. It restricts individual thinking and literacy. People will not have access to knowledge about other cultures, racial injustices and LGBTQ+ individuals. It prevents people from developing a well-rounded understanding of the world we live in. Banning books will only increase discrimination and hatred of cultures other than our own.