With book bans hitting record highs, the American Booksellers Association is releasing a book to help freedom to read advocates stand up to the challenge. The ABA Right to Read Handbook: Fighting Book Bans and Why It Matters, written by Philomena Polefrone, the ABA’s advocacy associate manager and point person for the American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFE), is scheduled for a September 16 publication. All profits will support ABFE’s efforts against book bans.
In a release, ABA officials called the book “a practical guide for resisting book censorship, aimed at the average reader who might only have a few hours each month to spare.” It features more than a dozen interviews and profiles, and includes a brief history of book censorship, “a deep dive into the current book ban crisis,” and “how-to” guides for organizing at the community level.
“It is inconceivable that in the United States of America citizens need to know how to defend their right to read,” ABA’s CEO Allison Hill said of the book, in a release, calling the surge in book bans a crisis. “But the future of literacy, access to books, the inclusion of diverse voices, and democracy in this country depends on it.”
ABA reps said that Polefrone will launch the handbook with a series of appearances, including stops at Politics & Prose in Washington, DC (Sept. 15); Books Are Magic at the Brooklyn Public Library, in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y. (Sept. 26); Powell’s City of Books at Burnside in Portland, Ore. (Sept. 28); and the Lion’s Tooth in Milwaukee, Wisc. (Oct. 10).
“The book ban crisis has been out of control since 2021 and gets worse every year,” said Polefrone, in a release. “Book challenges are inspired by disinformation targeting authors, booksellers, librarians, and educators, and they’re happening in every state in America. I was looking for a practical guide that had everything a would-be activist needs to start resisting book censorship, but I couldn’t find one. I realized we’d need to create it.”
