Uncensored: Educators Speak Out on Teaching in a Time of Book Bans

Educators at the frontlines of the censorship wars share stories of survival and strategies for resistance American educators are contending with an unprecedented wave of restrictions on reading—indeed, a majority of today’s secondary English teachers and students have less of a say over what gets read in school than at any time since the 1960s. By amplifying the voices of teachers and librarians directly impacted by this broad effort to control young people’s reading experiences, Jonna Perrillo reveals in Uncensored the true forces behind the movement and how best to fight back. Current attacks on DEI initiatives, inclusive teaching practices, and marginalized groups have their roots in the culture wars, but they also build upon a framework of state standardization, scripted curricula, and other technocratic features of modern English Language Arts (ELA) instruction. Perrillo makes these connections clear as she shares firsthand accounts of how ELA teachers and librarians, already accustomed to externally designed and constrained instruction, are meeting the challenges of censorship in public and private K–12 schools while simultaneously devising successful strategies to preserve the right to read. With its inspiring stories from real teachers and librarians and practical recommendations, Uncensored offers more than an encounter with illiberal interference in the classroom. It explains how educators can foster strong reading cultures and establish vital community networks to ensure meaningful, deep reading experiences continue.