A stack of books on a table in a school library.

The Best Social Media Posts From ‘Banned Book Week’

Read Banned Books all year long!

Banned Book Week may be over, but being a vigilant reader is a lifelong practice. Here are some of the best posts of Banned Book Week to keep you motivated to read banned books all year long.

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Posts from authors

Some famous authors of banned books, including Margaret Atwood, W. Kamau Bell, and Baratunde, got into the spirit of Banned Book Week by wearing LeVar Burton’s “Read Banned Book” as the unofficial Jersey of the week.

Other authors took time to ruminate on the difficulties that come with having your book banned. Author Lucy Knisley shared a comic about how her cookbook got banned because it had a story about “an adolescent buying dirty magazines” and a “drawing of a butt.” 

Other readers and writers took time to highlight books by banned authors, especially those who are less well-known or whose communities are over-represented on banned books lists.

Posts from libraries

Some of the best posts this year were from libraries poking fun at book banning by comparing it to Taylor Swift songs or recreating scenes from the Barbie movie.

@milwaukeepubliclibrary

The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom has seen an uptick in attempts at censorship in the United States in 2023. Learn more about censorship at ala.org/bbooks. #BannedBooksWeek is coming to a close, but you can read #BannedBooks all year at the library. #Barbie #BookTok #MargotRobbie #BarbieMovie #MargotRobbieBarbie #GretaGerwig #GretaGerwigBarbie #BookRecommendations 

♬ original sound – Milwaukee Public Library
@solanolibrary

But when we stand up for stories, we unleash the power that lies inside every book. Celebrate your #FReadom to read! ?? #BookTok #LibraryTikTok #BannedBooks

♬ original sound – Solano County Library
@htplibrary

It’s banned book week! Come check out our banned book display at the library all week! #bannedbookweek #taylorswiftnation

♬ original sound – Harrison Township Library

The historical perspective

Some readers/historians also took the time to remind people about the history of book banning and how the banning of books is frequently a tool of oppression and control.

@genzforchange

Like the scary saying goes, history repeats itself and we cannot sit by and watch. Stay loud! Banning books is FASCISM‼️ #genzforchange #ImwiththeUnbanned #BannedBookclub #BannedBooks #booktok

♬ original sound – Gen-Z for Change
@marshallproj

Book bans are a hot-button issue in public schools and libraries around the U.S. But far more restricted reading environments exist all over the country: prisons. Let’s zoom in on Ohio. #bannedbooksweek #booktok

♬ [News] News program music 12 incident report(1429396) – Takashi

Bonus: The worst takes on Banned Books Week

Despite all of this, some questionable commenters have tried to argue that banned books don’t exist because the books are easily available for purchase.

To which I feel the need to put this plainly: “Banned Book” doesn’t just refer to the restriction of the sales of a book. It mainly refers to censorship in schools, which has increased exponentially in recent years due to far-right attacks on teachers and librarians. Trying to argue that banned books do not exist when more books are being banned today than ten or twenty years ago feels particularly dense.

Banned Book are real. They’re queer. They’re Black, brown, Asian, Native American. They exist and they’re not going away if we have anything to say about it.

(featured image: Getty Images)


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Kimberly Terasaki
Kimberly Terasaki is a contributing writer for The Mary Sue. She has been writing articles for them since 2018, going on 5 years of working with this amazing team. Her interests include Star Wars, Marvel, DC, Horror, intersectional feminism, and fanfiction; some are interests she has held for decades, while others are more recent hobbies. She liked Ahsoka Tano before it was cool, will fight you about Rey being a “Mary Sue,” and is a Kamala Khan stan.