A picture says a thousand words—but when it comes to kids’ picture books, it’s clear that not everyone hears the same words. Picture books represented a troubling percentage of challenges in the 2023–2024 school year.
A panel of librarians and authors dug into this slice of the broader fight against censorship at “Free Children Read Freely: Banned Books in Story Times for Young Children,” a June 28 session of the American Library Association’s (ALA) 2025 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Philadelphia.
Pat Scales, a retired school librarian and author of Banned Books for Kids: Reading Lists and Activities for Teaching Kids to Read Censored Literature (ALA Editions), set the scene: “Who is taking these books off the shelves? It’s disturbing that 36% are school and library board members, and the second-highest percentage is pressure groups, like Moms for Liberty,” she said, noting that the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated it a hate group.
Vera Ahiyya, an author, educator, and consultant, shared a poignant moment from her early teaching career in Texas, when a same-sex couple introduced her to And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson. She remembered the proud look on their daughter’s face when it was read in the classroom. And she registered the tragedy of this week’s Supreme Court decision to allow parents to opt out of classes with queer themes.
“It is our honor as librarians and educators who have the opportunity to work with youth,” Ahiyya said, “to bring that pride into our spaces so that children are consistently validated, not only in who they are, but what they can be. This ruling has taken that validation away from children everywhere.”
Ahiyya recommends Learning for Justice’s Social Justice Standards as a starting point for approaching these themes. “Starting is the hardest part. Like, ‘Am I going to say the right thing? Am I going to make a mistake?’ Yeah, you are. But doing this work is much more important than the discomfort.”
Staff from Brooklyn Public Library (BPL), the nation’s largest library system, have developed Freedom to Read Story Time, a model for engaging children and families with banned books in safe and age-appropriate ways.
“We were inspired by the Books Unbanned initiative for teens, but we realized that the language of censorship can be confusing for kids,” said Rachel Payne, BPL coordinator of early childhood services. “We changed the language to focus on freedom and choice, which is more developmentally appropriate.” BPL has developed a guide for libraries looking to host their own events.
Jessica Ralli, who works on this initiative as BPL coordinator of early literacy programs, talked about the importance of listening to kids and asking open-ended questions: “What’s your favorite book? Did you know you can choose the books you want to read? Why do you think that’s important?”
“The goal is never to overwhelm or scare kids; it’s to get them thinking about what they believe,” Ralli said. “The most powerful kind of learning really comes when we formulate our own ideas, and we want that for children too.”
