"Censorship is so 1984. Read for your rights." That was the signboard message in front of Bridgeside Books, Waterbury, Vt., which noted: "Banned books week is around the corner, but we're starting the conversation early! From 2021-2025 there were 22,810 instances of books being banned in public schools.
"When books are banned, kids and teens lose access to a safe and accessible way to understand the world and its most difficult ideas. They lose empathy for others living lives different from their own and they lose the comfort of seeing someone facing their own shared experiences. When books are banned, we all lose.
"Reading is revolution. In libraries, in schools, in homes. Stand with the banned, stand with your schools, stand with authors, stand with kids and teens, stand with freedom. Let's read!"