You're Telling My Kids They Can't Read This Book?: Our Hundred-Year Children's-Literature Revolution and How We'll Keep Fighting to Support Our Families' Right to Read

PASSIONATELY FIGHTING BOOK-BANNING AND CENSORSHIP: HOW & WHY

In this timely broadside against censorship, Laties weaves together stories from his fifty years as a bookseller, activist, and parent, while sharing tales from authors, librarians, publishers, journalists, and customers. Discussing events as recent as the May 2025 firing of the Librarian of Congress and the June 2025 Supreme Court LGBTQ+ storybook decision, this conversational book reveals patterns in the history of book challenges, while teaching resistance tactics. An essential read for parents, librarians, educators, and everyone committed to intellectual freedom.

“At a time when the American government and right-wing organizations claim to set moral standards for children by banning numerous books and destroying libraries and bookstores, Andrew Laties exposes their hypocrisy. A must read for anyone troubled by the plight in America when groups of adults want to dumb down children. Laties has fought and continues to fight oppressive guardians of ignorance, and his book reveals that his fight is our fight.”—Jack Zipes, author, Buried Treasures: The Power of Political Fairy Tales; Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota

“A rapid-fire history of the politics of book-banning, the complicated issues surrounding censorship, and a how-to guide on launching a book fair, laced throughout with an emphatic call to action to preserve our freedom of expression at a time of unprecedented governmental attacks on it.”
—Paul Gulino, author, Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach; Professor, Chapman University

“Really wonderful! Powerful, poignant with dashes of humor. Well written—the narrative barrels along—lucid yet profound. An important read in these treacherous times.”—H. Nichols B. Clark, co-author, Myth, Magic, and Mystery: One Hundred Years of American Children’s Book Illustration; Founding Director & Chief Curator Emeritus, The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art