This week, September 18th-24th, is Banned Books Week. Although it’s nearing the end of the week, advocating for the “freedom to read” is an essential and ongoing undertaking that should continue beyond this week. Several organizations have put forth ideas and actions that the public can take to support those who are most affected by the book bans and challenges—authors, artists, librarians, teachers, and students.
The list of banned picture books by Black authors below was retrieved from PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans (July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022). In addition to the book titles, authors, and illustrators, the document lists the state, district, type of ban, date of challenge/removal, and origin of challenge. The document is being updated periodically, so check for new books added. Visit the PEN America link above for a detailed definition of a school book ban.
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1. Mae Among the Stars
Roda Ahmed | Stasia Burrington | HarperCollins | 2018 | Amazon | Bookshop
2. The Undefeated
Kwame Alexander | Kadir Nelson | Versify | 2019 | Amazon | Bookshop
3. The 5 O’Clock Band
Troy Andrews | Bill Taylor | Bryan Collier | Harry N. Abrams | 2018 | Amazon | Bookshop
4. Trombone Shorty
Troy Andrews | Bill Taylor | Bryan Collier | Abrams BYR | 2015 | Amazon | Bookshop
5. Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut
Derrick Barnes | Gordon C. James | Agate Bolden | 2017 | Amazon | Bookshop
6. I Am Every Good Thing
Derrick Barnes | Gordon C. James | Nancy Paulsen Books | 2020 | Amazon | Bookshop
7. No Mirrors in My Nana’s House: Musical CD and Book
Ysaye M. Barnwell | Synthia Saint James | HMH BYR | 2005 | Amazon | Bookshop
8. Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream for Me
Daniel Beaty | Bryan Collier | Little, Brown BYR | 2013 | Amazon
9. Daddy, There’s A Noise Outside
Kenneth Braswell | Fathers Incorporated | 2015 | Amazon
10. Imani’s Moon
JaNay Brown-Wood | Hazel Mitchell | Charlesbridge | 2014 | Amazon | Bookshop
11. Around Our Way on Neighbors’ Day
Tameka Fryer Brown | Charlotte Riley-Webb | Harry N. Abrams | 2010 | Amazon | Bookshop
12. I Am Enough
Grace Byers | Keturah A. Bobo | Balzer + Bray | 2018 | Amazon | Bookshop
13. I’m a Pretty Little Black Girl!
Betty K. Bynum | DreamTitle Publishing | 2013 | Amazon | Bookshop
14. My Hair is a Garden
Cozbi A. Cabrera | Albert Whitman & Company | 2018 | Amazon | Bookshop
15. Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story about Racial Injustice
Marianne Celano | Marietta Collins | Ann Hazzard | Jennifer Zivoin | Magination Press | 2018 | Amazon | Bookshop
16. Celia Cruz, Queen of Salsa
Veronica Chambers | Julie Maren | Puffin Books | 2007 | Amazon | Bookshop
17. Hair Love
Matthew A. Cherry | Vashti Harrison | Kokila | 2019 | Amazon | Bookshop
18. The Boy Who Didn’t Believe in Spring
Lucille Clifton | Brinton Turkle | Dutton Juvenile | 1973 | Amazon | Bookshop
19. Before She was Harriet
Lesa Cline-Ransome | James E. Ransome | Holiday House | 2017 | Amazon | Bookshop
20. Full, Full, Full of Love
Trish Cooke | Paul Howard | Candlewick | 2008 | Amazon | Bookshop
21. Max and the Tag-Along Moon
Floyd Cooper | Philomel Books | 2013 | Amazon | Bookshop
22. Mixed Me!
Taye Diggs | Shane W. Evans | Feiwel & Friends | 2015 | Amazon | Bookshop
23. Rap a Tap Tap: Here’s Bojangles – Think of That!
Leo Dillon | Diane Dillon Blue | Sky Press | 2002 | Amazon | Bookshop
24. Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968
Alice Faye Duncan | R. Gregory Christie | Calkins Creek | 2018 | Amazon | Bookshop
25. Milo’s Museum
Zetta Elliott | Purple Wong | Independent Publishing | 2016 | Amazon
26. Hot Day on Abbott Avenue
Karen English | Javaka Steptoe | Clarion Books | 2004 | Amazon | Bookshop
27. We March
Shane W. Evans | Square Fish | 2016 | Amazon | Bookshop
28. Not Quite Snow White
Ashley Franklin | Ebony Glenn | HarperCollins | 2019 | Amazon | Bookshop
29. The Great Migration: Journey to the North
Eloise Greenfield | Jan Spivey Gilchrist | HarperCollins | 2010 | Amazon | Bookshop
30. Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History
Vashti Harrison | Little, Brown BYR | 2017 | Amazon | Bookshop
31. Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History
Vashti Harrison | Little, Brown BYR | 2019 | Amazon | Bookshop
32. Catching the Moon: The Story of a Young Girl’s Baseball Dream
Crystal Hubbard | Randy Duburke | Lee & Low Books | 2010 | Amazon | Bookshop
33. My Friend Maya Loves to Dance
Cheryl Willis Hudson | Eric Velasquez | Harry N. Abrams | 2010 | Amazon
34. I Promise
LeBron James | Niña Mata | HarperCollins | 2020 | Amazon | Bookshop
35. A Sweet Smell of Roses
Angela Johnson | Eric Velásquez | Simon & Schuster BYR | 2005 | Amazon | Bookshop
36. Running the Road to ABC
Denize Lauture| Reynold Ruffins | Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing | 1996 | Amazon | Bookshop
37. Going Down Home with Daddy
Kelly Starling Lyons | Daniel Minter | Peachtree | 2019 | Amazon | Bookshop
38. Sing a Song: How “Lift Every Voice and Sing” Inspired Generations
Kelly Starling Lyons | Keith Mallett | Nancy Paulsen Book | 2019 | Amazon | Bookshop
39. Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp! Whomp!: A Sonic Adventure
Wynton Marsalis | Paul Rogers | Candlewick | 2012 | Amazon | Bookshop
40. Hands Up!
Breanna J. McDaniel | Shane W. Evans | Dial Books | 2019 | Amazon | Bookshop
41. Don’t Touch My Hair!
Sharee Miller | Little, Brown BYR | 2018 | Amazon | Bookshop
42. Early Sunday Morning
Denene Millner | Vanessa Brantley-Newton | Agate Bolden | 2017 | Amazon | Bookshop
43. Uncle Jed’s Barber Shop
Margaree King Mitchell | James E. Ransome | Simon & Schuster BYR | 1993 | Amazon | Bookshop
44. Saturday
Oge Mora | Little, Brown BYR | 2019 | Amazon | Bookshop
45. Thank You, Omu
Oge Mora | Little, Brown BYR | 2018 | Amazon | Bookshop
46. The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family
Ibtihaj Muhammad | S.K. Ali | Hatem Aly | Little, Brown BYR | 2019 | Amazon | Bookshop
47. Wings
Chritopher Myers | Scholastic Press | 2000 | Amazon | Bookshop
48. Mandela
Kadir Nelson | Katherine Tegen Books | 2013 | Amazon | Bookshop
49. The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth & Harlem’s Greatest Bookstore
Vaunda Micheaux Nelson | R. Gregory Christie | Carolrhoda Books | 2015 | Amazon | Bookshop
50. Sulwe
Lupita Nyong’o | Vashti Harrison | Simon & Schuster BYR | 2019 | Amazon | Bookshop
51. Hey Black Child
Useni Eugene Perkins | Bryan Collier | Little, Brown BYR | 2017 | Amazon | Bookshop
52. A Kids Book About Racism
Jelani Memory | A Kids Book About Inc. | 2019 | Amazon
53. Skin Like Mine (Kids Like Mine Series)
Latashia M. Perry | G Publishing | 2016 | Amazon | Bookshop
54. Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra
Andrea Pinkney | Brian Pinkney | Hyperion Book | 2007 | Amazon | Bookshop
55. Fishing Day
Andrea Pinkney | Shane Evans | Little, Brown BYR | 2003 | Amazon
56. The Sunday Outing
Gloria Jean Pinkney | Jerry Pinkney | Dial Books | 1994 | Amazon
57. Another
Christian Robinson | Atheneum BYR | 2019 | Amazon | Bookshop
58. You Matter
Christian Robinson | Atheneum BYR | 2020 | Amazon | Bookshop
59. Little Melba and Her Big Trombone
Katheryn Russell-Brown | Frank Morrison | Lee & Low Books | 2014 | Amazon | Bookshop
60. Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat
Javaka Steptoe | Little, Brown BYR | 2016 | Amazon | Bookshop
61. Big Hair, Don’t Care
Crystal Swain-Bates | Megan Bair | Goldest Karat Publishing | 2013 | Amazon | Bookshop
62. I Love My Hair
Natasha Anastasia Tarpley | E. B. Lewis | Little, Brown BYR | 1998 | Amazon | Bookshop
63. Your Name Is a Song
Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow | Luisa Uribe | The Innovation Press | 2020 | Amazon | Bookshop
64. Looking for Bongo
Eric Velásquez | Holiday House | 2016 | Amazon | Bookshop
65. Harlem’s Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills
Renée Watson | Christian Robinson | Random House BYR | 2012 | Amazon | Bookshop
66. John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane
Carole Boston Weatherford | Sean Qualls | Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) | April 1, 2008 | Amazon | Bookshop
67. Freedom in Congo Square
Carole Boston Weatherford | R. Gregory Christie | little bee books | 2016 | Amazon | Bookshop
68. Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America
Carole Boston Weatherford | Jamey Christoph | Albert Whitman & Company | 2015 | Amazon | Bookshop
69. Young Gifted and Black: Meet 52 Black Heroes from Past and Present
Jamia Wilson | Andrea Pippins | Wide Eyed Editions | 2018 | Amazon | Bookshop
70. Each Kindness
Jacqueline Woodson | E. B. Lewis | Nancy Paulsen Books | 2012 | Amazon | Bookshop
71. The Day You Begin
Jacqueline Woodson | Rafael López | Nancy Paulsen Books | 2018 | Amazon | Bookshop
72. The Other Side
Jacqueline Woodson | E.B. Lewis | Nancy Paulsen Books | 2001 | Amazon | Bookshop
73. Always My Dad
Sharon Dennis Wyeth | Raul Colon | Dragonfly Books | 1997 | Amazon
74. Grandpa Cacao: A Tale of Chocolate, from Farm to Family
Elizabeth Zunon | Bloomsbury Children’s Books | 2019 | Amazon | Bookshop
75. Nelson Beats The Odds
Ronnie Sidney II | Traci Van Wagoner | Kurt Keller | Creative Medicine- Healing Through Words LLC | 2016| Amazon | Bookshop
76. Tameka’s New Dress
Ronnie Sidney II | Traci Van Wagoner | Kurt Keller | Creative Medicine- Healing Through Words LLC | 2016 | Amazon | Bookshop
77. Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race
Margot Lee Shetterly | Laura Freeman | HarperCollins | 2018 | Amazon | Bookshop
78. As Fast as Words Could Fly
Pamela M. Tuck | Eric Velasquez | Lee & Low Books | 2013 | Amazon | Bookshop
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