Hello and welcome back to our cozy little book news corner! Grab your drink of choice and maybe a snack, because we’re about to dig in to the book-related news of the past week.

This Week in Book Bans and Challenges…

Efforts to ban books in schools and libraries continue to be on the rise, and that means there’s a few different book ban related stories pretty much every week. I don’t always cover these stories, but it’s important to acknowledge that this is a huge issue that could have massive consequences for young people’s access to books that reflect their identities and experiences here in the States.

Whether there have been more book ban news items this week or whether the outlets I frequent are making a more concerted effort to cover them, I feel like there’s been book banning everywhere I turn. So, I thought I’d round up a few of the items that caught my eye.

• Laure Halse Anderson, author of Speak, is protesting the banning of her book about surviving sexual assault. Anderson notes that books like hers are essential for victims of sexual assault, citing statistics that remind us of the unfortunate prevalance of sexual assault. You can read more at The Mary Sue.

• Students protest book bans at their schools, which is a good reminder that the whole “protect the kids” angle on book banning is, um, very much not it.

• Amanda Gorman’s “The Hill We Climbed” was banned in a Florida school, leading her to vow to fight back against book banning. The single complaint which resulted in the poem being banned also mis-attributed the poem to Oprah Wifrey, which is a big yikes.

• The Washington Post reports that over 60% of book challenges in the U.S. were filed by just 11 people, a statistic that is a bit baffling but also makes a lot of sense. These are people with a lot of time and resources available to attack titles they consider offensive, and it also serves as a reminder that these requests to ban diverse titles come from a vocal minority.

• Georgia Department of Education rules that book bans violate students’ civil liberties.

(Sources: Book Riot News newsletter & Book Riot Podcast Patreon)

TikTok Launching Book Award, Because Of Course It Is

TikTok, the app that has taken the bookish world by storm, announced plans to create its own Book Award in the UK and Ireland. My 48 hours of being on TikTok did not result in the ability to locate the alleged BookTok corner of the app, so I don’t have much to say except that this is completely expected given the general obsession with the app. Also not surprising they aren’t starting with the US, given the “ban TikTok” of it all that’s been happening here.

(Source: Book Riot News newsletter)

Bookshop.org Memorial Day Sweepstakes

Full disclosure/reminder that I am a Bookshop.org affiliate, meaning I earn a small comission from purchases made through my affiliate links/page. But how can I not mention the chance to win a $250 gift card for buying books? This weekend (Friday-Monday) any purchase at Bookshop.org enters you to win a gift card (US shoppers only). Sounds like a great excuse for a little bookish shopping spree to me!

(Source: Email from Bookshop.org)

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That’s it for this week in book-related news! I hope you have a good weekend with plenty of reading time ahead, book friends. As always, let me know if I missed any interesting bookish news!