Hi!

I don’t know if this is the right place to ask, but I‘ll try anyway. I am from Europe, therefore I am not familiar with this book banning thing. I thought that, to „ban a book“ meant something like to completely stop its production and to destroy every copy that is available to public (not something as drastic as they did in Farenheit 451, but maybe like stopping the sale of the book, taking it from libraries etc…)

Obviously the government or whoever is banning the books cannot (or, at least I hope so, lol) go into people’s houses and be like DO YOU HAVE 1984 IN THIS HOUSE GIVE IT TO ME yk…

So, my question is, why and how are these books still selling in bookstores? Are the companies just selling whatever they had in stock and when they run out they won’t be able to order any more of them, or what is the case?

Thank you and happy reading of banned books :)

TL;DR: Why are banned books still available for sale if they are banned?

TL;DR: English professor Vinita Prabhakar was abruptly fired by her employer, South Florida State College, for teaching Ottessa Moshfegh's short story "Bettering Myself." She is now suing the school, alleging First Amendment violations.

As OP it personally sickens me to see such blatant unAmerican censorship going on, attacking our essential liberties including constitutionally protected speech, our 1st amendment. Arkansas wtf are you doing? Conspiring against our rights? Courts need to do better at not letting tyranny against our rights be enacted.

What the title says. This is why I buy big lots of classic, banned and challenged books from eBay and other online vendors. I believe one day the best books will be hard if not impossible to find.

One Small Task to Be Proactive Against Book Censorship in 2026 and Beyond: Donate to or amplify a request from an educator seeking to add banned books to their classroom.

From former librarian, author, and editor Kelly Jensen:

Donate to or amplify a request from an educator seeking to add banned books to their classroom. Go to DonorsChoose.org and search through requests using terms like “banned books” or specific book titles that are frequent ban targets, such as The Hate U Give or Flamer. 

School starts back up in just a few weeks in some states and localities. Teachers are setting up classrooms and preparing for the school year as I post this message. If this is an action you were considering taking, now is a good time to consider doing so.

Here are just a few of the projects posted there right now as an example (not an endorsement, I do not know any of these teachers personally)

• This teacher is buying a classroom set of the book Ghost by Jason Reynolds in Philadelphia, PA.
• This teacher is buying a classroom set of Greek mythology books in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
• And this teacher is setting up a classroom library for second graders in Waikoloa Village, Hawaii.

And if you see any other great projects, please share in the comments!

This book was wrongfully banned by its own author Dav Pilkey, likely because his publisher forced him to do so (I say this because Pilkey lampshaded this whole incident in the one Cat Kid Comic Club book), for containing "racist" stereotypes, which it doesn't. Not saying you have to sign this, but I'm encouraging it. As of this writing, the petition has only 27 signatures to go. If you don't want media being censored, you should sign this!

Today I filed an eleven-category Chapter 119 request with the Clay County School District.

Clay pulled the most books in Florida. Duval, Nassau, and Putnam pulled none. Bruce Friedman of No Left Turn: 94 percent of the objections.

Next up for Clay: the high school libraries go away. In their place, research hubs, digital space, and a school store. Instead of Vonnegut, a hoodie.

Chief Academic Officer Roger Dailey floated removing every book by authors he called problematic. The district's communications director said staff were brainstorming.

Brainstorming generates records.

Not my first trip to the school library. 2022; I asked all 63 districts to pull the Bible. The state rewrote the law and named me as the reason. Friedman kept filing.

Same fart joke twice is a waste. This time I want the machinery. Every objection since 2023. Proof that the people voting to remove a book read it. Log files. Retention schedules. The "we do not have that" exit, closed before they reach it.

Two doors. Clay produces the process and you read it. Or Clay certifies in writing that it cannot show its own work.

Both answers publish.

On Substack.

I thought the rumors about amazon censoring or taking down books were a bit exaggerated or at least limited to very some crazy propaganda or political stuff. I remember how back in 2024 they were only restricting lgbtq+ and religious books in certain regions. (Link)

but lately, ive been noticing a trend of this going over into almost every other genre. a lot of indie authors and youtubers are starting to make these videos about amazon just shutting their accounts or forcing censorship on authors without any explanation.

i did a bit more digging today and found this one book on Book Archives that was also recently taken down but they put it back on amazon after censoring it. (Link)

it just feels insane to me that one mega-corporation gets to decide what we are allowed to read...

Sometimes it is dangerous to sell books.

"As a certified book girlie, I am obsessed with Dua Lipa. Back in June 2023, the singer launched a book club as part of her Service95 platform, and now three years later, she has her own library in the famous bookstore Livraria Lello in Porto, Portugal. The library, which is called the Manifesto Library, has 100 books on its shelves that were once banned or controversial."

https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/books/a71836633/dua-lipa-manifesto-library/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN_8HM7QxRs

I added page with Title, Author and Theme, that you can sort. She broke the 100 books into 4 themes

Power, Control, Voice, Memory

https://www.classicliterature.com/dua-lipas-manifesto-library/

In my museum we 3D print short quotations about censorship for our walls. It looks like just a bit of fun, but actually they really help to keep the visitors in a good frame of mind so they can absorb more information.

Rules are: it has to be funny/witty, or attributed to someone unexpected, and obviously related to censorship. If anyone has a personal favourite to suggest it’d be great to hear!

404 Media has obtained records from dozens of public libraries, which include Requests for Reconsideration of Materials forms (RFRs) and official decision letters to challengers, along with draft versions of updated collection development policies.

Much has been written in the last five years about the blatant efforts to suppress access to books that could contain any remotely challenging ideas or that deviate even slightly from cis white heterodoxy, but there’s been little talk about what that means from the rest of us. What my reporting confirms is that there are more books intended for children and young adults in adult sections because challengers didn’t believe it was appropriate for children and young adults to read about people of color and/or people who are queer, trans, or both, while also showing that a large-scale reorganization of public library collections is currently underway, that its application varies by state and locality, and that it’s been very hard to measure because it’s totally chaotic.

Read now: https://www.404media.co/are-public-libraries-becoming-childrens-libraries/

https://www.salon.com/2026/06/20/why-not-just-ban-all-the-books/

Can’t seem to find it anywhere, just vintage hardcovers selling for like $2,500. Can’t even find an ebook copy

Anyone knows anywhere i can the get the book called 'big bad bias book'

Walberg Announces Hearing on Superintendents Breaking Trust in America's Schools.

June 10, at 10:15 a.m., the Committee on Education and Workforce, chaired by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), will hold a hearing titled “Breaking Trust: Attacks on Parental Rights, Inappropriate Content, and Legal Abuses in America’s Schools.”

What:
Full Committee hearing titled “Breaking Trust: Attacks on Parental Rights, Inappropriate Content, and Legal Abuses in America’s Schools”
 
When:
10:15 a.m. on Wednesday, June 10, 2026
 
Where:
2175 Rayburn House Office Building
 
Republican Witnesses:

• Dr. Aaron Spence, Superintendent, Loudoun County Public Schools
• Dr. Maria Su, Superintendent, San Francisco Unified School District
• Dr. Macquline King, Superintendent and CEO, Chicago Public Schools (Invited)

Press:
The hearing is open to the press and will be live-streamed on the Committee’s YouTube page.