Annie’s Foundation Freedom to Read Guidebook

We’ve been hard at work developing a guidebook for our Rebellious Readers to refer to when educating people about book bans.

The goal? Compile a collection of “book reports” for books that are frequently challenged or banned. These book reports provide a brief summary of the book, age recommendations, and address some of the controversy surrounding the book. The reports were written by people just like you–some are librarians, some are teachers, many are parents, and some are even written by children. We also asked anyone who was interested to share a personal story about books or book banning, and those are interspersed throughout the guidebook.

This guidebook is a living document and will be constantly updated as volunteers write more book reports, and as more books are banned and challenged. As updates are made, we will share on our social media pages, so follow us on Facebook and Instagram if you haven’t already!

Annie’s Foundation still feels very strongly that we should be reading these books to understand both the opposition to them and how to defend them–but right now, that’s like drinking from a firehose. It’s impossible to keep up with the coordinated attacks on diverse books, so allow our guidebook to serve as a resource.

We also want to thank our army of volunteers who enthusiastically stepped up to write these book reports. Truly, we could not have done this without you. We look forward to expanding this guidebook with your help.

It is our hope that the Guidebook will demonstrate the JOY these books bring to the world.

If you have questions about the Freedom to Read Guidebook or want to learn more, please email bookreviews@anniesfoundation.com.