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Get the Guide: Turning the Page

Turning the Page: an Advocate's Guide to the Freedom to Read was made by public school parents who found themselves in the middle of an organized plan to undermine public education. This guide puts critical information and organizing support in one place, to make the lift a little lighter for the average volunteer advocate.

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About Us

The Freedom to Read Project exists to develop education and research materials to help limit book bans and education censorship across the country. We support robust, content-rich classroom, school, and public libraries and oppose the removal of books based on ideological, partisan, or religious reasons.

Donate To Fight Book Bans in the United States

Donate To Fight Book Bans in the United States. The Freedom to Read Project is a 501(c)(3) organization that advocates to protect student access to information and books in our public schools and communities.

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Keeping Up and Checking In

“These Books Are a Proxy for Human Beings”: Inside Alabama’s Grassroots Fight Against Book Bans

January 15, 2026

Prattville, Alabama, also known as “The Fountain City,” is not only a charming town with an abundance of artisanal wells, it’s also ground zero for book banning efforts across the state. And it’s home to Angie Hayden, a freedom-to-read advocate from the nonprofit Read Freely Alabama. 

How to Make a Zine with Your Child About the Book You Just Read Together

January 07, 2026

Reading a book with your child is more than finishing pages, it’s a shared experience, a chance to explore ideas together, and a moment to connect. One powerful way to extend that experience is by making a zine: a small, handmade book that captures everything you loved, noticed, and wondered about in the story you just finished.

A Pep Talk for the Year Ahead

January 01, 2026

If you are doing freedom-to-read work in a state where censorship laws are already on the books or poised to pass you are not imagining how hard this feels.

Are We to Accept that the Freedom to Read Is a States’ Rights Issue?

December 17, 2025

What the Supreme Court’s Llano Decision Means for Our Democracy On December 8, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court quietly but profoundly reshaped the landscape of Americans’ First Amendment protections. By declining to hear Little v. Llano County, the Court allowed the Fifth Circuit’s deeply controversial ruling to stand, creating an unprecedented situation: millions of Americans now have fewer First Amendment protections than the rest of the country.

Why the Freedom to Read Is Essential for a Healthy Democracy

December 10, 2025

How Access to Diverse Viewpoints Strengthens Critical Thinking, Civic Engagement, and Resistance to Authoritarianism A healthy democracy depends on the free flow of information, the open exchange of ideas, and citizens capable of thinking critically about the world around them. These are not abstract principles: they are lived, daily practices that begin early, often with a simple act… reading.

The Phantom Book Challenge: How Fear a Book Could Be Challenged Bans It Before It Even Reaches the Shelf

December 04, 2025

Soft Censorship, Manufactured Controversy, and the Perfect Storm Undermining Students’ Right to Read Across the country, a new form of censorship is tightening its grip on public education, one far more difficult to document, track, or challenge. It doesn’t involve a parent storming into a school board meeting, a viral complaint, or a formal review process. Instead, it happens quietly, invisibly, and often with no paper trail at all.

What Students Lose When They Can’t Choose Their Own Books

November 28, 2025

Why Self-Selection, Intellectual Autonomy, and Identity Development Matter More Than Ever Across the country, book bans and “approved lists” are becoming a new normal in schools. Classrooms are being stripped of diverse texts, library shelves are thinned out, and students are asked to choose from sanitized, restricted, or ideologically filtered options. What many adults don’t realize is that when students lose the ability to choose what they read, they lose far more than access to a single book. They lose academic opportunities, emotional development, and the foundations of lifelong learning.

The Phoenix Declaration: What It Is and What Floridians Can Expect Now That the State Has Become the First to Adopt It

November 20, 2025

When states shift educational policy, it usually comes with committee hearings, public comment, and long policy documents that parents, teachers, and community members can comb through. But every so often, a new framework enters the scene with minimal notice, cleanly packaged, seemingly harmless, and deliberately vague. That is the case with the Phoenix Declaration, a new education framework authored by the Heritage Foundation, which Florida has now become the first state in the nation to adopt.

Incorporating the Freedom to Read into Your Holiday Gift-Giving Plan

November 12, 2025

The holidays are about connection, generosity, and stories, those we tell around tables, those we carry from childhood, and those we place into one another’s hands. This year, you can turn your gift list into a quiet, joyful act of resistance by ensuring more people (especially kids) have access to the full range of books that reflect and expand our world. Below is a practical guide to weaving the freedom to read into your seasonal giving without adding stress (or breaking the budget). Think of it as a menu: pick a few items that fit your time, interest, and resources, and you’ll end the season with gifts that last far beyond December.

How to Talk to Your Kids About Banned Books

November 05, 2025

It can feel overwhelming, even confusing, when the books we treasure (and the stories we believe every child should have the right to read) make headlines for being challenged or banned. Whether it's a picture book about inclusion, a middle grade novel tackling tough topics like grief or fitting in, or a young adult story centering voices historically pushed to the margins, book bans don’t just remove paper from shelves, they erase entire experiences and diminish our ability to learn from one another.
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