On the Road with Banned Books

Long ago, my bookmobile days were spent on the byways of rural west central Georgia and southeastern Minnesota.  The custom-built school-bus sized vehicles carried a general collection of books and media for children and adults; fiction and non-fiction and, maybe, some of same titles that are on the new Banned Bookmobile.

Unlike a traditional bookmobile where materials are available for check out and must be returned to the mobile library when the route repeats every few weeks, the mission of the Banned Bookmobile is simply to get banned titles into the hands of readers.  The titles in this giveaway collection include those most frequently challenged in schools and libraries.  Titles like Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Amanda Gorman’s The Hill We Climb and the delightful picture book, and Tango makes three, based on a true story and re-told by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell.  When the Banned Bookmobile made its debut in Orlando on July 5, all of the copies were gone in just 10 minutes! 

In the coming weeks, the Banned Bookmobile will visit Florida, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin with a goal of “giving people access to books that are inclusive of the full diversity and experiences of all of our communities.”  In addition to distributing free books, the tour will be customized by location and include presentations by authors whose works have been banned, as well as working with local officials and activists to encourage the freedom to read.  

Photo credit: MoveOn