In recent months there has been a resurgence of book banning, especially books for children and teens that depict a diversity of experiences. Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores, and libraries
By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship. The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom compiles lists of challenged books as reported in the media and submitted by librarians and teachers across the country.
The theme for Banned Books Week is Books Unite Us. Censorship Divides Us.
These Magination Press books have been challenged recently:
Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story About Racial Injustice by Marianne Celano, PhD, ABPP, Marietta Collins, PhD, and Ann Hazzard, PhD, ABPP is included on the Top 10 Challenged Books of 2020. It was challenged for “divisive language” and because it was thought to promote anti-police views.
Something Happened in Our Town follows two families — one White, one Black — as they discuss a police shooting of a Black man in their community. The story aims to answer children’s questions about such traumatic events, and to help children identify and counter racial injustice in their own lives. It includes an extensive Note to Parents and Caregivers with guidelines for discussing race and racism with children, child-friendly definitions, and sample dialogues.
Hear Something Happened in Our Town read aloud by the authors.
This Day In June by Gayle E. Pitman, PhD was Named one of the Top 11 Most Challenged Books of 2018 by American Library Association and is included in the American Library Association’s”Top 100 Most Banned and Challenged Books of the Past Decade.
In a wildly whimsical, validating, and exuberant reflection of the LGBT community, This Day In June welcomes readers to experience a pride celebration and share in a day when we are all united. Also included is a Reading Guide chock-full of facts about LGBT history and culture, as well as a Note to Parents and Caregivers with information on how to talk to children about sexual orientation and gender identity in age-appropriate ways. This Day In June is an excellent tool for teaching respect, acceptance, and understanding of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.
Rainbow: A First Book of Pride by Michael Genhart, PhD
A positive tool for celebrating a wide range of human diversity and all kids of familial love. —Booklist
A must-have primer for young readers and a great gift for pride events and throughout the year, beautiful colors all together make a rainbow in Rainbow: A First Book of Pride. This is a sweet ode to rainbow families, and an affirming display of a parent’s love for their child and a child’s love for their parents. With bright colors and joyful families, this book celebrates LGBTQ+ pride and reveals the colorful meaning behind each rainbow stripe.
Read an essay by Dr. Genhart about writing the book.
Trans+: Love, Sex, Romance, and Being You by Karen Rayne, PhD, and Kathryn Gonzales, MBA
“A comprehensive guide for transgender teens. Without access to resources, growing up as a transgender person can feel isolating. However, the authors emphasize that transgender people exist as “part of a strong, important global history”…Honest, inclusive, and essential.” —Kirkus Reviews
Trans+: Love, Sex, Romance, and Being You is an all-inclusive, uncensored guide for teens who are transgender, nonbinary, gender-nonconforming, or gender-fluid.
TRANS+ answers all your questions, easy and hard, about gender and covers mental health, physical health and reproduction, transitioning, relationships, sex, and life as a trans or nonbinary individual.
Read an interview with the authors.
Since the first book starring Jacob also hit the American Library Association’s Top 100 Most Banned and Challenged Books of the Past Decade for 2010-2019, Jacob, the beloved Magination Press character from Jacob’s Room to Choose and Jacob’s School Play, both by Sarah and Ian Hoffmann, has helped kids understand gender, identity, and pronouns.
Hear Jacob’s School Play read aloud.
Read interviews with Jacob about gender nonconformity and pronouns.
Magination Press features books written by mental health professionals and those who work closely with children and teens. Our books are written to help children understand their emotions and feelings, and offer extensive practical coping strategies. Our books are designed to lead children and their caregivers through an instructive process in which psychological concerns and challenges are confronted, understood, and dealt with in concrete ways. In our picture books, a comprehensive Note to Parents is usually included to provide parents with psychological background information and offer additional guidance to parents, therapists, social workers, and teachers who are engaging with anxious children.
Sharing books and talking about issues they explore bring people together. Books Unite Us. Censorship Divides Us.
Related Books from Magination Press
-
Rainbow: A First Book of Pride
A must-have primer for young readers and a great gift for pride events and throughout the year, beautiful colors all together make a rainbow in Rainbow: A First Book of Pride.
This is a sweet ode to rainbow families, and an affirming display of a parent’s love for their child and a child’s love for their parents.
With bright colors and joyful families, this book celebrates LGBTQ+ pride and reveals the colorful meaning behind each rainbow stripe.
Readers will celebrate the life, healing, light, nature, harmony, and spirit that the rainbows in this book will bring.
-
Jacob’s Room to Choose
Jacob, the beloved character who made national headlines by wearing a dress to school, is back in an encouraging story about gender expression.
When Jacob goes to the boys’ bathroom he is chased out because the boys think he looks like a girl because of the way he is dressed.
His classmate, Sophie, has a similar experience when she tries to go to the girls’ bathroom.
When their teacher finds out what happened, Jacob and Sophie, with the support of administration, lead change at their school as everyone discovers the many forms of gender expression and how to treat each other with respect.
-
Jacob’s School Play: Starring He, She, and They
Jacob—star of one of the most banned books of the decade according to the American Library Association—is back in his third book and ready to put on a school play! While learning their lines and making their costumes, Jacob’s class finds itself unexpectedly struggling with identity, and what it means to be “he”, “she”, or “they”.
Jacob’s School Play is an engaging way to introduce young readers to non-binary people and the pronoun options available to us all. Learning that individuals are more nuanced than how others see them is a developmentally important milestone and helps foster respect of one’s self and one’s peers.
-
TRANS+: Love, Sex, Romance, and Being You
Trans+: Love, Sex, Romance, and Being You is an all-inclusive, uncensored guide for teens who are transgender, nonbinary, gender-nonconforming, gender-fluid, queer, or questioning their sexual and gender identity. TRANS+ answers all your questions, easy and hard, about gender and covers mental health, physical health and reproduction, transitioning, relationships, sex, and life as a queer individual.
It’s full of essential information you need — and want — to know and includes real-life stories from teens like you!
-
Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story About Racial Injustice
Emma and Josh heard that something happened in their town. A Black man was shot by the police.
“Why did the police shoot that man?”
“Can police go to jail?”
Something Happened in Our Town follows two families — one White, one Black — as they discuss a police shooting of a Black man in their community. The story aims to answer children’s questions about such traumatic events, and to help children identify and counter racial injustice in their own lives.
Includes an extensive Note to Parents and Caregivers with guidelines for discussing race and racism with children, child-friendly definitions, and sample dialogues.
-
This Day in June
This day in June…
Parade starts soon…
Rainbow arches…
Joyful marches!In a wildly whimsical, validating, and exuberant reflection of the LGBT community, This Day In June welcomes readers to experience a pride celebration and share in a day when we are all united.
Also included is a Reading Guide chock-full of facts about LGBT history and culture, as well as a Note to Parents and Caregivers with information on how to talk to children about sexual orientation and gender identity in age-appropriate ways.
This Day In June is an excellent tool for teaching respect, acceptance, and understanding of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.
