Banned Books

Published June 20, 2024 at 12:40 PM MDT

This time on The Children's Hour, our summer interns Julia Wolfe and Sophie Anderson-Haynie have co-written and produced a program about Banned Books. They teach us what that means, the history of banning books, and how it's even possible in the era of digital reading. We explore banned books on this episode of The Children's Hour. What is a banned book? Who decides which books are to be banned, and from where are they banned? When a book is banned, is it still possible to read it?

Our summer interns have researched and explored banned books. We even hear a portion of a banned book read by its author, and hear a book review about a book that has the topic of banned books as part of the storyline. Hear from an author whose book was banned in one Michigan school district because it was accused of teaching a college level concept called critical race theory.

Laurel Goodluck‘s book, Forever Cousins tells the story of two young cousins who live far apart, but who delight in getting together in the summertime, as they attend a ceremony on the reservation where their grandparents live. Then, Evan from our Kids Crew reviews the book I Lived on Butterfly Hill, first published in 2014. The historic novel recounts one child's experiences of living in Chile during an era of political revolution. Books were banned in this story, and in real life Chile at that time, but the grandmother ("abuela") character saves books by hiding them. Evan gives his Kids Crew review of the book, which has received multiple awards.

This show was produced by our Executive Producer, Katie Stone, with help from Senior Producer Christina Stella, 2022 Summer Interns Julia Wolfe & Sophie Anderson-Haynie, and 2024 Summer Intern Thaniel Lentz.