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JAN. 4, 2024 - Starting today, readers across the country will have unlimited access to the award-winning young adult bestseller All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely as part of The New York Public Library's nationwide Teen Banned Book Club.

All American Boys,which is the second Teen Banned Book Club selection in NYPL's Books for All campaign, will be freely available across the U.S. through February 29, 2024. The "Books for All" campaign, which is the longest and largest Banned Books campaign in NYPL history, extends across the country and throughout the school year and focuses heavily on teen readers in recognition of the fact that the majority of books targeted for bans and challenges are books for young people.

Anyone over the age of 13 can download the title, whether or not they have a New York Public Library card, without wait times through the Library's free e-reader app, SimplyE. The book, which has won the Walter Dean Myers Award and is a Coretta Scott King Award Honoree, tells the story of two teens, one Black and one white, and explores the experiences and themes of systemic racism and police brutality.

A virtual authors' talk with both Reynolds and Kiely will take place on Wednesday, February 21, 2024, at 3 PM ET, one of the many events the Library will be hosting in honor of Black History Month.

"We are excited to be offering readers across the country this award-winning book as part of our 'Books for All' campaign, underscoring the importance of reading and access to knowledge for all. At a time of rising book bans and challenges, The New York Public Library is proud to stand with library workers and communities across the country who are being censored and threatened. Thank you to Simon & Schuster for partnering with us to make 'All American Boys' freely available to all, and thank you to the American Library Association for getting the word out to libraries all over the country about our campaign. Book-banning is an affront to our democracy, but by standing together we can fight censorship and protect the freedom to read," said NYPL President Anthony W. Marx.

"The digital release of All American Boys isn't just an accomplishment for me. As a matter of fact, I'd argue that I look at it as less of an accomplishment and more as a necessity to ensure this book and others are accessible, by any and all means. In a world where our work is being muted, and therefore our young people's minds are being muzzled, I'm just honored to be part of the fight," said Jason Reynolds, author of All American Boys.

In a video to Library patrons which will be posted on social media to coincide with the launch, co-authors Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely noted that book bans are rising across the country, particularly targeting books for young people, and shared they "are delighted our book, All-American Boys, is being made freely available for anyone in the U.S. for NYPL's Teen Banned Book Club."

The first selection for the book club was the highly-acclaimed Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro, who joined the Library's Teen Reading Ambassadors for a live streamed author talk on November 28, 2023. The next book club pick will be announced in the spring.

NYPL's Books for All campaign launched in October 2023 during Banned Books Week in response to the alarming rise of book bans and challenges throughout the country, which have significantly impacted young adults, and to underscore the vital role that public libraries play in our democracy. The Library partnered with the American Library Association (ALA), the foremost national organization representing the nation's 123,000 libraries, and the ALA's Unite Against Book Bans campaign to get the word out about Books for All across the country.

Free digital access to All American Boys has been made possible through the generosity of Simon & Schuster. There will also be access to physical copies of book club books for checkout at all branches in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island (the boroughs served by NYPL). Select branches will host in-person book club events and all branches will have limited quantities ofthe book for giveaways. For more information on the book clubs, head to https://www.nypl.org/spotlight/books-for-all/teen-book-club.

As part of the Books for All campaign, The New York Public Library also ran a nationwide teen writing contest, in partnership with 826 National, that asked teens: "Why is the freedom to read important to you?" The contest closed on December 29, 2023, by which time the Library had received 481 essays from teens across the country. The grand prize-winning entry will be published in Teen Vogue later this spring and its author will receive $500. Twenty finalists will also receive a $250 prize, and all winners will have their essays shared in a special issue of NYPL's Teen Voices magazine.

The New York Public Library (NYPL) and the American Library Association (ALA) have also made available free downloadable tool kits to enable people and library systems all over the country to participate in Books for All" in their own communities. The kits, which have thus far been downloaded by libraries, educators, and readers in 48 states, feature a "How to Get Involved" guide about ways to fight book bans, book discussion guides, button maker templates and photo props with slogans like "I Read Banned Books," "Read Freely," and "Protect the Freedom to Read."

"I don't see people who look like me and talk like me in the books at my school library in Fort Worth, Texas and this problem is only getting worse as we operate under the shadow of HB900. Hundreds of books have already been pulled in anticipation of the law going into effect. For someone who loves books as much as I do, it is simply heartbreaking. Everyone deserves to have access to books where they see themselves, and have their identity affirmed. To deny us that is to deny us our humanity. I am proud to stand with The New York Public Library and the American Library Association to unite against book bans and the coordinated efforts to erase identities like mine. Together, we can fight censorship and the silencing of voices," said Banned Books Week 2023 Youth Honorary Chair Da'Taeveyon Daniels.

"Libraries and the literature they hold have always been a portal into a different world, as well as a way to imagine a tangible new one. Banning books is the threat of banning histories, people, and dreams. We must all stand firm in our opposition to the silencing of our authentic stories. You cannot ban marginalized people. We will always be here, and we demand that our literature and art be here too," said Stephanie Pacheco, New York City Youth Poet Laureate and Inaugural New York State Youth Poet Laureate

The Library's latest banned books campaign builds on our earlier efforts fighting censorship, including our previous Books for All (April 2022) and the Banned Books Challenge (June 2022), which was done in collaboration with Brooklyn and Queens Public Libraries.
About Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster is a global leader in general interest publishing, dedicated to providing the best in fiction and nonfiction for readers of all ages, and in all printed, digital and audio formats. Its distinguished roster of authors includes many of the world's most popular and widely recognized writers, and winners of the most prestigious literary honors and awards. It is home to numerous well-known imprints and divisions such as Simon & Schuster, Scribner, Atria Books, Gallery Books, Adams Media, Avid Reader Press, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing and Simon & Schuster Audio and international companies in Australia, Canada, India and the United Kingdom, and proudly brings the works of its authors to readers in more than 200 countries and territories. For more information visit our website at www.simonandschuster.com.
About the American Library Association
The American Library Association (ALA) is the foremost national organization providing resources to inspire library and information professionals to transform their communities through essential programs and services. For more than 140 years, the ALA has been the trusted voice for academic, public, school, government, and special libraries, advocating for the profession and the library's role in enhancing learning and ensuring access to information for all. For more information, visit the ALA website at ALA.org.
About Unite Against Book Bans
Unite Against Book Bans is a national initiative launched by ALA in April 2022 to empower readers everywhere to stand together in the fight against censorship. With more than 200 partner organizations and tens of thousands of individual supporters, the campaign connects, equips and mobilizes the public to advocate in their communities for the right to read and to defeat attempts at at every level of government to censor reading material. Learn more and join the campaign at uniteagainstbookbans.org/take-action/.
About The New York Public Library
For over 125 years, The New York Public Library has been a free provider of education and information for the people of New York and beyond. With over 90 locations-including research and branch libraries-throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, the Library offers free materials, computer access, classes, exhibitions, programming and more to everyone from toddlers to scholars. To offer this wide array of free programming, The New York Public Library relies on both public and private funding. Learn more about how to support the Library at nypl.org/support.

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The New York Public Library Continues Its Nationwide "Books For All: Teen Banned Book Club" with All American Boys | The New York Public Library

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JAN. 4, 2024 - Starting today, readers across the country will have unlimited access to the award-winning young adult bestseller All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely as part of The New York Public Library's nationwide Teen Banned Book Club.

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2021

Banned and challenged for profanity, drug use, and alcoholism, and because it was thought to promote anti-police views, contain divisive topics, and be "too much of a sensitive matter right now"

A parent formally challenged this 2016 Coretta Scott King Author Honor book and winner of the Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children's Literature for its alleged "anti-police" bias. The book features two teens, one white and one Black, who deal with the racial repercussions of an act of police violence. The Rangeley Lakes (ME) Regional School District reminded the board that the district had a policy to consider challenges. Retained.

Each summer, students in the Sewanhaka (NY) Central High School District are required to read one book from the district's summer reading list, which is selected by the English chairs in each of the district's five schools. Some parents objected to All American Boys, in which a police officer beats a Black teen. "The schools should be a neutral place where kids get to be kids, and not a place where we train and brainwash new generations," said one mom. "I don't want my son to read a book where, especially now, the police are trashed and blamed for what's going on." Others praised the relevance of the book. Its status, including others on the list dealing with the same general topic, is unknown at this writing.

After some parental complaints about the maturity of language and sexual content in some 7th grade reading club selections, a teacher at the Signal Mountain (TN) Middle-High School contacted parents to inform them that she was removing All American Boys and Monster from the reading list. Both books feature protagonists who are Black and address police violence and racial discrimination. While remarking on the value of each title, the teacher encouraged parents to choose other books. In a follow-up statement, the principal indicated that the books were high school reading materials, not 7th grade, and affirmed the school's commitment to diversity. Also removed from the reading list was My Sister's Keeper. The 2004 novel follows the story of 13-year-old Anna Fitzgerald, who sues her parents when she discovers she is supposed to donate a kidney to her dying older sister.

Despite being taught in Somerset County Public School in Westover, Maryland, since 2016, All American Boys was challenged by a parent at a board meeting for its "foul and vulgar language" and "divisive topics." The parent also challenged Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynold's Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You. As of November 2020, the district's reconsideration process was incomplete.

2019

The Fraternal Order of Police chapter in the South Carolina town of Mount Pleasant sought to have All American Boys removed from the Wando High School's list of optional reading assignments for incoming high school freshmen, along with The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. The FOP chapter said the books are "almost an indoctrination of distrust of police and we've got to put a stop to that." Both books deal with the issue of police brutality. Following a request for reconsideration process, the school decided to retain both title on the list.

On These Pages

A Banned book has been removed from a library, classroom, etc.
A Challenged book has been requested to be removed from a library, classroom, etc.

For additional information contact

Ron Titus, titus@marshall.edu
304-696-6575

Last updated

September 7, 2021

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Banned and challenged for profanity, drug use, and alcoholism, and because it was thought to promote anti-police views, contain divisive topics, and be "too much of a sensitive matter right now" A parent formally challenged this 2016 Coretta Scott King Author Honor book and winner of the Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children's Literature for its alleged "anti-police" bias.

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Award-winning author Jason Reynolds returns with a sequel to his young adult novel Miles Morales: Spider-Man. This one is called Miles Morales Suspended, and it continues the adventures of an "unassuming, everyday kid who just so happens to be Spider-Man."

In the sequel, Miles Morales - the half-Black, half-Puerto Rican teenage Spiderman - finds himself in school suspension for disagreeing with his history teacher. Morales goes to a fancy private school in Brooklyn, New York, where he doesn't always feel acknowledged. But with his superhero powers, he's invincible.

Reynolds' book is directed toward a wide audience - part poetry, part prose, with illustrations throughout. It grapples with huge themes though: censorship in schools, racism and fear.

He spoke with Morning Edition's A Martinez about Morales' other teenage superpowers and obsessions: writing poetry, and exploring his feelings about family, teachers, and a girl he likes.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Interview highlights
On the reality of racism
Just because it doesn't touch your doorstep doesn't mean it doesn't touch anybody's doorstep. And it's not until it lands on your doorstep, right? When it lands on your doorstep, that would be the equivalent of that spider's web ... suddenly we're forced to acknowledge a thing that seems to be lurking in the shadows for some, and crawling up the wall for others. This whole book is sort of full of these entendres and sort of parallels with what's happening in Miles's world and what's happening in the world at large.
On the book as a response to censorship
I don't want to shy away from the fact that it is a response, but I wish it weren't. But when it came time to write this book, the only thing that I could think about was what's happening when it comes to censorship and banning and challenging of the books that so many of us write for young people. Specifically, for a lot of us, it doesn't always feel like you're banning the book itself. Sometimes it feels like you're banning the people that those books are about, that you're saying that those lives are lives that should only exist in the shadows.

On young people and discovery
This idea of discovery, I think, has the highest sort of boiling point of potential for young people and is also the apex of fear for another set of people. For the folks, they who shall not be named ... some of these politicians, some of the terrified parents. I do think there is something to be questioned about: What's the fear of discovery? Why is everyone so afraid that a young person might discover something that feels true to them, that feels right to them, and that in making that discovery right, once they get even close to making that discovery, there is punishment enacted.

This isn't a new thing, right? Once there is a new thing that is discovered, what comes your way is backlash, especially if at the end of that new thing is more freedom, more equity, more peace, more intellectual capacity, more emotional maturity, more openness, more scrutiny when it comes to the things that we're supposed to see as real and honest and true.
On the real villain: fear and blockades
I will say that for me - there are very few actual villainous people. There are people who make decisions that feel villainous, who do terrible things to people. But I don't know if there's a person who's all the way bad. Like, we can name a few offhand, but I think most of us are somewhere in the gray. And so I like that the binary is always complicated for me when it comes to writing the hero in the villain story.

This idea that there is darkness, right? That fear is a villain. That if we can't get power, get out of our own way or get past our own stuff, then we'll create stuff that our young people can't get past. We'll put blockades there because the blockade makes it safer for me, who's also dealing with the same blockade. And I think all of those things are what creates that darkness in this story, but also in our society.
Reena Advani and Miranda Kennedy contributed editing.

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Author Jason Reynolds on book bans, racism and Spiderman

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Award-winning author Jason Reynolds returns with a sequel to his young adult novel Miles Morales: Spider-Man. This one is called Miles Morales Suspended, and it continues the adventures of an "unassuming, everyday kid who just so happens to be Spider-Man."

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As a grandmother and an educator, I am always interested in books that promote reading, writing and appreciation of the written word in various genres. If the book supports critical

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#VelshiBannedBookClub: Police brutality, white privilege, and "All American Boys"

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New data from a nonprofit research group called Mapping Police Violence shows that 2022 had the highest number of killings by police on record. Black Americans are more than three times more likely to be killed by police than white Americans. It's not a new trend, nor is it particularly surprising.

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Tiverton School Board Debates Ban on Controversial Novel 'All American Boys