cares about our civil liberties. book bans have surged in our country's public schools. in the first half of the academic year, more than 4,300 titles were removed. more than the entire last school year combined. since 2021, they have tracked book bans in 42 states, impacting the republican and the democratically controlled districts. many of the targeted books have to do with sexuality, gender, and race. some are being objectionable simply for including a character of color or someone who is lgbtq. some conservative states, librarians are being threatened with prison or thousands of fines for handing out banned books. thankfully many of us are standing up to the censorship including younger readers. students across the country are