Category: books

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Banned Books Week: Censors Target Poetry for Young People

Covers of six books featuring themes of childhood, social issues, and poetry, including 'brown girl dreaming' by Jacqueline Woodson and 'The Poet X' by Elizabeth Acevedo.

When I became Young People’s Poet Laureate in 2024, book bans were proliferating in red states, often targeting BIPOC and LGBTQ+ subject matter. In response to the wave of censorship, I conducted readings in states where efforts to ban books and to erase African American history are on the rise.

Now, as my tenure as Young People’s Poet Laureate nears its end, I have asked poets who write for young people to report titles that have been targeted by bans, challenges or so-called “soft bans.” I did further research myself and consulted data collected by Evalena Lakin, librarian assistant for the Poetry Foundation.

The resulting list, BANNED POETS SOCIETY, cites works by leading poets for young people, including several of my fellow Young People’s Poets Laureate: Margarita Engle, Elizabeth Acevedo, Jacqueline Woodson, Naomi Shahib Nye, Nikki Grimes–my successor–and myself. Through my research, I found that ten of my own books have been targeted.

This list below shines a light poets whose work is bold and brave and on books that young people deserve the freedom to read. These diverse books enlighten, enrich, empower, and, most importantly, cultivate empathy among a most important audience.

If you identify other banned or challenged books of poetry for children and young adults, please contact me, so that I can update the list.

POETS FOR YOUNG PEOPLEBANNED OR CHALLENGED
CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULT BOOKS
Elizabeth AcevedoThe Poet X
Maria Dolores Aguila
A Sea of Lemon Trees: The Corrido of Roberto Alvarez
Kwame AlexanderThe Undefeated
Laurie Halse AndersonShout: A Poetry Memoir
Andrea Beatriz ArangoIveliz Explains It All
Dean AttaThe Black Flamingo
Mahogany L. Browne, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Olivia Gatwood, editorsWoke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice
Lesa Cline-RansomeBefore She Was Harriet
Matt de la PenaLast Stop on Market Street
Safia ElhilloHome Is Not a Country
Zetta ElliottA Place Inside of Me
Say Her Name
Margarita EngleDrum Dream Girl
A Dog Named Haiku
Reem FaruqiLailah’s Lunchbox
Betsy Franco
You Hear Me? Poems and Writings by Teenage Boys
Kate FussnerThe Song of Us
Amanda Gorman
Change Sings
Girls on the Rise
Robin Gow
Dear Mothman
A Million Quiet Revolutions
Meg GrehanThe Deepest Breath
Nikki GrimesOrdinary Hazards
Joanna HoEyes that Kiss in the Corners
Ellen Hopkins
Tilt
Crank
Cheryl Hudson and Wade Hudson, editorsWe Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices
Candice IlohEvery Body Looking
Bee JohnsonWhat Can a Mess Make
Supriya KelkarBrown Is Beautiful: A Poem of Self-Love
Meg Eden KuyattGood Different
Thanhha LaiInside Out and Back Again
Rajani LaRoccaRed, White, and Whole
Irene Latham and Charles Waters
Can I Touch Your Hair: Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship
Grace LinA Big Mooncake for Little Star
Carole LindstromWe Are the Water Protectors
Jessica Love
Julian Is a Mermaid
Julian at the Wedding
Amber McBrideWe Are All So Good at Smiling
Alice McGintyBathe the Cat
Jasminne MendezThe Story of My Anger
Eve Merriam
Halloween ABC
Inner City Mother Goose
Lindsay Metcalf, editorNo Voice Too Small
Yuyi MoralesDreamers
Marilyn NelsonA Wreath for Emmett Till
Lesléa Newman
October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard
Naomi Shahib Nye, editor
The Flag of Childhood: Poems from the Middle East
Gayle Pitman
This Day in June
My Maddy
Jason ReynoldsLong Way Down
Christian RobinsonYou Matter
Shifa Saltagi SafadiKareem Between
Yusuf Salam and Ibi ZoboiPunching the Air
Aida SalazarThe Moon Within
Land of the Cranes
Erika SanchezI Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
Hannah V. SawyerrAll the Fighting Parts
John SchuLouder than Hunger
Dr. Seuss
The Lorax
Hop on Pop
Shel SilversteinA Light in the Attic
Nikkolas SmithThe Artivist
Traci SorellAt the Mountain’s Base
Jamila Thompkins-BigelowYour Name Is a Song
Padma Venkatraman
Safe Harbor
A Time to Dance
Jasmine WargaOther Words for Home
Renée Watson

Black Girl You are Atlas
The 1619 Project: Born on the Water
Maya’s Song
Carole Boston Weatherford















Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane
Freedom in Congo Square
Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-ins
Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America
How Do You Spell Unfair: Macnolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom
Remember the Bridge: Poems of a People
Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library
Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement
Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre
Ashley WoodfolkNothing Burns as Bright as You
Jacqueline WoodsonBrown Girl Dreaming
The Day You Begin

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The Power of One: One School, One Book, One Author, One Poem

Last year, our verse novel and family history, KIN: ROOTED IN HOPE was chosen as the One Maryland One Book. In communities across the state, reading groups gathered around the theme, “What We Collect, What We Tell,” to discuss KIN. On tour, we were heartened by readers’ questions and conversations.

While KIN was the first poetry book chosen as the One Maryland One Book, it was not the first time that one of our books was selected for a common read. Here are some titles that schools and communities have read together and some that we think would make great picks:

A variation on One School, One Book is a One Author (author study) program. Nashville Public Schools took it a step further, starting with a professional development on integrating my books into music classrooms and culminating with a district-wide recital. Talk about ambitious! Learn more in this video.

Common reads foster community, connection, learning and growth. If you’d like to organize a common read but want to keep things simple, try a One Poem program. Here are some poems that will get your scholars reading and talking.

MARTIN”S LETTER

Though sermons rolled off his tongue,

Martin could not find words

to tell his little brown girl

why Funtown’s gates were closed to her

or that the “Colored Only” sign

on the drinking fountain didn’t mean

the water was a different hue.

But in a jail cell in Birmingham,

he found the words to tell the holy men

why we would not halt the marches.

He would rather fight off

police dogs and face fire hoses

than wipe his daughter’s tears.

Have you used my books or poems for a common read or conducted an author study? If so, how did it go? Reply in the comments section below.

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Cover Reveal: STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

Behold the cover of my upcoming collab with Caldecott Honor winner Noa Denmon. Set for January 12, 2027 release, the book focuses on the grassroots movement behind the 1955 bus boycott to desegregate buses in Montgomery, Alabama. Written in verse, of course, the narrative unfolds by the numbers.

Posted on in books, Uncategorized

Gift Ideas: A book is a garden carried in a pocket.

When I was a college freshman, my parents gave me Roget’s Thesaurus as a Christmas gift. The inscription is priceless, perhaps even prophetic. Years later, my father saw my first book published and saw me win a writer’s fellowship. My mother survived him by 27 years and joined me in celebrating each new book and honor.

When my parents became grandparents, they continued the book-giving tradition. Though intended for my children, three such gifts–Afro-Bets ABC Book, Afro-Bets 123 Book and Bright Eyes, Brown Skin; all from Just Us Books)–introduced me to a new, more diverse crop of children’s literature and inspired me to try my hand at writing for young people.

In this season of giving, consider books for the heart, mind, body and soul. My curated collection includes titles for almost anyone on your list.

Gift books 2025Download
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Counting Blessings: 7 New Releases in 2025

Whether you’re superstitious or mathematically inclined, seven is often deemed a lucky number. As book reviewers issue their rundowns of the year’s best books, I am thanking my lucky stars for seven new releases in 2025. Yes, 7!

RAP IT UP!, co-authored with my son, Jeffery Boston Weatherford (best-known as an award-winning illustrator), was his brainchild and passion project. Our fourth collaboration, RAP IT UP!, illustrated by Ernel Martinez, is inspired by the hip hop workshops that Jeffery conducts for youth in schools and communities.

  • Notable Poetry Book of the Year–National Council of Teachers of English
  • [A] knockout. . . . [I]t celebrates the joy of creating. . . . glorifies the wonders of language. . . lays out steps for success [and] offers endless encouragement. The ultimate message—put in the work, because “The words you write are worth it”—comes through.—Booklist, starred review 

FAMILY FEAST is my sixth collaboration with illustrator Frank Morrison. The text, set during a family gathering, gives shout-outs to my late mother and her five siblings. My beagle Gigi, a relentless beggar and stealth food thief, co-stars. Listen to me and Frank on NPR Weekend Edition.

  • “The joy lingers long after dessert across this soulful tribute to legacy, love, and familial gatherings.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
  • “This celebration of food and family is a perfect addition to picture book collections.”—The Bulletin, starred review
  • “A triumphant and utterly inviting gustatory celebration.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

ANDRE’: ANDRE’ LEON TALLEY, A FABULOUSLY FASHIONABLE FAIRY TALE is my second collaboration with Rob Sanders. Inspired by my childhood dream of becoming a fashion designer, the picture book biography features art by debut children’s book illustrator–and veteran fashion illustrator–Lamont O’Neal. Like Andre’ himself, the book slays.

  • Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Books
  • “Fashion king Talley is brought to tender, glorious life by the award-winning team of Weatherford and Sanders (A Song for the Unsung, 2022), who take readers into the late Vogue editor’s young life and journey to fame. Another stellar profile. . . that belongs in any picture-book biography section.” —Booklist, starred review
  • “Fashion icon André Leon Talley grew up in the Jim Crow South, where discrimination was ‘as clear-cut as the sharp pleats on a pair of men’s trousers.’ [T]his telling of his story manages to capture his exuberant joy without glossing over the serious and often painful challenges he faced.” —Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Book, starred review

WHEN I MOVE is a bouncy bundle of joy for the littles. Illustrated by Alea Marley, the rhyming text is sure to keep them leaping, running, and dancing. A board book version is also in the works.

  • “This is a picture book tailor-made for storytime: Weatherford’s succinct first-person text makes great use of repetition, as well as end rhymes that beg for children’s voices to complete…  Celebratory and, yes, moving.”–The Horn Book

GRIND: AN ODE TO SKATEBOARDING is illustrated by Argentinian street artist Anguirria. Inspired by my days as a skateboard mom, the book captures the daring moves of one of the first extreme sports.

  • Junior Library Guild Gold Selection
  • “An exhilarating ride.”—Booklist

A HUG LIKE MICHELLE’S, A VOICE LIKE BEYONCE’S, a companion to HAIR LIKE OBAMA’S, HAND LIKE LEBRON’S, is a rhythmic rundown of Black women role models and the traits that they embody. The book is illustrated by Savanna Durr.

IF KAMALA CAN. . . YOU CAN TOO, illustrated by Adriana Pacino, highlights moments from the trailblazer’s life and career in what I term a picture book “un-biography.”

The most anticipated arrival of the year was not a book, but my granddaughter Beah. Born to my son Jeffery and his wife Bre’Anna on July 15, Beah is so precious. Our family is thankful. God is indeed good!