Banned Book week provides us the chance to reflect on what is and what isn’t available for us to read at different moments in history and in different places. We think of Orwell, and we think of more recent events, like the banning of the Mexican American Studies program in Tucson, Arizona.
Government censorship, of course, is just one element that determines what we can and cannot read. People often overlook another cultural phenomenon that can have a similar effect: publishing industry censorship. Each year there is a scarcity of excellent children’s picture books published. Missing are titles that reflect the realities of students’ lives and communities while encouraging children to think beyond the headlines.
The data bears out our suspicion: Researchers at the University of Wisconsin’s Cooperative Children’s Book Center find the number of books by and about people of color fluctuating and decreasing slightly, at the same time that children in the United States increasingly come from families of color. This doesn’t mean that those books aren’t being written — rather, publishers refuse to seek them out or reject them, fearing they lack universal appeal, or as one frustrated former editor laments, fail to speak to “the lowest common denominator.” Zetta Elliott, author of the award-winning children’s book Bird, writes on her blog that she is fighting to find publishers for her many children’s book manuscripts. Some are “slice of life stories.” Others, like Bird, speak sensitively to childhood trauma.
Publishing industry censorship also occurs when excellent titles go out of print. Too often, we celebrate an excellent new children’s title at Teaching for Change, only to find out a couple of years later that it has gone out of print.
So, this week, while bookstores and libraries present you with lists of banned books, we present a list of recommended children’s books that have gone out of print. Some are decades old — most were published much more recently and have had lives far too short.
Occasionally, we learn that favorite out-of-print titles are back in print, and this is cause for celebration. The below titles are now back in print:
Find these favorite out-of-print books in your library or from your favorite used book source:
Beautiful Warrior: The Legend of the Nun’s Kung Fu, 9780590374873
Butterfly Workshop, 9781933372129
Char Siu Bao Boy, 9781879965195
Cuban Kids, 9780761450771
Days of Jubilee, 9780590107648
A Father Like That, 9780060278649
Grandma Maxine Remembers, 9780761317289
Homemade Love, 9780786806430
I Hate English, 9780590423045
In the Leaves, 9780805067644
In the Time of Drums, 9781620143094
Mama Bear, 9780395634127
My Father’s Shop, 9781929132997
Namaste, 9781621480051
When Owen’s Mom Breathed Fire, 9789129665482
Further Reading: Children’s Book Publishing Industry
Zetta Elliott – Author of Bird and a blogger about race issues in the book publishing industry. These articles are excellent examples from her highly recommended blog:
CCBC’s page on Multicultural Literature isdesigned to help aid librarians, teachers and others in identifying authentic, reliable books by and about people of color.
The CCBC compiles annual statistics on the number of books published annually by and about people of color.
An article from Social Justice Books, a Teaching for Change project.
Banned Books and Publishing Industry Censorship
By Amy Rothschild, early childhood educator
Banned Book week provides us the chance to reflect on what is and what isn’t available for us to read at different moments in history and in different places. We think of Orwell, and we think of more recent events, like the banning of the Mexican American Studies program in Tucson, Arizona.
Government censorship, of course, is just one element that determines what we can and cannot read. People often overlook another cultural phenomenon that can have a similar effect: publishing industry censorship. Each year there is a scarcity of excellent children’s picture books published. Missing are titles that reflect the realities of students’ lives and communities while encouraging children to think beyond the headlines.
The data bears out our suspicion: Researchers at the University of Wisconsin’s Cooperative Children’s Book Center find the number of books by and about people of color fluctuating and decreasing slightly, at the same time that children in the United States increasingly come from families of color. This doesn’t mean that those books aren’t being written — rather, publishers refuse to seek them out or reject them, fearing they lack universal appeal, or as one frustrated former editor laments, fail to speak to “the lowest common denominator.” Zetta Elliott, author of the award-winning children’s book Bird, writes on her blog that she is fighting to find publishers for her many children’s book manuscripts. Some are “slice of life stories.” Others, like Bird, speak sensitively to childhood trauma.
Publishing industry censorship also occurs when excellent titles go out of print. Too often, we celebrate an excellent new children’s title at Teaching for Change, only to find out a couple of years later that it has gone out of print.
So, this week, while bookstores and libraries present you with lists of banned books, we present a list of recommended children’s books that have gone out of print. Some are decades old — most were published much more recently and have had lives far too short.
Occasionally, we learn that favorite out-of-print titles are back in print, and this is cause for celebration. The below titles are now back in print:
Find these favorite out-of-print books in your library or from your favorite used book source:
Further Reading: Children’s Book Publishing Industry
Zetta Elliott – Author of Bird and a blogger about race issues in the book publishing industry. These articles are excellent examples from her highly recommended blog:
The Cooperative Children’s Books Center (CCBC) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
CCBC’s page on Multicultural Literature is designed to help aid librarians, teachers and others in identifying authentic, reliable books by and about people of color.
The CCBC compiles annual statistics on the number of books published annually by and about people of color.
Updated August 18, 2026
This article is part of Social Justice Books, a Teaching for Change project dedicated to curating and reviewing multicultural and social justice books for children, young adults, and educators. Browse the full collection at Social Justice Books.
Posted: October 4, 2012