Jane Addams awarded picture books that have been banned or challenged in some school districts.

A Map for Falasteen: A Palestinian Child’s Search for Home
by Maysa Odeh and Aliaa Betawi
(Honor, 2025)

Stamped (for Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You
by Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi, Sonja Cherry-Paul, and Rachelle Baker
(Finalist, 2022)

The Day You Begin
by Jacqueline Woodson and Rafael López
(Winner, 2019)

Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the Selma Voting Rights March
by Lynda Blackmon Lowery, Elspeth Leacock, Susan Buckley, and P.J. Loughran
(Winner, 2016)

Hot Day on Abbott Avenue
by Karen English, illustrated by Javaka Steptoe
(Honor, 2005)

Ambitious Girl
by Meena Harris and Marissa Valdez
(Finalist, 2022)

Before She Was Harriet
by Lesa Cline-Ransome and James Ransome
(Honor, 2018)

The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth, and Harlem’s Greatest Bookstore
by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson and R. Gregory Christie
(Honor, 2016)

Nasreen’s Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan
by Jeanette Winter
(Winner, 2010)

Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice
by Mahogany L. Browne, Elizabeth Acevedo, Olivia Gatwood, and Theodore Taylor, III
(Finalist, 2020)

Malala’s Magic Pencil
by Malala Yousafzai and Kerascoët
(Winner, 2018)

Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation
by Duncan Tonatiuh
(Winner, 2015)

Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez
by Kathleen Krull and Yuyi Morales
(Winner, 2004)

Julián is a Mermaid
by Jessica Love
(Honor, 2019)

I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark
by Debbie Levy and Elizabeth Baddeley
(Honor, 2017)

We March
by Shane W. Evans
(Honor, 2013)

Each Kindness
by Jacqueline Woodson and E.B. Lewis
(Winner, 2013)

Mrs. Katz and Tush
by Patricia Polacco
(Honor, 1993)
Sources:
PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans (July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023)
PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans.pdf
Banned Camp: Books for Children
Books Banned in America in 2022 and 2023 – Bookshop.org
A Boston-based activist is sending banned books to Florida | WUSF
